Leonardo da Vinci: Artist or Scientist - Essay Example

Leonardo da Vinci: Artist or Scientist How much has he contributed to science, and how much to that of art Leonardo's art almost connected with thatof his science that the former cannot be known without the acquaintance with the latter. Knowledge and art are never separate in Leonardo (Catholic Encyclopedia). Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, his true name, was born on May 2, 1519, son of Ser Piero, a notary, and a peasant woman. He was reared carefully by his father for he had such varied talent and encyclopedic knowledge. He was an original artist, he combined fact with poetry and made use of both to carry on wide investigations in nature and to reproduce life according to its very laws. (Catholic Encyclopedia) Leonardo da Vinci is best described as one of the greatest minds of the Renaissance. He was born in a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. He was a multi-talented artist-scientist who excelled in various fields as painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scholar. "Leonardo was one of the greatest men of science in history, but the world which admired him as an artist did not discover the man of science until many centuries after his death" (Dibner, 380). He was chosen the 13th among the "Immortals of Science" by nearly 1,200 college and university presidents, editors of science periodicals, science editors of the world's great newspapers, and professors of science at scores of universities. (Dibner, 380) Leonardo's fascination with machines probably began during his boyhood. Some of his earliest sketches clearly show how various machine parts worked. As an apprentice in the studio of the artist Verrocchio, Leonardo observed and used a variety of machines. By studying them he gained practical knowledge about their design and structure. (Museum of Science) During the Renaissance, European artists began to study the model of nature more closely and to paint with the goal of greater realism. They learned to create lifelike people and animals, and they became skilled at creating the illusion of depth and distance on flat walls and canvases by using the techniques of linear perspective. (Holmes, 87) In the fifteenth century, Italy was not the unified country we know today; rather it was divided into many small independent states. Naples in the south was ruled by a series of kings. Popes of the Roman Catholic Church ruled the middle section. To the north different families controlled the largest and wealthiest city-states of Florence, Milan, and Venice. They fought wars against each other and against smaller neighboring states to increase their power. (Museum of Science) In that time of the renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci trained as a painter, and his amazing power of observation and skill as an illustrator enabled him to notice and recreate the effects he saw in nature. Leonardo was curious and observant, and wrote down and sketched so many of his observations in his notebooks. He was among the very first to take a scientific approach towards understanding of the world. (Museum of Science: Leonardo's Perspective) Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. He used "mirror writing", starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left. He did this probably to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas. Another reason is that he was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church; and also, writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it; therefore he chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging. (Museum of Science) As an artist, Leonardo borrowed almost nothing from the past - a few details in a candelabrum in the small "Annunciation" of the Louvre, rare sketches such as the "Dancers" of the Academy of Venice, a warrior's head at London (British Museum). Leonardo, therefore, is the first of the "moderns". (Catholic Encyclopedia) Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his enormous fame rested on his achievements as a painter and on a handful of works, either authenticated or attributed to him that have been regarded as among the supreme masterpieces ever created. (Arasse, 11-15) Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, his interest in physiognomy and the way in which humans register emotion in expression and gesture, his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition and his use of the subtle gradation of tone. They are depicted in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and the Virgin of the Rocks. (Hartt, 387) Prevalent at that time was the mother and child with the divine expression and poetry of life expressed from the human race, and the Madonnas of Raphael and Andrea del Sarto of which Leonardo applied in the "Virgin of the Rocks" and "St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin". In his drawings of flowers, plants, landscapes, and in his studies of persons, it is impossible to say whether it is the botanist, the geologist, the anatomist or the artist who interests us most. The characteristics frequently seen in the men of the Renaissance, the encyclopedic turn of mind so striking in a Leone Battista Alberti, a Bramante, or a Drer, is never more brilliantly evident than in Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo used his observation and experiment in his works. (Catholic Encyclopedia: The Scholar) His most important work at Milan is the "Last Supper" which he painted in the refectory of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie. Dampness soaked and ruined the work, aggravated with some vandalism. In 1652 a door was opened in the