An outstanding person of the England: Leonardo da Vinci

    "Mona Lisa". The activities of Leonardo da Vinci in the first decade of the 16 th century has been as diverse as in other periods of his life. Despite the interest in mathematics, he continued to paint. At that time, was established painting "Madonna and Child with St.. Anna, and about 1504 Leonardo began work on his famous painting" Mona Lisa "portrait of the wife of Florentine merchant. This portrait (it is in the Louvre) is a further development of the type that appears earlier in Leonardo: The model is shown to the waist, in a light turn, face turned to the audience, clasped hands restrict the track below.

    The inspired hands of the Mona Lisa so beautiful as the smile on her face and primitive rocky landscape in the misty distance. Mona Lisa is known as an image of a mysterious, even a femme fatale, but this interpretation belongs to the 19 th century. More likely that Leonardo, this picture was the most challenging and successful exercise in the use of Sfumato, and background of the picture - the result of his research in the field of geology. Regardless of whether or not the plot secular or religious, scenery that drew the bones of the earth ", are constantly found in the works of Leonardo.

    "Mona Lisa" was created at a time when Leonardo was so engrossed in studying the structure of the female body and anatomy, and problems associated with childbirth, that share his artistic and scientific interests is virtually impossible. During these years he plotted a human embryo in the womb and created the last of several versions of the painting "Leda" on the story of the ancient myth of the birth of Castor and Pollux at the junction of death girl's Leda and Zeus took the form of a swan. Leonardo studied comparative anatomy and was interested in analogies between all organic forms. 

    1.3 Late works 

    Leonardo made a few sketches on the theme of the Madonna and Child with St.. Anna ", the first time this idea appeared in Florence. Maybe around 1505 was created by cardboard (London, National Gallery), and in 1508 or later - the picture that are now in the Louvre. Madonna sits on her lap St. Anna and extends her hands to the Infant Christ holding a lamb, free, rounded shapes, depicted and smooth lines are single track.

     "John the Baptist (Louvre), depicts a man with a gentle smiling face that appears from the shadow of the background, he turns to the audience with the prophecy of the coming of Christ.

     In the late series of drawings "The Deluge" (Windsor, Royal Library) are shown disasters, power of tons of water, hurricane winds, rocks and trees that turn into chips in a whirlwind of a storm. The notes contain many passages of the flood, some of them - poetic, others - dispassionately descriptive, and others - scientific research, in the sense that they are treated problems such as swirling motion of water in the whirlpool of his power and trajectory.

    For Leonardo da Vinci's art and research activities are complementary aspects of the continuous quest to observe and record the appearance and internal structure of the world. Certainly can be argued that it was the first among the scholars whose research complemented the arts. 

    1.4 Painting, drawing 

    For the life of Leonardo da Vinci created a total of about twelve finished paintings

    "Baptism of Christ" (after 1470; picture Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci created the figure of the angel, which is located in the left corner of the painting and the landscape, the Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

    The Annunciation (about 1474, painting, Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

    "Madonna with a Flower" (a picture, the Munich Museum)

    "Madonna Litta" (painting, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

    "Benois Madonna" (about 1478, painting, the Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

    "Ancient Warrior" (1475, drawing the British Museum)

    "Adoration of the Magi" (1481-1482, the picture is not complete; underpainting in the Uffizi)

    "Saint Jerome" (1481-1482, the picture is not complete; since 1845 - Vatican Gallery)

    "Portrait of a Musician" (painting is not finished; Ambrosiana, Milan)

    "Madonna in the rock" (1483-1494, picture, Louvre, Paris, second option - about 1497-1511, National Gallery, London)

    "Lady with an Ermine" (1484, the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani - lover Ludovico Sforza)

    "La Gioconda" (a portrait of the Mona Lisa, 1503, Louvre, Paris)

