Leonardo Da Vinci's Influence on Western Civilization - Essay Example

Leonardo da Vinci’s Impact on Western Civilization Leonardo da Vinci is most commonly thought of as a great painter who lived during the time of the Italian Renaissance, making significant contributions to the world of art. He produced several material works of art that continue to be revered. His artistic techniques were recorded regarding his use of color and light to create more realistic, dimensional images on a flat surface. The word ‘Renaissance’ literally means ‘rebirth,’ but “the term ‘Renaissance’ might now be defined as a model of cultural history in which the culture of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe is represented as a repudiation of medieval values in favor of the revival of the culture of ancient Greece and Rome” (Campbell, 2004). The Renaissance period is characterized by a renewed focus on learning and knowledge. This renewed focus on learning and knowledge encouraged the curious Leonardo to explore all his interests in nature and life. Discovering how things work had fascinated him since he was a young boy in the Italian countryside. More than just painting, Leonardo displayed a particular genius in investigating many subjects, constantly learning, observing and making hypotheses that he would test out whenever he could. “His four main areas of study resulted in what are known as his Treatises, on painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy” (Mason, 2004: 21). His method of approaching these topics was vastly different from that of his forebears. Rather than relying on the traditions of the past to inform him about the world around him, Leonardo developed many new ways of looking at the world, thus having a significant impact upon Western society as we know it today. It is undeniable that Leonardo developed numerous painting techniques in his well-known works that have changed the way artists depicted the world, but he also revolutionized several other fields, paving the way, in many cases, for the developments of technology we now enjoy in the Western world. Although most of Leonardo’s architectural ideas were never carried out, his plans for a re-design of a city included a series of waterways that would function to keep the city streets clean. This plan included a series of locks, canals and paddlewheels that would function to wash the streets on a regular basis (Whitcombe, 2004). “He proposed to build a new city, breaking it up into towns of 30,000 each; there would be watercourses to carry off the sewage and the streets would be broad and airy, the width equal to the average height of the houses” (Wallace, 1966). Leonardo’s ideas regarding how to redesign Milan to reduce the risk for disease were not realized in his lifetime. Several centuries later, though, the County Council of London declared his measurement of the width of the street compared to the height of the houses was the ideal proportion and used it to lay out their new streets (Wallace, 1966). He also designed the streets to be built on two levels, creating a higher level for pedestrian use and a lower level for commercial use. In addition to this anticipation of potential traffic problems, Leonardo’s planning included the consideration of the streets’ practical use. To reduce the problem of vagrants defiling hidden landings on the stairways that would connect the levels, Leonardo designed the new city with spiral stairways. Although only a few of his major investigations and works have been explored, Leonardo’s notebooks are filled with many more inventions and designs in a number of different areas. Some of his more practical designs included the invention of a jack to help lift heavy weights, an alarm clock of sorts that functioned to lift his feet out of the bed after a certain amount of water had dripped into a reservoir and several instruments that helped him to measure time, distance, inclination and atmospheric humidity among other things. In 1502, he “drew a map of Imola that was amazingly accurate, the first real topographic map of a city” (Labella, 1990: 132). In working for Cesare Borgia, he designed several military machines. These included the submarine, the tank and the automobile. To save his patron’s men from the dangerous recoil of the traditional cannons and backfire, he designed the ballista, a giant crossbow. This also provided the troops with a more accurate weapon to aim at their enemies. Several of his inventions paved the way for later ideas. The hydraulic screw operated with the force of slowly dripping water and was the early ancestor of the water turbine which wasn’t invented until the 19th century. His variable speed drive gear system wasn’t used for anything during the Renaissance, but is in wide use today in many of the transmission systems in modern automobiles. He made improvements to Gutenberg’s printing press that enabled it to be operated by one man alone with the aid of a screw, even though the designs weren’t actually put into use until the 17th century. A file-cutter he designed used a threaded shaft to automatically control the movement of a file blank so that it was scored evenly by a trip hammer. At the same time, a falling weight was used to provide the power in a clockwork-type mechanism. This mechanism, applied to an industrial use, represents a step toward automation that would not be recognized for many centuries (“Leonardo da Vinci Collection”, 2005). Leonardo is also well-known for his intimate and careful study of human anatomy, perhaps most considered with his famous Vitruvian Man. In conducting his research, Leonardo is generally credited with basically inventing the current system of medical investigation. “His ability to investigate a vast range of subjects by meticulous observation, rational thought, and teleological deductive reasoning, associated with a divine gift for drawing, produced anatomical and physiological revelations, elements of which remain relevant now. By applying rigorous contemporary methods of logic and rhetoric, he was able