Leonardo da Vinci

The Ideal “Renaissance

Man”

I. Early LifeA. Born April 15, 1452

B. Extremely curious; observed natural world for hours

C. Showed artistic talent artist at very early age

1. Apprenticed to Verrocchio, famous Florentine painter

2. Assisted Verrocchio with The Baptism of Christ & other works

II. Leonardo the NaturalistA. Felt the best way to learn about the world

was to observe1. Spent hours studying & sketching nature

2. Studied flow of water & theorized on creation of canals similar to Panama Canal opened in 1914 3. Studied flight of

birds; theorized on flight of man

III. Leonardo the AnatomistA. Received corpses from Florence morgue

1. Dissected corpses to study body & how it works

2. Believed understanding anatomy enhanced his art

3. First to diagram skeletal & muscular system, the eye, brain, heart & human fetus

4. Discoveries were hundreds of years ahead of their time, were not published until after his death

B. Da Vinci’s study of the ideal human body: Vitruvian Man

Studies of an unborn human fetus

IV. Leonardo the EngineerA. If asked, Leonardo would have said

he was first an engineer

B. Most of his designs never built1. System for operating a steering wheel2. Portable bridges built 500 years later

3. The armored tank; designed so it could not be built

4. Multi-barreled cannon on a cart self-driven with gears & weights

5. Designed the parachute 300 years before the first jump

Leonardo’s Diving Suit

V. Fascinated with FlightA. Da Vinci was fascinated with

human flight

1. Studied forms of birds & bats to design his “ornithopter”

Da Vinci’s helicopter –the “Aerial Screw”

Modern models of the ornithopterand aerial screw.

VI. Leonardo the SculptorA. As a sculptor, da Vinci was

fascinated with anatomy & musculature of horses1. Designed massive bronze horse

sculpture for Duke of Milan2. Bronze was assembled, but made

into weapons when Milan was attacked

3. Not built during da Vinci’s life4. Completed in 1999 as gift from

USA to Milan Play Video

Beeswax cast of Horse & Rider - the only Leonardo sculpture in existence

5. Before painting or sculpting, Leonardo completed sketches called “studies”

VII. Leonardo the PainterA. Leonardo is definitely most well-

known as a painter1. Often made his own paints2. Pioneered layering of paint & use of

perspective & vanishing points3. Invented sfumato (smoke) technique,

where colors blended without clear lines of division

Da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks

Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa

Da Vinci’s The Last Supper

VIII. Leonardo’s LegacyA. Considered the greatest mind

of the Renaissance and greatest example of the “Renaissance Man”

1. A master of many different talents

B. Served Dukes, Kings, Popes

C. Died peacefully of old age at his home in Amboise, France

1. May 2, 1519