    "Last Supper" (1495-1497, fresco, refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan). Judging by the records of Leonardo himself, the image of Christ, he found two sitters: "Christ: The Count Giovanni, who served at the court of Cardinal de Mortar ... Alessandro Karissimo Parma Hand of Christ. " As a result, the image of Christ became generalized. The most challenging was the creation of the image of Judas: Leonardo's predecessors visually separated the figure of Judas, placing it at the opposite end of the table of Christ and his eleven disciples, Leonardo da Vinci placed the Judas among the disciples, highlighting it through gestures and symbols - Judas squeezes the hand purse and puts on the table salt, as a symbol of threatening or imminent harm. The model for the writing of the person of Judas was sought for longer than the other characters in the picture: to draw a Judas, Leonardo went to Milan dens, where peering criminals, and Prior of Santa Maria delle Grazie, complained to the Duke of Sforza in his "laziness." According to legend, Leonardo replied that he was looking for a person of Judas, but what if time is pressing, it can take a person Prior, which is very suitable for this purpose. The initial appearance of the mural is not maintained for long. Leonardo had to draw on a stone wall, so he decided to first cover it with a special composition of resin and putty to protect the painting from damp. In 1500, severe flooding occurred and the monastery, which was located in a valley, was partially flooded. A unique mural began to break down almost immediately after its creation: paints were peeling off. In addition, over time, and lime on old brick began to appear acids and salts. Some researchers argue that one reason for the destruction of frescoes and became an experimental application of oil mixed with tempera. Already in 1556 the fresco was almost nothing visible except the spots. In the XVII and XVIII centuries. mural restored repeatedly, but unsuccessfully. The last restoration was carried out Mauro Pellichioli between 1946 and 1954, after which the mural was returned resemblance to the original.

    "La Gioconda" (Mona Lisa's portrait, about 1503, Louvre, Paris)

    "Battle of Anghiari" (1503-1506, fresco, the Grand Council Hall in Palazzo Vecchio, is not complete and did not survive, known for copies of board and on the design, recently discovered in a private collection in Japan)

    Self-Portrait (ca. 1510-1513, sanguine)

    "John the Baptist" (about 1513-1517, Louvre, Paris)

    "Flood" (about 1514-1516, a series of drawings; Italian pencil, pen, Royal Library, Windsor). 

    2. Achievements 

    2.1 Arts 

    Our contemporaries Leonardo is known primarily as an artist. In addition, it is possible that Da Vinci may have been a sculptor: Researchers from the University of Perugia - Giancarlo Gentilini and Carlo Sisi - claim that they found in 1990, terra-cotta head is only reached us sculptural works of Leonardo da Vinci [11]. However, the Da Vinci in different periods of his life considered himself first and foremost an engineer or scientist. He gave the fine arts do not have much time and work slowly. Therefore, the artistic legacy of Leonardo not quantitatively large, and the number of his works are lost or badly damaged. However, its contribution to world art culture is essential, even against the background of the cohort of men of genius, which gave the Italian Renaissance. Through his works of art of painting was transferred to a qualitatively new stage in its development. Prior to the Renaissance artists Leonardo resolutely refused to many conventions of medieval art. This was the movement toward realism and a lot has been achieved in the study of perspective, anatomy, greater freedom in the composite solutions. But in terms of scenic beauty, the work with paint, the artists were still sufficiently indicative and shackled. Line in the picture highlights an object and the image looked like a colored drawing. Most contingent was the landscape that played a minor role. Leonardo realized and implemented a new painting technique. His line has the right to blur, because the way we see it. He recognized the phenomenon of light scattering in the air and the emergence of Sfumato - haze between the viewer and the object images, which softens the color contrasts and lines. In the end, realism in painting went to a new level.

    Military installations and public works. Of all the Science of Leonardo da Vinci is most interested in anatomy and military affairs. For almost all of his patrons, he created designs of fortifications, they were badly needed, because in the late 15 th century development of guns has led to the vertical walls of the old model obsolete. For the protection of the guns were needed walls with a slope of embankments and a variety of devices with which it was possible to conduct successful defensive cross-fire. Leonardo created a multitude of projects, including an innovative project to the fortress of low-arranged in concentric circles tunnels with loopholes. Like almost all of its projects in this area, it was not implemented.

