Da Vinci's full name. Biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci: interesting facts from life, achievements. What the great creator left to the world

During the Renaissance there were many brilliant sculptors, painters, musicians, inventors. Leonardo da Vinci stands out strongly against their background. He created musical instruments, he owns many engineering inventions, wrote paintings, sculptures and much more.

His external data are also striking: tall, angelic appearance and extraordinary strength. Let's get acquainted with the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, a short biography will tell you his main achievements.

Biography facts

He was born near Florence in the small town of Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a famous and wealthy notary. His mother is an ordinary peasant woman. Since his father had no other children, at the age of 4 he took little Leonardo to him. The boy showed an extraordinary intelligence and affable character from an early age, and he quickly became a favorite in the family.

To understand how the genius of Leonardo da Vinci developed, a short biography can be presented as follows:

1. At the age of 14, he entered Verrocchio's workshop, where he studied drawing and sculpture.
2. In 1480 he moved to Milan, where he founded the Academy of Arts.
3. In 1499 he left Milan and began to move from city to city, where he built defensive structures. In the same period, his famous rivalry with Michelangelo begins.
4. Since 1513 he has been working in Rome. Under Francis I, he became a court sage.

Leonardo died in 1519. As he believed, nothing that he began was completed to the end.

Creative way

The work of Leonardo da Vinci, a brief biography of which was outlined above, can be divided into three stages.

1. Early period. Many works of the great painter were unfinished, such is the "Adoration of the Magi" for the monastery of San Donato. During this period, the paintings "Benois Madonna", "Annunciation" were painted. Despite his young age, the painter has already demonstrated great skill in his paintings.
2. The mature period of Leonardo's work took place in Milan, where he planned to pursue a career as an engineer. The most popular piece written at this time was The Last Supper, and at the same time he began work on the Mona Lisa.
3. In the late period of his creative work, the painting "John the Baptist" and a series of drawings "The Flood" were created.

Painting has always supplemented science for Leonardo da Vinci, as he strove to fix reality.

Inventions

A short biography cannot fully convey the contribution to science of Leonardo da Vinci. However, the most famous and valuable discoveries of the scientist can be noted.

1. He made the greatest contribution to mechanics, this can be seen from many of his drawings. Leonardo da Vinci investigated the fall of the body, the centers of gravity of the pyramids, and more.
2. He invented a car made of wood that was powered by two springs. A brake was provided in the mechanism of the car.
3. He invented a spacesuit, fins and a submarine, as well as a way to dive to depths without using a spacesuit with a special gas mixture.
4. The study of the flight of a dragonfly led to the creation of several variants of wings for humans. The experiments were unsuccessful. However, then the scientist came up with a parachute.
5. He was involved in developments in the military industry. One of his suggestions was chariots with cannons. He came up with a prototype of an battleship and a tank.
6. Leonardo da Vinci made many developments in construction. Arch bridges, drainage machines and cranes are all his inventions.

There is no man in history like Leonardo da Vinci. That is why many consider him an alien from other worlds.

Da Vinci's Five Secrets

Today, many scientists are still puzzling over the legacy left by the great man of a past era. Although it is not worth calling Leonardo da Vinci that, he predicted a lot, and foresaw even more, creating his unique masterpieces and striking with the breadth of knowledge and thought. We offer you five secrets of the great Master, which help to lift the veil of secrecy over his works.

Encryption

The master encrypted a lot so as not to submit ideas open, but to wait a little until humanity “matures, grows up” to them. Equally good with both hands, da Vinci wrote with the left, the smallest type, and even from right to left, and often in a mirror image. Riddles, metaphors, rebuses - this is what is found on every line, in every piece. Never signing his works, the Master left his marks, visible only to an attentive researcher. For example, after many centuries, scientists discovered that by looking closely at his paintings, you can find the symbol of a flying bird. Or the famous "Benois Madonna", found among the itinerant actors who carried the canvas as a home icon.

Sfumato

The idea of ​​dispersion belongs also to the great mystifier. Take a closer look at the canvases, all objects do not reveal clear edges, like in life: a smooth flow of some images into others, blurring, scattering - everything breathes, lives, awakening fantasies and thoughts. By the way, the Master often advised to practice such a vision, peering into water stains, mud rushes or ash heaps. Often he deliberately fumigated workrooms with smoke in order to see in the clubs what was hidden beyond the bounds of reasonable sight.

Look at the famous painting - the smile of "Mona Lisa" from different angles, sometimes gentle, sometimes a little arrogant and even predatory. The knowledge gained through the study of many sciences gave the Master the opportunity to invent perfect mechanisms that are becoming available only now. For example, this is the effect of wave propagation, the penetrating power of light, oscillatory motion ... yes, there is a lot of things that still have to be disassembled, not even by us, but by our descendants.

Analogies

Analogies are the main thing in all the works of the Master. The advantage over accuracy, when the third follows from two conclusions of the mind, is the inevitability of any analogy. And in the quirkiness and drawing absolutely mind-blowing parallels to da Vinci, there is still no equal. One way or another, all of his works have some ideas that do not fit with each other: the famous illustration "golden ratio" is one of them. With the limbs apart and apart, a person fits into a circle, with closed in a square, and slightly raising his arms into a cross. It was this kind of "mill" that gave the Florentine magician the idea of ​​creating churches where the altar is placed exactly in the middle, and the worshipers stand in a circle. By the way, the engineers liked the same idea - this is how the ball bearing appeared.

Counterpost

The definition means the opposition of opposites and the creation of a certain type of movement. An example is the sculptural image of a huge horse in Corte Vecchio. There, the legs of the animal are located precisely in the counterpost style, forming a visual understanding of the movement.

