da Vinci da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Leonardo da Vinci was born in the year 1452 in the small hill town of Vinci, Italy. His father was a successful notary and his mother a peasant woman.

The Renaissance Man Leonardo was and is best known as an artist, the creator of such masterpieces as the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and The Last Supper. Yet Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the best scientific minds of his time. He made painstaking observations and carried out research in fields ranging from architecture and civil engineering to astronomy to anatomy and zoology to geography, geology and paleontology.

Leonardo the Inventor Archimedes' screw Water wheel Tank Helicopter

More Inventions Flying machine War machine

Leonardo the Scientist Leonardo kept many journals of his scientific findings He performed autopsies before they were legal to learn about how the human body worked

Striving for Realism During the Renaissance, European artists began to study the model of nature more closely and to paint with the goal of greater realism.

Linear Perspective 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.

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Leonardo the Painter The Mona Lisa La Gioconda 1503-06 (150 Kb); Oil on wood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in); Musee du Louvre, Paris

The Last Supper 1498 (180 Kb); Fresco, 460 x 880 cm (15 x 29 ft); Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Refectory), Milan

Madonna of the Rocks 1483-1486 199 x 122 см Louvre, Paris

Lady with an Ermine 1483-90 (150 Kb); Oil on wood, 53.4 x 39.3 cm (21 x 15 1/2 in); Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland

Right to Left No one knows the true reason Leonardo used mirror writing, though several possibilities have been suggested: He was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas. He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed. Writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it. Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging. Leonardo’s writings in a mirror

Leonardo Da Vinci 1452-1519 Vinci, Italy Renaissance Man Mona Lisa, Last Supper Artist, Scientist, Genius

Art Critique Description (Who, what, when,where) Analysis (how did the artist use the elements/principles of art?) Interpretation (What does it mean?) Judgement (Is it good art?) La Gioconda 1503-06 (150 Kb); Oil on wood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in); Musee du Louvre, Paris

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