    The most important of public orders Leonardo was also associated with war. In 1503, perhaps at the insistence of Niccolo Machiavelli, he was commissioned to fresco about the size of 6h15 m, with a picture of "Battle of Anghiari for the Great Council Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. In addition to the fresco was to be depicted "The Battle of the Cascine, the order for which he received by Michelangelo, both of the plot - the heroic victory of Florence. This order will allow the two artists continued intense rivalry that began in 1501. None of the frescoes were not completed because both the artist soon moved from Florence, Leonardo - again in Milan and Michelangelo - Rome; preparatory cartoons have not been preserved. In the center of Leonardo's (known for his sketches and copies of apparently complete by the time the central part) was located episode with the battle for the flag, where the riders furiously fighting with swords, and under the feet of their horses are the fallen warriors. Judging by the other sketches, the composition would consist of three parts, with the battle for the flag in the center. Since there is no clear evidence preserved paintings by Leonardo and the fragments of his notes suggest that the battle was depicted in the background of the flat landscape with mountain range horizon.

    Architecture and urban planning: variants of the "ideal city", a project of two-level urban roads: the top level - for pedestrians, the lower one - for the movement of crews, both the level of anticipated joining spiral staircases with places to rest; options centrally-domed church.

    Medicine, biology, botany:

    Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci (canonical proportions)

    many people think of Leonardo da Vinci, the founder of scientific botany

    Creating a system of anatomical drawings that are used in modern medical education. Leonardo da Vinci system included a display of an object in four forms, including images of organs and bodies in a cross-section, all the pictures were so clear and convincing that no one could deny the value of the figure in the teaching of medicine.

    The invention is a method of anatomy eye

    The first description of the "laws of view." Leonardo knew that visual images are projected on the cornea of ​​the eye upside down and checked it out with the help he invented the camera obscura.

    The first description of the valve of the right ventricle of the heart that bears his name

    The invention of machinery drilling small holes in the skull of the deceased and filling the cavities of the brain melted wax in order to obtain castings

    The invention of glass models of internal organs

    The first description fillotaksii laws governing the disposition of leaves on the stem

    The first description of the laws heliotropism and geotropism, describing the influence of the sun and gravity on plants

    Opening the possibility of determining the age of plants by studying the structure of their stems and tree age - on the annual rings

    Mechanics and optics:

    Projects metallurgical furnaces

    Projects mills

    Projects printing machines. Sheets of paper, usually loaded into the printing press by hand, there is automatically loaded

    Projects Woodworking Machinery

    Draft looms

    Machine for the production of files

    Machine for producing metal screws

    Machine for the production of rope

    Machine, punctured a hole in the blanks and minted coins

    Draft submarine

    The project "tank" - design, driven by eight soldiers who were inside, and equipped with twenty guns

    The project is a steam gun - arhitronito. In the gun a rapid release of steam, provided mounted in the barrel valve. Pairs could send a bullet at a distance of 800 meters.

    Projects of aircraft and parachute

    Projects canals and irrigation systems, a project connecting Florence and Pisa by the canal.

    The project is a mechanical spit for cooking meat. To skewer was attached like a propeller, which was supposed to rotate under the action of streams of heated air coming up from the fire. For a number of drives a long rope was attached to the rotor, the efforts were passed on a skewer with belts or metal needles. The stronger the oven heats, the faster the revolving spit that protects the meat off of burning.

    Tool for measuring the light intensity. Photometer, painted by Leonardo, no less practical than the proposed American scientist Benjamin Rumford three centuries later.

    Draft lyzhepodobnyh shoes for walking on water

    Webbed gloves for swimming

    Rotating hood to chimney

    Spinning mill to produce thin, uniform sheet metal

    Draft portable prefabricated buildings

    Sanders

    Oil lamp with a glass sphere filled with water to increase the brightness of light

    Disparate formulations of the principle of inertia, which for years was called the principle of Leonardo (later formulated in the form of - the law of inertia - Newton's First Law): "Nothing can move itself, the movement is due to the influence of something else. This is another power, "" movement seeks to preserve, or rather, moving bodies continue to move up as long as they continue to be propulsive force (initial pulse)

    The great Florentine - the undisputed genius of mankind. Leonardo did in the fifteenth century, but his work is not just survived until now, the miracle is that they are still developing as if by themselves. This life-giving impulse to breathe the author, seemingly inanimate objects! How?

