Essay on Magnificent Minds of the Renaissance

(Hutchinson) In 1502, he joined the military of Cesare Borgia as a senior military engineer. Borgia was at the height of his power and was said to be one of the most compelling feared men of his time. da Vinci and Borgia became infatuated with one another and their accomplishments. In Borgia’s court Leonardo met Nicolo Machiavelli. In da Vinci, Machiavelli sparked a curiosity for politics. In 1503, they left Borgia and began planning together a system of canals. It was here while planning the route for the canal that he fell in love with the beauty of the land for his work the Mona Lisa. The project for the canals failed shortly after. In 1506, Leonardo was summoned back to Milan by the French governor. Here he became a painter and engineer to King Louis XII of France. Between 1506 and 1510, he wrote one of his most inclusive notebooks called Codex Leicester. The 72 pages contain da Vinci’s thoughts on astronomy, hydrodynamics, riverbank erosion, and properties of water. The book was bought for 30.8 million dollars in 1994 by Bill Gates. It is the only privately owned manuscripts on da Vinci’s and the only one in the US. In 1513, he relocated to Rome where we worked under the patronage of Guiliano de Medici. Here he also spent much of his time on writing, science, and engineering. Three years later after Giuliano de Medici died he moved to France where King Francis I had extended an invitation to him. He

Leonardo didn’t have the little perfect childhood. Growing up somewhere near Anchiano, near Vinci, the republic of Florence. His father was a Notary, which is basically a really important person to the country of Italy, and his mom, which was a servant. He was the only child between those two, so he didn’t quit receive the attention a child should receive. because of this, he only received a basic education of Reading, Writing and

Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” was painted during his time in Milan, which was from about 1495 to 1498. “The Last Supper” is a tempera and oil mural on plaster. He created this painting for the refectory of the city’s Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Also known as “The Cenacle,” this painting is about fifteen by twenty nine feet and is the artist’s only surviving fresco. The painting depicts the Passover dinner, in which Jesus Christ addresses the Apostles and says, “One of you shall betray me.” One of the painting’s most vivid features in the painting is each Apostle’s distinct emotive expression and body language. When the French in 1499 (invaded Milan) and the Sforza family fled, da Vinci also escaped. He was possibly the first to Venice and then to Florence.

Leonardo’s first science related drawings were geared more towards research in the study of humans and other living animals. He focused on the main function and anatomy of numerous living creatures, thus creating his over 4,000 page manuscripts including all of his research (Waggoner). After a while, Leonardo moved onto his experimental inventions idea. It first started out as a task from a Duke in Milan. He was first a military engineer creating inventions such as his armoured car, 33-barreled organ, and a giant crossbow. Later Leonardo Da Vinci started to work on his own personal works like a flying machine. His fascination with birds drove him to try to build a machine that would enable humans to fly. Leonardo himself says it was a dangerous idea and should be tested over a lake or some safe landing area (Wallace). These inventions that Leonardo had created lasted centuries and still had an impact to this very

Leonardo da Vinci was a man of many talents, History.com says, “[Leonardo] studied nature, mechanics, anatomy, physics, architecture, weaponry and more, often creating accurate, workable designs for machines...” (Leonardo). Leonardo loved to design and innovate. On their website, The Museum of Science and Industry states, “[Da Vinci] left behind thousands of pages of notes filled with designs, ideas and discoveries” (Leonardo Bio). Furthermore, The contents of these notes had the potential to revolutionize the

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, near the village of Vinci about 25 miles west of Florence. He was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci, a prominent notary of Florence, and a local woman, Caterina. Leonardo's childhood is unknown except that when he was fifteen, his father apprenticed him and became a student of Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading artist of

Lodovico Sforza chose Leonardo to create "The Last Supper" in the refectory of the Dominican Church of S. Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The Abate of the S. Maria delle Grazie saw Leonardo work from morning until

Leonardo's paintings 'The Vitruvian Man', 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Last Supper' have inspired other artists today by his various techniques. We already know by Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper' that his oil paints didn't last for long and have deteriorated,through the years paints are now made durable.

In Leonardo’s early life with his father Ser Perico, who was a notary, a person who wrote wills,

Leonardo was the son of a Florentine and a peasant mother. The works he was involved in was art, painting, architecture, science, math, engineering, anatomy, history, geology, writing, plants, animals, people, and a few more he was interested. Leonardo was known for being a Renaissance genius. Some of Leonardo’s works were only known by the drawings before he made it related to the project he would be working on. Leonardo did his studying in Santa Maria Nuova hospital for his knowledge on anatomy. The years from 1510 to 1511 were his most active years for him not just in anatomy also in painting and sculpturing. Most of Leonardo’s talents and skills developed at a very early point in his life, he in deed take to his advantage. His originality was the greatest of minds that had ever lived in

Starting with the renaissance, a growing cultural secularism brought upon a renewed interest in both the arts and sciences. Specifically, scientific knowledge exploded during this period thanks to advancements like the scientific method. This knowledge was then reapplied to the arts in paintings both using and depicting the new, modern sciences. One of the clearest examples of the proverbial “renaissance man” was Leonardo Da Vinci. Besides being a painter, Leonardo was a writer, sculptor, engineer, scientist and inventor.

Out of those three ideas, the two that made Leonardo Da Vinci famous was the “Mona Lisa” painting and “The Last Supper”. Da Vinci was the only child of his parents but the two parents have a total of 17 kids, Da Vinci had half- brothers/sisters. The thing is that Da Vinci’s parents never got married, his Dad was an attorney, and a notary, meanwhile his mom was a peasant. Leonardo comes up with the idea of how people could make a telescope; he even talks about it in the Codex Atlanticus “... making glasses to see the Moon enlarged”. Leonardo had many notebooks where he would write down any ideas, observation or any of his inventions.

Leonardo da Vinci escaped Milan when it was invaded by the French in 1499 and didn’t return to Milan until 1506. He left Italy for good in 1516 when he was offered him the title of Premier Painter, engineer, and architect. He worked for Sforza Clan as an engineer, painter, architect, designer of court festivals, and a sculptor. Leonardo died May 2, 1519 in Amboise, France. It’s been said that during his last years Francis had become one of his closest friend. He didn’t work with a lot of people. He worked alone and was always alone so I don’t think he had very many friends. He never really left his work. He did sometimes but he never left it for a long time. I guess it’s because his work was really valuable. His work is hanging in museums somewhere. His best work is The Mona Lisa and The last Supper. At least those are the main two that a lot of people talk

Leonardo Da Vinci was a successful man in more areas than artwork. From the time he was a boy, he began studying the arts as well as the ideas of science, medicine, machinery, and much more. Da Vinci’s history is reflected in his paintings and inventions that have been able to change the world of then and now. Leonardo’s artistic vision led him down a prosperous path of life that has made him one of the most innovative individuals the world has seen. With the help of a lot of childhood exposure to the arts, along with the natural creativity born inside of him, Leonardo Da Vinci changed the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries through his work.

During the shift from the middle ages into the Renaissance period new conceptions of the individual and the human mind quickly came to light. Although art in the Middle Ages was centered predominantly on religion and faith, the incoming art of the Renaissance underwent a drastic change. A vast amount of these changes mainly focused on individualism, secularism, and humanism. Following the collapse of the feudal system, thoughts of individualism quickly rose when people realized that they didn’t have to adhere to a specific group.Throughout the beginning of the Renaissance, religious figures and the Catholic Church began to lose authority which conducted in new ideas of secularism. Comparably, humanistic art and notions became preeminent when individuals focused on glorifying the human body, learning more about it and inclined more towards realistic art.