Life, thoughts and works of Leonardo Da Vinci

Which Century did you say?!

Not bad for a self-educated man!

Adoration of the Magi: Christ-child hand gives a divine blessing, intensity of the Virgin’s loving gaze, energy that radiates from the centre, tumultuous background - destruction of the pagan world:

Virgin of the Rocks: First time such a setting chosen, caves being traditionally an entrance to the underworld. Leonardo, looking into a dark cave trying to make out what was within “when suddenly there arose in me two things, fear and desire – fear of that dark threatening cave (the unknown, a desert place); desire to see if there was some marvellous thing within (curiosity)” .

No Joseph father figure. Mother’s hand shelters and protects, the angel points, the Christ-child child blesses. A symphony of hands. In the gloom of the cave is a mystical light. Above the Virgin’s head is manger straw, below Christ’s foot cyclamen with heart-shaped flowers, an emblem of love and devotion. Above his knee is primrose, an emblem of virtue. The acanthus plant below St. John was considered a symbol of the resurrection. In the rock cornices are St. John’s wort – the small dots of red on yellow petals representing spilled blood. The painting captures the spiritual within the secular.

The Sforzo Horse. One of many unfinished projects

A lost work. Depiction of Florentine military valour, defeating invading Milanese troops. The scene captures contortion, commotion, grimness, gore, power, and fury.

Leda and the Swan depicts the twins hatched by Leda after being impregnated by Jupiter in the guise of a swan. Da Vinci’s own abandonment and escape issues seem present in this painting, as do the intersection of the divine and the secular.

The sketch for Virgin and Child painting with St Anne and the Infant St. John. The group is sitting near a stream on a hot day, and again there is no father figure. The gazes and emotions are palpable. A meditation on motherhood.

The Last Supper, most reproduced religious painting of all time.

Parody of himself as a ‘renaissance man’ – a low self-concept, impotent, decrepit, unworthy, disillusioned, marginalised, tortured.

A self-portrait done in his twilight years:

Also unfinished, in the Mona Lisa there is mystery, and a depiction of distance, in his words “a perspective of loss”. It is said to be a portrait of Florentine housewife Lisa Gherardini, fashionably dressed, softened by motherhood, but a certain agelessness behind her secret or contented smile. A mood painting. Arguably the world’s most famous painting.

St John the Baptist. Said to be Leonardo’s last painting, completed 2-3 years before he died at age 67. The painting is in sfumato (smoky) style. Here we see the subtleties of shadow and light. St. John emerges out of the darkness, pointing to heaven, a cross in his other hand. The hair is braided hair, the smile seems enigmatic, both sexy and saintly.

To review a life is to consider the imprint it makes - the legacy it leaves.The after fragrance of Leonardo’s life was in its time an antidote to the authoritarian controls of Church and State. He showed the nobility of the human spirit in a sublime way through a life that was full of struggle and difficulty. He soared above the very institutions and instincts thatdefined people’s lives at that time. Thank goodness he wasn't burned at the stake. The genius of Leonardo seems to grow exponentially as the years pass.

Genetics, emotional and spiritual intelligence, sheer inventiveness and creative intellect, unrestrained cognitive interconnection and genius, have all seemed to conspire in something quite unique in Leonardo. He gave true substance to the fact that anything is possible!

Leonardo’s life showed an alchemy of various influences, bestowed gifts and a prophetic intuitiveintelligence that brought a huge legacy.