Incompleteness

This is perhaps one of the Master's favorite "tricks". None of his works are of course. To finish is to kill, and da Vinci loved his every brainchild. Slow and meticulous, a hoaxer of all times could take a couple of brush strokes and go to the valleys of Lombardy to improve the landscapes there, switch to creating another masterpiece or something else. Many works were spoiled by time, fire or water, but each of the creations, at least something meaningful, was and is an "unfinished". By the way, it is interesting that even after the damage, Leonardo da Vinci never corrected his paintings. Having created his own paint, the artist even deliberately left the "unfinished window", believing that life itself will make the necessary adjustments.

What was art before Leonardo da Vinci? Born among the rich, it fully reflected their interests, their worldview, their views on people, on the world. The works of art were based on religious ideas and themes: the affirmation of those views on the world that the church taught, the depiction of subjects from sacred history, instilling in people a sense of reverence, admiration for the "divine" and the consciousness of their own insignificance. The dominant theme also determined the form. Naturally, the depiction of the "saints" was very far from the depictions of real living people, therefore, schemes, artificiality, and static prevailed in art. The people in these paintings were a kind of caricatures of living people, the landscape is fantastic, the colors are pale and inexpressive. True, even before Leonardo, his predecessors, including his teacher Andrea Verrocchio, were no longer satisfied with the template and tried to create new images. They already began to search for new methods of image, began to study the laws of perspective, thought a lot about the problems of achieving expressiveness of the image.

However, these searches for the new did not give great results, primarily because these artists did not have a sufficiently clear idea of ​​the essence and tasks of art and knowledge of the laws of painting. That is why they fell now again into schematism, now into naturalism, which is just as dangerous for true art, copying individual phenomena of reality. The significance of the revolution made by Leonardo da Vinci in art and, in particular, in painting, is determined primarily by the fact that he was the first who clearly, clearly and definitely established the essence and objectives of art. Art should be deeply vital, realistic. It must come from a deep, thorough study of reality, nature. It must be deeply truthful, must depict reality as it is, without any far-fetched or falsehood. Reality, nature is beautiful in itself and does not need any embellishment. The artist must carefully study nature, but not for blind imitation of it, not for simple copying of it, but in order, having understood the laws of nature, the laws of reality, to create works; strictly complying with these laws. To create new values, values ​​of the real world - this is the purpose of art. This explains Leonardo's desire to link art and science. Instead of simple, casual observation, he considered it necessary to study the subject systematically, persistently. It is known that Leonardo never parted with the album and entered into it drawings and sketches.

They say that he loved to walk the streets, squares, markets, noting everything interesting - the postures of people, their faces, their expressions. Leonardo's second requirement for painting is the requirement for the truthfulness of the image, its vitality. The artist should strive for the most accurate reproduction of reality in all its wealth. In the center of the world there is a living, thinking, feeling person. He must be portrayed in all the richness of his feelings, experiences and actions. For this, it was Leonardo who studied human anatomy and physiology, for this, as they say, he gathered peasants familiar to him in his workshop and, treating them, told them funny stories to see how people laugh, how the same event causes people have different experiences. If before Leonardo there was no real person in painting, now he has become dominant in the art of the Renaissance. Hundreds of Leonardo's drawings give a gigantic gallery of types of people, their faces, parts of their bodies. Man in all the diversity of his feelings and actions is the task of artistic depiction. And this is the strength and charm of Leonardo's painting. Forced by the conditions of the time to paint pictures mainly on religious subjects, because his customers were the church, feudal lords and wealthy merchants, Leonardo imperiously subordinates these traditional subjects to his genius and creates works of universal significance. The Madonnas drawn by Leonardo are primarily an image of one of the deeply human feelings - the feeling of motherhood, the mother's boundless love for the baby, admiration and admiration for him. All his Madonnas are young, blooming, full of life women, all the babies in his paintings are healthy, chubby, playful boys, in whom there is not an ounce of "holiness".

His apostles in The Last Supper are living people of different ages, social status, and different characters; in appearance they are Milanese artisans, peasants, and intellectuals. Striving for the truth, the artist must be able to generalize the individual he found, must create the typical. Therefore, even painting portraits of certain historically known people, such as Mona Lisa Gioconda - the wife of a ruined aristocrat, Florentine merchant Francesco del Gioconda, Leonardo gives in them, along with individual portrait features, typical, common to many people. That is why the portraits written by him survived the people depicted on them for many centuries. Leonardo was the first who not only carefully and carefully studied the laws of painting, but also formulated them. He deeply, like no one before him, studied the laws of perspective, the placement of light and shadow. All this was necessary for him to achieve the highest expressiveness of the picture, in order, as he said, "to be equal to nature." For the first time, it was in the works of Leonardo that the picture as such lost its static character and became a window into the world. When you look at his picture, the feeling of being drawn, enclosed in a frame, is lost and it seems that you are looking through an open window that opens up something new to the viewer, unseen by him. Demanding the expressiveness of the painting, Leonardo resolutely opposed the formal play of colors, against the enthusiasm for form at the expense of content, against what so clearly characterizes decadent art.

For Leonardo, form is only a shell of the idea that the artist must convey to the viewer. Leonardo pays a lot of attention to the problems of painting composition, the problems of placing figures, individual details. Hence the composition, so favorite by him, of placing figures in a triangle - the simplest geometric harmonic figure - a composition that allows the viewer to embrace the whole picture as a whole. Expressiveness, truthfulness, accessibility - these are the laws of real, truly folk art, formulated by Leonardo da Vinci, the laws that he himself embodied in his works of genius. Already in his first major painting "Madonna with a Flower" Leonardo showed in practice what the principles of art he professed mean. First of all, its composition is striking in this picture, the distribution of all the elements of the picture, which make up a single whole, is surprisingly harmonious. The image of a young mother with a cheerful baby in her arms is deeply realistic. The deep blue of the Italian sky directly felt in the window cut is incredibly skillfully conveyed. Already in this picture, Leonardo demonstrated the principle of his art - realism, the image of a person in the deepest accordance with his true nature, the image of a non-abstract scheme, which was taught and what medieval ascetic art was doing, namely a living, feeling person.