    1. Leonardo lot encrypted, so that his ideas are revealed gradually as humanity to them "ripen". The inventor wrote with his left hand and is incredibly small shaped as letters, and yes even right to left. But this is not enough - he turned over all the letters in mirror image. He spoke in riddles, showered metaphorical prophecies be adored puzzles. Leonardo did not sign their works, but they have the markings. For example, if you peer into the picture, you can find a symbolic soaring bird. These signs, apparently, a lot, so one or another of his offspring suddenly discovered through the ages. As it was with the Benois Madonna, which for a long time as domestic icons were taken with a stroller.

    2. Leonardo invented the principle of scattering (or Sfumato). Objects on his canvases do not have clear boundaries: all, as in life, blurry, penetrate one another, and therefore, breathes, lives, awakens the imagination. Italian advised to practice in such scattering, looking at emerging from the damp spots on walls, ash clouds, or mud. It is specially fumigated with smoke room, where he worked, to the clubs to seek out images. Due to the effect Sfumato appeared glowing smile Mona Lisa, when depending on the focus the viewer's eye it seems that the heroine of the picture is smiling gently, then predatory grin. The second miracle of the Mona Lisa is that she is "alive". Over the centuries, her smile was changing, the corners of his lips raised above. Likewise, Master of mixed knowledge of various sciences, so that his invention eventually find more and more applications. From the treatise on light and shadows occur early sciences of the penetrating force, vibration, wave propagation. All of his 120 books were scattered (Sfumato) around the world and gradually open up to humanity.

    3. Leonardo's preferred method is similar to all others. Approximateness analogy - this is an advantage to the accuracy of the syllogism, when the two deductions will inevitably be a third. But one thing. But stranger than the analogy, the further extend the conclusions from it. Get at least a famous illustration of the Master, which proves the proportionality of the human body. With arms outstretched and legs apart a human figure fits into the circle. And with closed feet and raised his hands - in the square, while forming a cross. Such a "mill" has sparked a number of diverse ideas. Florentine was the only one of whom went to projects of churches, where the altar is placed in the middle (the navel of a person), and praying - evenly around. This church plan in the form of an octahedron served as yet another invention of genius - ball bearings.

    4. Leonardo liked to use a rule kontraposta - contrasting opposites. Kontrapost creates movement. Making a sculpture of a giant horse in Corte Vecchio, the artist arranged the legs in a horse kontraposte, creating the illusion of a special freewheel. Everyone who saw the statue, involuntarily changed his gait to a more uninhibited.

    5. Leonardo never hurried to finish the product, for unfinished - mandatory quality of life. Complete - means to kill! The slowness of the creator was a byword, he could make two or three strokes, and to retire for many days out of town, for example, landscaped valleys of Lombardy or create a device for walking on water. Almost every one of his major works - "nezavershenka. Many were damaged by water, fire, barbaric treatment, but the artist they were not corrected. At Masters was a special composition, with which he is on the finished film was doing if for the special "window of incompleteness. Apparently, since he left the place to be, life itself could intervene, something is correct.  

    2.2 Inventions  

    The only thing his invention, received recognition during his lifetime - kolestsovy lock for the gun (plants key). In the early kolestsovy gun was uncommon, but by the middle of the XVI century became popular with the nobility, especially in the cavalry, which even affected the design of armor, namely: maksimilianovskie armor for the sake of shooting guns have to do with the gloves instead of mittens. Kolestsovy lock for the gun, invented by Leonardo da Vinci was so perfect that continued to occur in the XIX century.

    But, as often happens, the recognition of genius comes after a century: many of his inventions have been expanded and modernized and is now used in everyday life.

    For example, Leonardo da Vinci created a device that can compress the air and drives it through the pipes. This invention is a very wide range of applications: from furnaces to incite ... ventilation of rooms.

    Leonardo - not the first scientist who is interested in the possibility of a person for a long time to remain under water. For example, Leon Battista Alberti was planning to raise some Roman ships from the bottom of Lake Nemi. Leonardo also went further than merely to do: he created a project diving suit, which is made of waterproof leather. He was supposed to have a large pocket that is filled with air to increase, which facilitated the rise of the diver to the surface. Diver Leonardo was equipped with a flexible breathing tube, which connected his helmet with a protective dome floating on the water surface (made, preferably, from cane with leather connections).