Leonardo Da Vinci And Machiavelli's Role In Secular Italy

The Renaissance was a time of classical revival and a turning point from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period in the course of history. Ancient texts and artifacts became sources of inspiration for intellectuals and artists alike, and the desire to emulate—or even surpass the achievements of the past prompted them to study antiquities closely and saw them as models and guidance. People were consciously distinguishing themselves from the medieval thoughts and using history to make something new for their own era. In the field of political philosophy there’s no exception. Niccolo Machiavelli is perhaps the most representative and groundbreaking figure of this trend in political philosophy. With his erudition in ancient literature, histories and political thoughts, Machiavelli draws various sources from antiquity to critic and response to the political environment of histime. While one may find seemingly discrepancies in The Prince and The Discourse on the First Ten Books of Tius Livy, the use of histories as guide to demonstrate or propose ideal rules is apparent in both works. We should note that synthesizing ancient philosophy or thoughts with contemporary thoughts is nothing new. Thomas Aquinas, for example, reconciled Aristotelianism and Christianity in his work Summa Theologica, using ancient antiquity to back up his Christian beliefs. What is so noteworthy in Machiavelli is his emphasis and

Even though Leonardo Da Vinci faced many hardships, like people wanting to either steal or break his painting and hurt him. This forced him to travel a lot, but he never gave up. He became one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance Time (education-portal.com ).

When reading Machiavelli's writing, one must quickly both differentiate and depersonalize the true feelings of Machiavelli, the person, as opposed to Machiavelli writing the book. Machiavelli's work is considered the finest treatise of political science, along with the academic birth of 'realism.' Ends do justify means in Machiavelli's text; however, one must understand that Machiavelli generally only supported violence for a greater purpose, and never more than necessary to retain stability. This was not Machiavelli's opinion alone but was the reality of Italian politics during the period.

Both men lived lives full of art, intrigue, and philosophy, devoting themselves to the betterment of mankind. Doctors, engineers, poets, architects, and artists alike have all drawn inspiration from these Renaissance men. While many today will simply call them artists, I believe they were much more than that. Men of conviction, honor, and dignity that always challenged the best from themselves. As men, though, they suffered from weaknesses that many others have fallen to. Leonardo had a poor attention span, and often would put off a project to work on other things. Michelangelo was known to have a short temper, and would become extremely aggressive any time he was tested. Sometimes we like to look past the weakness of those we look up to, as a way of making them out to be a god. To do this only taints the legacy of men like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. As strong minded people, they both understood their own humanity and weaknesses, and used these weaknesses to propel themselves forward. Leonardo though unable to stick to a project, always wrote down any ideas he had, knowing that they could be used for more than just blank space. Michelangelo concentrated his aggression to always finish his projects, and do so to the best of his ability without flaw. They never let their weaknesses stand in their way to greatness. Nowadays, we can take more inspiration from them than just their art and inventions. We can continue to live like they did, never letting a weakness stop us from reaching our goals, but using that weakness. Using something meant to cause us to stumble, and creating something else out of it. Creating something absolutely beautiful, and new to this

A post Middle Age Italy was afflicted by medieval wars and the bubonic plague. A change was needed to restore the vision of what Italy could become. This change was found within one family: the Medici’s, who helped to return the glory and influence to Florence. The Medici’s saw the value in contributing to the advancement of the greatest minds of the period. This was evident in their patronage of leading Artists such as Michelangelo and of renowned Teachers such as Galileo. The sphere of influence the Medici’s enjoyed also extended to the political arena, which happened to be heavily influenced by the Catholic Church at the time. The Medici’s were able to capitalize on the power of the Church and through this influence and the use of

Hardworking and curious from the beginning, Leonardo dove into any information he could get his hands on in order to fulfill his natural talents of creation. Just at the age of 15 he began to work with his father at the Verrochio work shop where he took the biggest step in his artwork. He grew up around great artists, Verrochio himself, and mastered all the challenges art had too offer. He became so good that around the age of 20 he made Verrochio retire in art, as well as become one of the most famous painters known in Italy. Shortly after he began to work for a Duke, which is where he began to branch into sculpting, designing buildings as well as weapons and machinery. Leonardo was never a man of war because he hated the idea of people dying, but he had to pay his bills some how and that’s the

This rivalry between two creative powerhouses did not begin with the commissioning that would soon be bestowed upon them by Soderini, rather it began when da Vinci returned to Florence two years after his younger counterpart. Da Vinci did not like the level of fame reached by this young star (who was at the time working on the piece that would grant him immortality - the statue of David) and he expected to be treated with the level of respect someone of his stature should demand. However, instead of this Leonardo with greeted with animosity as Michelangelo paid no heed to Leonardo’s preferred artistic output of paintings, instead he saw sculpture as the pinnacle of art and creation, claiming that it was easy to correct an error on canvas, but fixing a mistake in sculpture was nigh on impossible so the greatest artists must therefore create sculptures. This was something that da Vinci wholeheartedly disagreed with.