These principles are even more vividly expressed in Leonardo's second large painting "The Adoration of the Magi" in 1481, in which not a religious plot is significant, but a masterful depiction of people, each of whom has his own, individual face, his own pose, expresses his feeling and mood. The truth of life is the law of Leonardo's painting. The most complete disclosure of a person's inner life is its goal. In The Last Supper, the composition is brought to perfection: despite the large number of figures - 13, their placement is strictly calculated so that all of them as a whole represent a kind of unity, full of great inner content. The picture is very dynamic: some terrible news communicated by Jesus struck his disciples, each of them reacts to it in his own way, hence the huge variety of expressions of inner feelings on the faces of the apostles. Compositional excellence is complemented by an unusually skillful use of colors, the harmony of light and shadow. The expressiveness, expression of the picture reaches its perfection due to the extraordinary variety of not only facial expressions, but the position of each of the twenty-six hands painted in the picture.

This record of Leonardo himself tells us about the careful preliminary work that he carried out before painting the picture. Everything is thought out in it to the smallest detail: poses, facial expressions; even details such as an overturned bowl or knife; all this in its sum makes up a single whole. The richness of colors in this picture is combined with a subtle use of chiaroscuro, which emphasizes the significance of the event depicted in the picture. The subtlety of perspective, the transfer of air, color makes this picture a masterpiece of world art. Leonardo successfully solved many of the problems facing artists at that time, and opened the way for the further development of art. By the power of his genius, Leonardo overcame the medieval traditions weighing on art, broke them and threw them away; he managed to expand the narrow framework with which the then ruling clique of churchmen limited the artist's creative power, and to show instead of the hackneyed gospel stencil scene a huge, purely human drama, to show living people with their passions, feelings, experiences. And in this picture again manifested the great, life-affirming optimism of the artist and thinker Leonardo.

Over the years of his wanderings, Leonardo painted many more paintings that received well-deserved world fame and recognition. In "La Gioconda" the image is deeply vital and typical. It is this deep vitality, unusually relief of facial features, individual details, costume, combined with a masterfully painted landscape that gives this picture a special expressiveness. Everything in her - from the mysterious half-smile playing on her face to the calmly folded hands - speaks of the great inner content, the great spiritual life of this woman. Leonardo's desire to convey the inner world in the external manifestations of mental movements is expressed here especially fully. An interesting painting by Leonardo "The Battle of Anghiari", depicting the battle of cavalry and infantry. As in his other paintings, Leonardo strove here to show a variety of faces, figures and poses. Dozens of people depicted by the artist create an integral impression of the picture precisely because they are all subordinated to a single idea underlying it. It was an aspiration to show the rise of all the forces of a person in battle, the tension of all his feelings, gathered together to achieve victory.

Name: Leonardo da Vinci

Place of Birth: near Vinci, Florentine Republic

A place of death: Clos-Luce castle, near Amboise, Duchy of Touraine, Republic of Florence

Age: 67 years old

Leonardo da Vinci - biography

Leonardo da Vinci was called a "universal man", that is, a person whose activities and achievements were not limited to a single sphere. He was an artist, musician, writer, the most prominent representative of the art of the Renaissance. But the private, personal life of a genius is shrouded in secrets and riddles. Perhaps this is due to a lack of information, or maybe it's all about the mysterious figure of the Italian master.

Leonardo da Vinci - childhood

Leonardo da Vinci, whose biography is of increased interest among fans of this greatest artist, was born on April 15, 1452 near the city, whose name today is associated primarily with the names of great painters.

The future artist was born near Florence, in the middle of the 15th century. His father was a notary, and his mother was a peasant. Such a misalliance could not exist, and soon Leonardo's father found himself a more suitable wife - a girl from a noble family. Until the age of three, the child lived with his mother, and after that the father took him to his family. All subsequent years, the painter tried to recreate the image of his mother on canvas.

For some time, his father furiously sought to instill in Leonardo a love of family business. But his efforts were unsuccessful: his son was not interested in the laws of society.

At the age of fourteen, Leonardo went to Florence and got a job as an apprentice to the sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio. At that time, Florence was the intellectual center of Italy, which allowed the young man to combine work with study. He comprehended the basics of drawing and chemistry. But most of all he was interested in drawing, sculpture and modeling.

The main feature of the masterpieces of the Renaissance is a return to the ideals of Antiquity. In this era, the ancient Greek canons received a new life. Students and seasoned masters discussed and argued about revolutionary events in culture and art. Leonardo did not take part in these disputes. He worked more and more, disappearing for days in the workshop.

It would be unfair to miss one of the important facts in the biography of Leonardo da Vinci. One day his teacher received an order. Had to paint the picture "The Baptism of Christ". According to the traditions of that time, he entrusted two fragments to his young student. Leonardo was commissioned to portray angels.

When the painting was ready, Verrocchio looked at the canvas and threw a brush in their hearts. Some fragments clearly indicated that the student in his skill significantly outgrew the teacher. From then until the last hour of his life, Andrea del Verrocchio did not return to painting.

In the 15th century in Italy there was an association of artists called the Guild of Saint Luke. Membership in this guild allowed local artists to set up their own workshops and sell their works on the official market. In addition, financial and social support was provided to all members of the association. As a rule, these were experienced and mature painters, sculptors and printers. Leonardo da Vinci joined the guild at the age of twenty.

Leonardo da Vinci - personal life

Little is known about the personal life of the titanic Renaissance figure. There are sources that talk about the accusation of sodomy, that is, of deviant sexual behavior. The charge was based on an anonymous denunciation. But in those days in Florence, denunciations and defamation flourished with a riot. The artist was arrested, held in prison and released two months later for lack of evidence.