to derive important ideas and truths that were not recognized in his own time” (Wells & Crowe, 2004: 929). Investigating the pages and pages of Leonardo’s remaining notebooks, it can be seen that his many inventions and designs were based on his early fascination with nature. In greeting the plague in Milan, he was able to deduce the unnatural crowded living spaces and habit of living close to the garbage heaps in the street could have led to the spread of the disease. His observations of natural spaces, the play of light along the street and the advantage of canals in keeping things sanitary helped him design an ideal city that was used as a model two hundred years later. The examinations he made regarding the properties of water enabled him to develop a large series of devices that measured all types of weather conditions. It also gave him the ability to envision canal systems that would bring ships to Florence through a series of locks, improve existing sanitation and canal systems and plan for the systematic flooding of areas as a defensive tactic. His careful study of the flights of birds and bats, as well as their anatomical makeup brought him to the very edge of the discovery of flight four hundred years before it was ever achieved. Although he hadn’t managed to achieve flight himself, Leonardo was able to develop ideas of how to assist an aviator maintain direction when above the clouds and of how an aviator can return safely to the ground “from any height” (Lee, 2002). His many other inventions provided blueprints for future engineers to study and develop, coming up with improvements and eventually finding ways to make these ideas work. Although some of Leonardo’s ideas are still not understood, what can be said with certainty was he was a keen observer of nature, a genius at making innovative connections and a bold designer of dreams. This has had an impact upon the direction of Western society as people began defining their world in more realistic terms and began developing an understanding of the world around them in mechanistic terms. Although Leonardo’s approach was more holistic in nature, “Leonardo followed the tradition of Pythagoras and Aristotle, and he combined it with his empirical method to formulate a science of living forms, their patterns of organization and their processes of growth and transformation” (Capra, 2007), those who followed him focused more upon his comparison drawings between the mechanics of nature and the mechanics of technology. It is only now, in the present century, being understood that Leonardo saw the universe in a more properly interconnected sphere, in which nature and design worked in similar yet different ways based upon familiar patterns based upon their intrinsic properties which were unique to each given form. His “attitude of seeing nature as a model and mentor is being rediscovered in the practice of ecological design. Like Leonardo da Vinci 500 years ago, ecodesigners today study the patterns and flows in the natural world and try to incorporate the underlying principles into their work” (Capra, 2007). Much of the brilliance of his ideas regarding the interconnectedness of creation were lost through the ages as his notebooks lie dormant, but concepts such as his scientific method and some of the machines he built were available for other designers and scientists of his time, eventually developed into the modern scientific approach. As more and more is understood regarding Leonardo’s ideas and observations, as well as further knowledge is developed regarding the interconnection of various processes of life on this planet, scientists are gaining greater appreciation for Leonardo’s forethought. His revolutionary concepts regarding painting and art helped to inform him on a true depiction of the world and a keen observation of the processes that occurred within it. From these ideas, he was able to understand some of the more common processes of nature and to develop ideas regarding designs that took these processes into account. His ideas regarding how to construct machinery and industrial processes were instrumental in the design of the factories and production plants of the future. His drawings and ideas regarding machines to help humans accomplish what had previously been thought impossible helped to inspire future scientists and designers in creating the machines we depend on today. By studying the natural flow of water and air through spaces, he was able to design cities that would provide for healthy living of their inhabitants while allowing for the free movement of pedestrians and trade goods. His ordered process of investigating the workings of anatomy contributed greatly to the development of the scientific method still used in laboratories and doctor’s offices today. As we discover more about the world around us, or perhaps re-discover would be the more appropriate word, we are able to appreciate to an even greater extent the various things Leonardo was trying to teach us. Works Cited Campbell, Gordon. Renaissance Art and Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Capra, Fritjof. “The Tao of Da Vinci.” Ode Magazine. (November 2007). May 7, 2008 < http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/48/the-tao-of-da-vinci> Labella, Vincenzo. A Season of Giants: 1492-1508. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. Lee, Daniel. “Building the Best.” Superstructures of America. Katie Streten (Ed.). London: Channel 4, September 2002. “Leonardo da Vinci Collection.” Samuel C. Williams Library. 2005. Stevens Institute of Technology. May 7, 2008 Mason, Antony. Leonardo da Vinci. Strongsville, OH: Gareth Stevens, 2004. Wells, F.C. & Crowe, T. “Leonardo da Vinci as a Paradigm for Modern Clinical Research.” The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Vol. 127, (2004): 929-944. Wallace, Robert. The World of Leonardo: 1452-1519. New York: Time-Life Books, 1966. Whitcombe, Chris. “Leonardo da Vinci and Water.” H2O: The Mystery, Art and Science of Water. 2004. Sweet Briar College. May 7, 2008 Read More