Niccolo Machiavelli is a very pragmatic political theorist. His political theories are directly related to the current bad state of affairs in Italy that is in dire need of a new ruler to help bring order to the country. Some of his philosophies may sound extreme and many people may call him evil, but the truth is that Niccolo Machiavelli’s writings are only aimed at fixing the current corruptions and cruelties that filled the Italian community, and has written what he believed to be the most practical and efficient way to deal with it. Three points that Machiavelli illustrates in his book The Prince is first, that “it is better to be feared then loved,”# the second

Who would have thought that a rural boy would become one of the greatest minds of history? This boy was born during the Italian Renaissance, a time of great rebirth and renewed interest in cultural arts (Leonardo artist page 3). His name was Leonardo da Vinci, and he was born in April 15, 1452 (Leonardo artist page 9). Many would call Leonardo “a jack of all trades; master of none,” yet possibly he was a master of all (Leonardo artist page 4). He had achieved many talents and countless accomplishments (page 4). A genius at heart, Leonardo had many jobs and careers: “a painter, a sculptor, an inventor, an engineer, a writer, an architect, and… a scientist.” (Leonardo artist page 5) An excellent observer, he would often study his

Author’s Identity: Unlike many other previous writers on military thought, Machiavelli was not from pure or noble blood, although he was of enough social status to become literate. Instead, Machiavelli used his intellect to climb the social ladder the highest legs of Italian social order. From 1501 to 1521, Machiavelli worked as an influencer, author, and military leader. Rather than conceal his intellect to avoid prosecution or death, such as within a monastery, Machiavelli balanced a thin line between critical thought and appeasement in his allegorical experiences with Caesar Borgia.

Beginning with the Renaissance (1400-1600) we see a change in the subject matter being portrayed by artists of the time. We can attribute this change not only to the change in patrons, from the Christian church to wealthy bankers and politicians, but also to the growing body of scientific knowledge. “The Renaissance was

     During Machiavelli’s time, society was much different than it had been for previous philosophers. Instead of storing up good works, so as to enjoy paradise, as the medieval man did, the Renaissance man was interested in all things, enjoyed life, strove for worldly acclaim and wealth, and had a deep interest in classical civilizations. He was born at a time of conflict within Florence, Italy, between the republican leaders and the family of the Medici’s, of which the Machiavelli’s, especially, had a history of opposition towards. After years of conflict between powers, Machiavelli was exiled from his country.

Niccolò Machiavelli is very well known as an important and influential Italian historian, politician, philosopher, and writer during the Renaissance. His book, Discourses on Livy, is a discussion regarding the classical history of early Ancient Rome, although it uses contemporary political examples and strays far away from the subject of Rome at times. It is presented as a series of lessons on how a republic should be started and structured. Most importantly, it constantly brings up the idea of corruption and corrupt people, which is not surprising because we all desire things and search for the simplest way to obtain it, even though the easiest way to obtain something might be a corrupt way.

Machiavelli’s father provided him with a rather sufficient education in religion, classics, and politics. His father loved books. In fact, they had a library where he collected works by Greek and Roman philosophers such as Cicero and Aristotle (Wagner 17). He also collected major studies of Italian history. The books that his father collected provided Niccoló with a foundation of knowledge about the ideas of noble Greek and Roman thinkers (Wagner 17). These books would also help shape Niccoló’s own writings decades later. When Machiavelli grew a little older, he studied at The Studio, which was essentially a school. The Studio gave Machiavelli a solid grounding in rhetoric, grammar, poetry, history, and moral philosophy (King 7). Three days after his 17th birthday, Machiavelli began learning the elements of Latin under the Supervision of a local teacher known as Maestro Matteo, who conducted lessons from a house near the Ponte Santa Trinitia (King 6).

It is fundamentally important to preface the discussion hosted in this essay by addressing ourselves to the most mundane question-why consider Machiavelli in the context of philosophy, least of all, political philosophy? This question dominates any philosophical inquiries of the Machiavelli’s political ideologies. Put differently, do the contributions by Niccolò Machiavelli to the various salient discourses in the Western thought, most notably political theory, meet the requisite standard models of academic philosophy? Machiavelli essentially seems not to consider himself a philosopher. In fact, he overtly disapproved of any philosophical inquiries into his works. In addition, his credentials do not qualify him to be properly admitted within the realm of philosophy (NeDermAN, 2002).