In Florence at the time of da Vinci, there was an organization called the "Officers of the Night". The ministers of this organization zealously followed the moral character of the townspeople and actively fought against sodomists. For some time, the painter was under the supervision of these fighters for morality. But this is according to one version.

And according to another - da Vinci was not accused of anything like that, and at the trial he was present exclusively as a witness. There is a third version, the adherents of which argue that the great master's sexual preferences were far from the generally accepted norm, the strength and influence of his father allowed him to avoid imprisonment.

But be that as it may, there is no information in the biography about the artist's relationship with women. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he lived with young people for a long time. Sigmund Freud, too, did not stay away from the controversy about the genius's sex life and conducted his own investigation. The famous psychotherapist was convinced of da Vinci's homosexuality.

For almost thirty years, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known today as Salai, lived in the maestro's workshop. When Leonardo da Vinci was already a fully accomplished master, a youth of angelic beauty appeared in his house. His image is present in many masterpieces. But he was not just a model. Officially, he is considered a student. Salai's paintings were not widely known.

But according to the entries in da Vinci's diary, the aspiring artist was not distinguished by honesty and, at times, behaved like the last scoundrel. What made the great painter keep this person next to him is not known. But it is unlikely that these were paternal feelings or admiration for the young talent. Da Vinci's disciple did not write anything great, and he was not an orphan either. There are only guesses left.

More than one painter came out of the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci. The master devoted a lot of time, first of all, to teaching young people. According to his methodology, an aspiring artist had to first study the shapes of objects, learn how to copy the works of the master, explore the creations of other experienced authors, and only then start creating his work.

What kind of relationship the genius developed with his followers in his free time from the teachings is not so important. It is important that the master's lessons were not in vain, and they subsequently managed to create a new image of the male body, sensuality and love.

The end of the life of Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vicnci passed away on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67. His body was interred in a place near Ambause. All his drawings and tools were passed on to his beloved student Francesco Melzi. All the paintings were inherited by another of his pupils - Salai. 25320

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the small village of Anchiano LU, located near the town of Vinci FI. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary, Piero da Vinci, and a beautiful villager, Katarina. Shortly after this event, the notary married a girl of noble birth. They had no children, and Pierrot and his wife took the three-year-old child with them.

The birth of the artist

The short period of childhood in the village is over. The notary Piero moved to Florence, where he gave his son as a student to Andrea del Veroccio, a famous Tuscan master. There, in addition to painting and sculpture, the future artist had the opportunity to study the basics of mathematics and mechanics, anatomy, work with metals and plaster, and methods of leather dressing. The young man eagerly absorbed knowledge and later widely used it in his activities.

An interesting creative biography of the maestro belongs to the pen of his contemporary Giorgio Vasari. Vasari's book "The Life of Leonardo" contains a short story about how (Andrea del Verrocchio) attracted a disciple to fulfill the order "Baptism of Christ" (Battesimo di Cristo).

The angel, painted by Leonardo, so clearly demonstrated his superiority over the teacher that the latter, in frustration, threw away the brush and never painted again.

The qualification of a master was awarded to him by the guild of Saint Luke. The next year of his life, Leonardo da Vinci spent in Florence. His first mature painting is Adorazione dei Magi, commissioned for the San Donato monastery.

Milan period (1482 - 1499)

Leonardo came to Milan as a messenger of peace from Lorenzo di Medici to Lodovico Sforza, nicknamed Moro. Here his work took on a new direction. He was enrolled in the court staff, first as an engineer and only later as an artist.

The Duke of Milan, a cruel and narrow-minded man, was of little interest in the creative component of Leonardo's personality. Ducal indifference worried the Master even less. Interests converged on one thing. Moreau needed engineering devices for military operations and mechanical structures for the amusement of the courtyard. Leonardo knew this better than anyone else. His mind was not asleep, the master was sure that a person's possibilities are endless. His ideas were close to the humanists of the modern era, but in many respects they were incomprehensible to contemporaries.

Two important works belong to the same period - (Il Cenacolo) for the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie (Chiesa e Convento Domenicano di Santa Maria delle Grazie) and the painting "Lady with an ermine" (Dama con l'ermellino).

The second is a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of the Duke of Sforza. The biography of this woman is unusual. One of the most beautiful and learned ladies of the Renaissance, she was simple and kind, knew how to get along with people. An affair with the duke saved one of her brothers from prison. She had the most tender relationship with Leonardo, but, according to the testimony of contemporaries and the opinion of most researchers, their brief connection remained platonic.

A more widespread (and also not confirmed) version is about the intimate relationship of the master with the students of Francesco Melzi and Salai. The artist preferred to keep the details of his personal life in deep secrecy.

Moreau commissioned the master to have an equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza. The necessary sketches were made and a clay model of the future monument was made. Further work was prevented by the French invasion of Milan. The artist left for Florence. Here he will return, but to another gentleman - the French king Louis XII (Louis XII).

Again in Florence (1499 - 1506)

Returning to Florence was marked by the admission to the service of the Duke Cesare Borgia and the creation of the most famous painting - "Gioconda" (Gioconda). The new work involved frequent travel, the master traveled around Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria on various assignments. His main mission was reconnaissance and preparation of the area for hostilities on the part of Cesare, who planned to subjugate the Papal States. Cesare Borgia was considered the greatest villain of Christendom, but Leonardo admired his tenacity and remarkable talent as a commander. He argued that the vices of the duke are balanced by "equally great virtues." The ambitious plans of the great adventurer did not come true. The master returned to Milan in 1506.

Later years (1506 - 1519)

The second Milanese period lasted until 1512. Maestro studied the structure of the human eye, worked on the monument to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and his own self-portrait. In 1512 the artist moved to Rome. Giovanni di Medici, a son who was ordained as Leo X, was elected Pope. The Pope's brother, Duke Giuliano di Medici, praised the work of his compatriot. After his death, the master accepted the invitation of King Francis I (François I) and departed for France in 1516.