wall mutilating the feet of Christ and two Apostles. In 1726 and 1770 daubers wrought a masterpiece of injury with their restorations, and finally in 1797 a French army occupied the convent and made a stable of the refectory; even Bonaparte's orders could not prevent the men from mutilating the "Last Supper". There have been attempts to preserve of what remains of the painting, and copies have been collected in the refectory of Sta Maria delle Grazie; among them the best of all, which was formerly at Castellazzonear Milan, is believed to be by Solari. Another excellent copy is preserved at Ponte Capriasca, a neighbouring parish of Lugano. The Academy of London has one while there are two at Paris, one at the Louvre, and the other at St. Germain l'Auxerrois. (Catholic Encyclopedia) In 1469 to 1478, Florence was ruled by Lorenzo de Medici who contributed to history with his patronage of the arts and to the flowering of Florentine genius, supporting such giants as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Lorenzo treated the artists under his protection with respect and warm-hearted familiarity. The artistic explosion of the Renaissance, illuminates the legacy of the Medici family and the great Italian masters - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael (Holmes). Lorenzo Medici became Leonardo's political contemporary (Hartt, 1970). Through the Medici brothers Leonardo came to know the older Humanist philosophers of whom Marsiglio Ficino, proponent of Neo Platonism, Cristoforo Landino and John Argyropoulos, teacher of Greek and translator of Aristotle, were foremost. Associated with the Academy of the Medici was Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola (Rachun). Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were known as the three giants of the High Renaissance, but they were not of the same generation. Leonardo was already 23 when Michelangelo was born and 31 when Raphael was born. (Brucker, 1969) For four hundred years, Leonardo's fame rested on his achievements as a painter but on a handful of works, either authenticated or attributed to him but which are regarded as among the supreme masterpieces ever created (Arasse, 11 -15). In the Science News-letter dated December 9, 1933, it was reported that one of the long-sought masterpieces painted by Leonardo da Vinci, unrecognized for four centuries, had been found and identified. This was announced by Prof. J. D. Paulson of North Carolina State College. This was the picture of the Birth of Christ, and if this was accepted could be added to Leonardo's two other paintings, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. The painting was once among the Russian royal art treasures in the Hermitage of Petrograd, known as a painting by Botticelli and goes under the title The Adoration of the Kings. (Science Service Inc.) The question now is: was Leonardo Da Vinci revered more as an artist or a scientist Or, had he had an opportunity to work on his scientific aspects more than his art, would he have been looked upon differently in society These questions could be answered in the light of what really happened during the time of the renaissance period and immediately after the death of Leonardo. As said earlier, the world which admired him as an artist did not discover the man of science until many centuries after his death. He was recognized as an artist, lived and worked as an artist, but his ideas as a scientist were hidden because of the opposition of the powerful Roman Catholic Church. If he was free to voice out and air his ideas, it would have been a different ball game. His scientific ideas and even his engineering talent could have been harnessed altogether and he could have risen powerfully. Dibner (1960) adds that modern science is catching up with Leonardo's thoughts, and compensates for 400 years of neglect. Leonardo's first published work appeared 132 years after his death, and a commentary on his work in science was first published by Venturi in 1797. Translations of his more detailed scientific studies were first made by Richter in 1882. The six magnificent folio volumes published in Oslo in 1911-16 revealed the full scope of Leonardo's work in anatomy. Another book was published by O'Malley and 'Saunders entitled Leonardo the Anatomist. It was for this reason that Castiglioni in his A History of Medicine said that Leonardo's work was "the grandest effort ever made by any man to explore and interpret the universe". (Dibner, 380) CONCLUSION Leonardo da Vinci is both artist and scientist. His works in painting and his contributions to science are both remarkable and, to say the least, original in those times. Even up to the present time, his ideas and theories in science are well respected and thought of. Works Cited Arasse, Daniel, Leonardo da Vinci. 1997. Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 1 56852 1987. Dibner, Bern. Leonardo da Vinci, Man of Science. Science. New Series. Vol. 131, No. 3398. Feb. 12, 1960, p. 380. 25 March 2008. Brucker, Gene A., Renaissance Florence, 1969, Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0-471-11370-0 Hartt, Frederich, A History of Italian Renaissance Art, (1970) Thames and Hudson, ISBN 0500231362 Holmes, George. The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy (Oxford Illustrated Histories). New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Museum of Science. Inventor's Workshop. 25 March 2008 Rachum, Ilan, The Renaissance, an Illustrated Encyclopedia, Octopus, ISBN 0-7064-0857-8 Science Service, Inc. Masterpiece of Da Vinci Lost Four Centuries Reported Found, The Science News-Letter, Vol. 24, No. 661. (Dec. 9, 1933), p. 372. 25 March 2008, Read More