Francis proved to be the most generous and grateful patron. The maestro settled in the picturesque castle of Clos Lucé in Touraine, where he had the full opportunity to do whatever was of interest to him. On a royal commission, he constructed a lion, from whose chest a bouquet of lilies opened. The French period was the happiest in his life. The king appointed his engineer an annual rent of 1000 crowns and donated lands with vineyards, providing him with a calm old age. The life of the maestro was cut short in 1519. He bequeathed his notes, instruments and estates to his disciples.

Paintings

Inventions and works

Most of the master's inventions were not created during his lifetime, remaining only in notes and drawings. An airplane, a bicycle, a parachute, a tank ... The dream of flying possessed them, the scientist believed that a person can and should fly. He studied the behavior of birds and sketched wings of different shapes. His design for a two-lens telescope is surprisingly accurate, and his diaries contain a brief entry about the possibility of "seeing the big moon."

As a military engineer, he was always in demand, the lightweight bridge bridges and the wheel lock for the pistol invented by him were used everywhere. He was engaged in the problems of urban planning and land reclamation, in 1509 he built the St. Christopher, as well as the Martezana irrigation canal. The Duke of Moreau rejected his "ideal city" project. Several centuries later, the development of London was carried out according to this project. In Norway there is a bridge built according to his blueprint. In France, already being an old man, he designed the canal between the Loire and the Saone.

Leonardo's diaries are written in an easy, lively language and are interesting to read. His fables, parables and aphorisms speak of the versatility of a great mind.

The secret of a genius

There were plenty of secrets in the life of the Titan of the Renaissance. The main one was opened relatively recently. But did it open? In 1950, a list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion), a secret organization created in 1090 in Jerusalem, was published. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was the ninth of the Grand Masters of the Priory. His predecessor in this amazing post was Sandro Botticelli, and his successor was the Constable Charles III de Bourbon. The main goal of the organization was to restore the Merovingian dynasty to the throne of France. The offspring of this family was considered by the Priory to be the descendants of Jesus Christ.

The very existence of such an organization raises doubts among most historians. But such doubts could have been sown by members of the Priory who wished to continue their activities in secret.

If we accept this version as true, the master's habit of complete independence and the strange attraction for a Florentine to France become understandable. Even Leonardo's writing style - left-handed and right-to-left - can be interpreted as an imitation of the Hebrew spelling. This seems unlikely, but the scale of his personality allows us to make the most daring assumptions.

The stories about the Priory cause the distrust of scientists, but they enrich artistic creativity. The most striking examples are Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code and the film of the same name.

• At the age of 24, together with three Florentine youths was accused of sodomy... The company was acquitted for lack of evidence.
• Maestro was a vegetarian... People who consume animal food were called “walking cemeteries”.
• He shocked his contemporaries with the habit of carefully examining and sketching the hanged in detail. He considered the study of the structure of the human body the most important of his studies.
• It is believed that the maestro developed tasteless and odorless poisons for Cesare Borgia and wiretapping devices made of glass tubes.
• TV mini-series "The Life of Leonardo da Vinci"(La vita di Leonardo da Vinci) by Renato Castellani, received the Golden Globe Award.
• named after Leonardo da Vinci and is decorated with a huge statue depicting a master with a model of a helicopter in his hands.

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(Leonardo da Vinci) (1452-1519) - the greatest figure, the multifaceted genius of the Renaissance, the founder of the High Renaissance. Known as an artist, scientist, engineer, inventor.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Anchiano near the city of Vinci, located near Florence. His father was Piero da Vinci, a notary from a prominent Vinci family. According to one version, the mother was a peasant woman, according to the other - the owner of the tavern, known as Katerina. At about the age of 4.5 years, Leonardo was taken to his father's house, and in the documents of that time he is called the illegitimate son of Pierrot. In 1469 he entered the workshop of the famous painter, sculptor and goldsmith Andrea del Verrocchio ( 1435/36–1488). Here Leonardo went all the way of apprenticeship: from rubbing paints to working as an apprentice. According to the stories of contemporaries, he painted the left figure of an angel in the painting by Verrocchio Baptism(c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence), which immediately attracted attention. Naturalness of movement, smoothness of lines, softness of chiaroscuro - distinguishes the figure of an angel from the harder writing of Verrocchio. Leonardo lived in the master's house and after in 1472 he was admitted to the guild of Saint Luke, the guild of painters.

One of the few dated drawings by Leonardo was created in August 1473. View of the Arno Valley from a height it was executed with a pen in quick strokes, transmitting vibrations of light, air, which indicates that the drawing was made from nature (Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

The first piece of painting attributed to Leonardo, although its authorship is disputed by many experts, was Annunciation(c. 1472, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Unfortunately, an unknown author made later corrections, which significantly deteriorated the quality of the work.

Portrait of Ginevra de Benchi(1473-1474, National Gallery, Washington) is permeated with a melancholy mood. Part of the picture below is cropped: probably the hands of the model were depicted there. The contours of the figure are softened with the sfumato effect created even before Leonardo, but it was he who became the genius of this technique. Sfumato (it. Sfumato - foggy, smoky) is a technique developed in the Renaissance in painting and graphics, which allows you to convey the softness of modeling, the elusiveness of object outlines, the feeling of an airy environment.

Madonna with a flower (Madonna Benoit) (Madonna and child) 1478 - 1480 Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

Between 1476 and 1478 Leonardo opens his workshop. This period includes Madonna with a flower, the so-called Madonna Benoit(c. 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The smiling Madonna addresses the baby Jesus sitting on her lap, the movements of the figures are natural and plastic. In this picture, there is a characteristic interest in Leonardo's art in showing the inner world.

The unfinished painting also belongs to the early works. Adoration of the Magi(1481-1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The central place is occupied by the group of the Madonna and Child with the Magi, placed in the foreground.

In 1482, Leonardo left for Milan, the richest city of that time, under the patronage of Lodovico Sforza (1452–1508), who maintained an army, spent huge sums of money on lavish festivals and the purchase of works of art. Introducing himself to his future patron, Leonardo speaks of himself as a musician, military expert, inventor of weapons, military chariots, cars, and only then speaks of himself as an artist. Leonardo lived in Milan until 1498, and this period of his life was the most fruitful.

The first commission that Leonardo received was the creation of an equestrian statue in honor of Francesco Sforza (1401–1466), father of Lodovico Sforza. Working on it for 16 years, Leonardo created many drawings, as well as an eight-meter clay model. In an effort to surpass all existing equestrian statues, Leonardo wanted to make a grandiose sculpture, showing a rearing horse. But faced with technical difficulties, Leonardo changed the idea and decided to portray a walking horse. November 1493 model Horse without a rider was put on public display, and it was this event that made Leonardo da Vinci famous. For the casting of the sculpture, about 90 tons of bronze were required. The collection of metal that had begun was interrupted, and the equestrian statue was never cast. In 1499 Milan was captured by the French, who used sculpture as a target. After a while, it collapsed. Horse- a grandiose, but never completed project - one of the most significant works of monumental plastic art of the 16th century. and, according to Vasari, "those who have seen a huge clay model ... claim that they have never seen a work of more beautiful and majestic", called the monument "the great colossus."

At the Sforza court, Leonardo also worked as a decorator for many festivals, creating hitherto unseen decorations and mechanisms, making costumes for allegorical figures.

Unfinished canvas Saint Jerome(1481, Vatican Museum, Rome) shows the saint at the moment of repentance in a difficult turn with a lion at his feet. The painting was painted in black and white. But after covering it with varnish in the 19th century. the colors turned to olive and golden.

Madonna of the rocks(1483-1484, Louvre, Paris) - the famous painting by Leonardo, painted by him in Milan. The image of the Madonna, baby Jesus, little John the Baptist and an angel in a landscape is a new motive in Italian painting of that time. In the opening of the cliff, a landscape is seen, which has been given sublimely ideal features, and in which the achievements of a linear and aerial perspective are shown. Although the cave is dimly lit, the picture is not dark, faces, figures softly emerge from the shadows. The subtlest chiaroscuro (sfumato) creates the impression of dim diffused light, models faces and hands. Leonardo connects the figures not only with a common mood, but also with the unity of space.

LADY WITH MOUNTAIN. 1485–1490. Czartoryski Museum

Lady with an ermine(1484, Czartoryski Museum, Krakow) - one of the first works of Leonardo as a court portraitist. The painting depicts Lodovic's favorite Cecilia Gallerani with the emblem of the Sforza family, an ermine. The complex turn of the head and the exquisite bend of the lady's hand, the curved pose of the animal - everything speaks of the authorship of Leonardo. The background was rewritten by another artist.

Portrait of a musician(1484, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan). Only the young man's face is completed, the rest of the painting is not spelled out. The type of face is close to the faces of Leonardo's angels, only performed more courageously.

Another unique work was created by Leonardo in one of the halls of the Sforza Palace, which is called Donkey. On the vaults and walls of this hall, he painted the crowns of willows, whose branches are intricately intertwined, tied with decorative ropes. Subsequently, a part of the paint layer was crumbled, but a significant part was preserved and restored.

In 1495 Leonardo began work on Last supper(area 4.5 × 8.6 m). The fresco is located on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, at a height of 3 m from the floor and occupies the entire end wall of the room. Leonardo oriented the perspective of the fresco towards the viewer, thus it organically entered the interior of the refectory: the perspective reduction of the side walls depicted in the fresco continues the real space of the refectory. Thirteen people are seated at a table parallel to the wall. In the center is Jesus Christ, to the left and to the right of him are his disciples. Shows the dramatic moment of exposure and condemnation of betrayal, the moment when Christ just uttered the words: “One of you will betray Me,” and the different emotional reactions of the apostles to these words. The composition is based on a strictly verified mathematical calculation: in the center is Christ, depicted against the background of the middle, largest opening of the rear wall, the vanishing point of perspective coincides with his head. The twelve apostles are divided into four groups of three figures each. Each is given a vivid characteristic by expressive gestures and movements. The main task was to show Judas, to separate him from the rest of the apostles. By placing him on the same table line as all the apostles, Leonardo psychologically separated him with loneliness. Creation Last supper became a notable event in the artistic life of Italy at that time. As a true innovator and experimenter, Leonardo abandoned the fresco technique. He covered the wall with a special compound of resin and mastic, and wrote in tempera. These experiments led to the greatest tragedy: the refectory, which was hastily renovated by order of the Sforza, the picturesque innovations of Leonardo, the lowland in which the refectory was located - all this served as a sad service of preservation Last supper... The paints began to flake off, as mentioned by Vasari in 1556. Secret supper It was repeatedly restored in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the restorations were unqualified (they simply re-applied colorful layers). By the middle of the 20th century, when The last supper came to a deplorable state, began scientific restoration: first, the entire paint layer was fixed, then later layers were removed, Leonardo's tempera painting was revealed. And although the work was badly damaged, these restoration work made it possible to say that this masterpiece of the Renaissance was saved. Working on the fresco for three years, Leonardo created the greatest creation of the Renaissance.

After the fall of the Sforza power in 1499, Leonardo went to Florence, stopping on the way to Mantua and Venice. In Mantua, he creates cardboard with Portrait of Isabella d "Este(1500, Louvre, Paris), executed in black chalk, charcoal and pastel.

In the spring of 1500, Leonardo arrived in Florence, where he soon received an order to paint an altarpiece in the monastery of the Annunciation. The order was never completed, but one of the options is the so-called. Burlington House Cardboard(1499, National Gallery, London).

One of the significant orders Leonardo received in 1502 to decorate the wall of the meeting room of the Signoria in Florence was Battle of Anghiari(not preserved). Another wall for decoration was given to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), who painted there a picture Battle of Kashin... Leonardo's sketches, now lost, showed a panorama of the battle, in the center of which a battle for the banner took place. Leonardo's and Michelangelo's cardboards exhibited in 1505 were a huge success. As with Last supper, Leonardo experimented with paints, as a result of which the paint layer gradually peeled off. But preparatory drawings, copies, which partly give an idea of ​​the scale of this work, have survived. In particular, a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) has survived, which shows the central scene of the composition (c. 1615, Louvre, Paris).
For the first time in the history of battle painting, Leonardo showed the drama and fury of the battle.

MONA LISA. Louvre, Paris Mona lisa- the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1506, Louvre, Paris). Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the third wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. Now the picture is slightly changed: initially the columns were drawn on the left and right, now cut off. The small-sized painting makes a monumental impression: Mona Lisa is shown against the background of a landscape, where the depth of space, an airy haze are conveyed with the greatest perfection. The famous sfumato technique of Leonardo is brought here to unprecedented heights: the thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro, enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows. There is something elusive, bewitching and attractive in a light smile, in the liveliness of facial expressions, in the stately calmness of the posture, in the immobility of the smooth lines of the hands.

In 1506 Leonardo received an invitation to Milan from Louis XII of France (1462-1515). Having given Leonardo complete freedom of action, regularly paying him, the new patrons did not demand certain work from him. Leonardo is fond of scientific research, sometimes turning to painting. Then the second option was written Madonna of the Rocks(1506-1508, British National Gallery, London).

MADONNA WITH CHILD AND ST. ANNOY. OK. 1510. Louvre, Paris

St. Anna with Mary and the Christ Child(1500–1510, Louvre, Paris) - one of the themes of Leonardo's work, to which he repeatedly addressed. The latest development on this topic remained unfinished.

In 1513 Leonardo went to Rome, to the Vatican, to the court of Pope Leo X (1513-1521), but soon lost the Pope's favor. He studies plants in the botanical garden, makes plans for draining the Pontine swamps, writes notes for a treatise on the structure of the human voice. At this time he created the only one Self-portrait(1514, Bibliotheque Reale, Turin), performed by a sanguine, showing a gray-haired old man with a long beard and gaze.

The last painting of Leonardo was also painted in Rome - Saint John the Baptist(1515, Louvre, Paris). St. John is shown pampered with a seductive smile and feminine gestures.

Once again, Leonardo received an offer from the French king, this time from Francis I (1494-1547), the successor of Louis XII: to move to France, to an estate near the royal castle of Amboise. In 1516 or 1517, Leonardo arrives in France, where he is assigned an apartment in the Clou estate. Surrounded by the king's respectful admiration, he is awarded the title of "First Painter, Engineer and Architect of the King." Leonardo, despite his age and illness, is engaged in the drawing of canals in the Loire Valley, takes part in the preparation of the court festivities.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, leaving his drawings and papers by will to Francesco Melzi, a student who kept them all his life. But after his death, all the countless papers were distributed all over the world, some were lost, some are kept in different cities, in museums around the world.

A scientist by vocation Leonardo, even now, amazes with the breadth and variety of his scientific interests. His research in the field of aircraft design is unique. He studied the flight, planning of birds, the structure of their wings, and created the so-called. ornithopter, wing-flapping aircraft, and unrealized. Created a pyramidal parachute, a model of a spiral propeller (a version of a modern propeller). Observing nature, he became an expert in botany: he was the first to describe the laws of phyllotaxy (the laws governing the arrangement of leaves on the stem), heliotropism and geotropism (the laws of the influence of the sun and gravity on plants), discovered a way to determine the age of trees by annual rings. He was an expert in the field of anatomy: he was the first to describe the valve of the right ventricle of the heart, demonstrated anatomy, etc. He created a system of drawings that still help students understand the structure of the human body: he showed an object in four views in order to examine it from all sides, created an image system organs and bodies in cross section. Interesting is his research in the field of geology: he gave descriptions of sedimentary rocks, explanations of marine deposits in the mountains of Italy. As an optical scientist, he knew that visual images on the cornea of ​​the eye are projected upside down. Probably the first to use a camera obscura for sketching landscapes (from Latin camera - room, obscurus - dark) - a closed box with a small hole in one of the walls; rays of light are reflected on the frosted glass on the other side of the box, and create an inverted color image, used by landscape painters of the 18th century. for accurate reproduction of views). In Leonardo's drawings, there is a project for an instrument for measuring the intensity of light, a photometer, which was only brought to life three centuries later. He designed canals, sluices, dams. Some of his ideas include lightweight water walking shoes, a lifebuoy, webbed swimming gloves, an underwater device similar to a modern spacesuit, rope-making machines, grinders, and much more. Talking to the mathematician Luca Pacioli, who wrote the textbook About Divine Proportion Leonardo became interested in this science and created illustrations for this textbook.

Leonardo also acted as an architect, but none of his projects was ever implemented. He participated in the competition for the design of the central dome of Milan Cathedral, created the design of the mausoleum for the members of the royal family in the Egyptian style, the project he proposed to the Turkish sultan for the construction of a huge bridge across the Bosphorus, under which ships could pass.

A large number of drawings by Leonardo, made by sanguine, colored crayons, pastels (it is Leonardo who is credited with the invention of pastels), silver pencil, and chalk remained.

In Milan, Leonardo begins to write Treatise on painting, the work on which lasted all my life, but was never finished. In this multivolume reference book, Leonardo wrote about how to recreate the world around him on canvas, about linear and aerial perspective, proportions, anatomy, geometry, mechanics, optics, about the interaction of colors, and reflexes.

John the Baptist. 1513-16

Madonna Litta 1478-1482 Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

Leda with a swan 1508 - 1515 Uffi Gallery, Florence, Italy

The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci left a colossal mark not only in art, but also in science and technology. Painter, sculptor, architect - he was a naturalist, mechanic, engineer, mathematician, made many discoveries for subsequent generations. He was the greatest personality of the Renaissance.

"Vitruvian Man"- the common name for the graphic drawing of da Vinci, made in 1492. as an illustration to the entries in one of the diaries. The figure shows a nude male figure. Strictly speaking, these are even two superimposed images of the same figure, but in different poses. A circle and a square are described around the figure. The manuscript containing this drawing is sometimes also called the "Canon of Proportions" or simply "Human Proportions." Now this work is kept in one of the museums in Venice, but it is rarely exhibited, since this exhibit is truly unique and valuable both as a work of art and as a subject of study.

Leonardo created his "Vitruvian Man" as an illustration of the geometric studies he carried out on the basis of the treatise of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius (hence the name of da Vinci's work). In the treatise of the philosopher and researcher, the proportions of the human body were taken as the basis for all architectural proportions. Da Vinci, on the other hand, applied the research of the ancient Roman architect to painting, which once again clearly illustrates the principle of the unity of art and science put forward by Leonardo. In addition, this work also reflects the master's attempt to correlate man with nature. It is known that da Vinci considered the human body as a reflection of the universe, i.e. I was convinced that it functions according to the same laws. The author himself regarded the Vitruvian man as a "cosmography of the microcosm." This figure also has a deep symbolic meaning. The square and circle in which the body is inscribed do not simply reflect physical, proportional characteristics. The square can be interpreted as the material being of a person, and the circle is his spiritual basis, and the points of contact of geometric figures with each other and with the body inserted into them can be considered as a connection between these two foundations of human existence. For many centuries, this drawing was considered as a symbol of the ideal symmetry of the human body and the universe as a whole.

There are people who seemed to be ahead of their time, came from the future. As a rule, they are poorly understood by their contemporaries; they look eccentric among the people around them. But time passes, and humanity realizes -, a harbinger of the future. In this article we will talk about where Leonardo da Vinci was born, how he is known, what legacy he left us.

Who is Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is known to the world, first of all, as an artist, whose brush belongs to the legendary "La Gioconda". People who are a little more in-depth in the subject will also name his other world-famous masterpieces: "The Last Supper", "The Lady with the Ermine" ... In fact, being an unsurpassed artist, he left not so many of his paintings to posterity.

And this did not happen because Leonardo was lazy. He was just a very versatile person. In addition to painting, he devoted a lot of time to the study of anatomy, worked on sculptures, and was deeply fond of architecture. For example, a bridge built according to the project of an Italian is still functioning in Norway. But he calculated and designed this project more than five centuries ago!

But Leonardo da Vinci himself considered himself a scientist, engineer and thinker. A huge number of his notes and drawings have come down to us, indicating that this man was long ahead of his time.

In fairness, it must be said that not all of his inventions belong exclusively to Leonardo himself. It seems that he often used other people's guesses as well. His merit lies in the fact that he was able to notice an interesting idea in time, hone it, and translate it into drawings. Here is just a short list of those ideas and mechanisms that he was able to describe or make graphic sketches of their designs:

• an aircraft resembling a helicopter;
• self-propelled carriage (prototype of a car);
• a military vehicle that protects the soldiers inside it (analogous to a modern tank);
• parachute;
• crossbow (the drawing is supplied with detailed calculations);
• "Rapid-fire machine" (the idea of ​​modern automatic weapons);
• spotlight;
• telescope;
• diving apparatus.

The most interesting thing is that the overwhelming majority of this man's ideas did not receive any practical application during his lifetime. Moreover, his developments and calculations were considered ridiculous, stupid, they were gathering dust in libraries and book collections for hundreds of years. But when their time came, it turned out that often only the lack of the necessary materials and manufacturing technologies prevented them from finding their real life.

But we began our story by mentioning the birthplace of the genius. He was born near Florence, in the small village of Anchiano, in fact, a suburb of a town called Vinci. Actually, he then gave the genius the now known name, because "da Vinci" can be translated as "from Vinci." The real name of the boy sounded like "Leonardo di sire Piero da Vinci" (his father's name was Piero). Date of birth - April 15, 1452.

Piero was a notary and tried to involve his son in the office work, but he did not have any interest in him. As a teenager, Leonardo found himself a student of the famous artist Andrea del Verrocchio, from Florence. The boy turned out to be unusually talented, so much so that after a few years the teacher realized that the student had surpassed him.

Already in those years, the young artist pays special attention to human anatomy. He was the first of the medieval painters who began to carefully draw the human body, returning to the forgotten ancient traditions. Looking ahead, it should be said that Leonardo left behind him the most valuable records on the anatomy of the human body with the most accurate sketches, according to which doctors studied for several centuries.

In 1476, the young man ended up in Milan, where he opened his own painting workshop. After another 6 years, he ended up at the court of the ruler of Milan, where, in addition to painting, he held the position of organizer of holidays. He made masks and costumes, created sets, which made it possible to combine painting with engineering and architectural activities. He spent about 13 years at court, earning, among other things, the fame of a skilled cook!

In the last years of his life, Leonardo da Vinci found himself in France, at the court of King Francis I. The monarch settled his guest in the castle of Clos-Luce, near Amboise, the royal residence. This happened in 1516. He was entrusted with the post of chief royal engineer and architect, and he was given a huge salary for those times. At the end of his life, the dream of this man came true - to completely surrender to his beloved work, not thinking about a piece of bread.

At this time, he completely stopped drawing, took up architectural and engineering activities. But a year later, his health deteriorated greatly, his right hand refused to work. He died in April 1519, in the same Clos-Luce, among his students and his manuscripts. The castle of Amboise still houses the grave of the painter and.