Leonardo da Vinci: Man of Great Knowledge and Many Talents

Grace HilleryJunior DivisionResearch Paper

Word Count: 1,690 words

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Machines such as helicopters and airplanes didn’t fly until the early-mid 1900’s, but that

doesn’t mean they couldn’t have been designed 500 years before then. Leonardo da Vinci is well

known for his famous paintings, but in his time, he was also famous for revolutionizing the idea

of technology. He was the first to design many common machines that we use today, studied the

basic anatomy in many types of organisms, and painted many pieces that are admired by

thousands of people around the world. His mind was not ordinary—the outstanding ideas and

designs he came up with were incomprehensible by people in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Leonardo took a stand against the norms of the Renaissance period by branching off into the

field of science and engineering by creating designs for complex apparatuses, opening up a

whole new world to the minds of people.

Da Vinci was born in Anchiano, Italy—about two miles north of Vinci, Italy—on April

15, 1452 to Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a

peasant from the middle east (Nicholl, 17). His full name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, but

that was shortened to Leonardo da Vinci. Although he didn’t receive a well-rounded education,

he was very interested in nature because he was brought up in the countryside. He observed,

drew, and wrote about a variety of small creatures: grasshoppers, lizards, and butterflies (Doeser,

1). Leonardo’s interest in studying these pocket-sized organisms was the start of his journey; he

watched their movements and behaviors to understand how their bodies functioned.

As Leonardo became older, he began to show an incredible ability to draw and paint. His

father was very proud of his work and wanted him to learn from an experienced professional. He

took Leonardo’s work to Florence, Italy and brought it to the attention of Andrea del Verrocchio,

his good friend and talented artist (Nicholl, 61). In 1466, Leonardo moved to Florence at the age

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of fourteen to become an apprentice for Verrocchio. He assisted Verrocchio at his bottega, or

workshop, which was located on the Via dell’Agnolo, a street in the big city of Florence (Doeser,

1). While learning from this wonderful artist, he contributed to some of the master’s work; da

Vinci painted the angel on the left in Verrocchio’s “Baptism of Christ” (Refer to Appendix I).

During da Vinci’s time in Florence, he studied drapery. To do this, he would make models of

figures out of clay, and drape pieces of linen onto them. He would then draw these figures,

focusing on the way the linen fell over the model (Nicholl, 78).

During the summer of 1472, Leonardo da Vinci became part of Florence’s Painter’ Guild,

also known as the Guild of St. Luke, at the age of twenty; the Painters’ Guild of Florence

allowed da Vinci to be paid for teaching his apprentices (Fortune). After this big step in da

Vinci’s career, he created a greater amount of his own paintings and drawings—because he was

his own boss, not someone else’s apprentice.

There isn’t a point in da Vinci’s life where he switched directly from an artist to an

engineer—he worked on both paintings and drawings at all points in his life. Not only was

Leonardo da Vinci an amazing painter, but he was also an amazing mechanical engineer—

“artist-engineer” (BBC UK). Today, he is mainly known for painting the “Mona Lisa”, but in the

late 1400s-early 1500’s, he was also known for designing complex technology.

Over a three-year time span, 1495-1498, Leonardo painted his second most famous

painting, “The Last Supper” (Refer to Appendix II). Da Vinci was a very experimental painter—

he used different recipes for his paint. When painting “The Last Supper”, da Vinci used an

unsuccessful recipe for his oil paint, which caused the painting to deteriorate quickly (Funk &

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Wagnalls New Encyclopedia). Since the paints are so different, it is very hard to restore

Leonardo’s paintings; the restored versions will never be the same as the originals.

The most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci’s is the “Mona Lisa”. 1 He worked on this

painting for four years, 1500-1504, and it included one of the first uses of a “subtle mysterious

smile” (Funk & Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia) in a painting. This painting also introduced

chiaroscuro, which is a technique of contrasting light and darkness; it was featured in the

background of the “Mona Lisa”. After da Vinci’s death, this very cherished work of art was

given to Francis I, then put in the Louvre, located in Paris, France (Funk & Wagnall’s New

Encyclopedia).

Leonardo was very well known for creating unfinished artwork. Much of his work was

unfinished, including the “Mona Lisa”. He enjoyed the process of learning new information

more than he enjoyed painting. Giorgia Vasari, a biographer from the mid-1500’s, wrote “He

would have been very proficient at his early lessons if he had not been so volatile and unstable.

He set himself to learn many things only to abandon them almost immediately. When he began

to learn arithmetic, in a few months he made such progress that he bombarded the master, who

was teaching him, with questions and problems and very often outwitted him.” Da Vinci would

observe something new for a painting, then want to know more about it until he would get bored

while painting and lose his interest in the artwork. This is not the case for the “Mona Lisa”

though. As da Vinci became older, the right side of his body became semi-paralyzed. This

affected his ability to hold the paint palette2 and stand correctly (McMahon).

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1 The “Mona Lisa” is known as “La Gioconda” in Italy (Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia).2 Since he was left handed, he was still able to hold paintbrushes (Kresh).

Da Vinci was never satisfied with the knowledge he had obtained, he always strived to

learn more (Doeser). Since he didn’t receive a satisfactory education, he was able to connect two

different subjects such as art and science because he wasn’t taught the differences between these

subjects (Nicholl). This allowed him to see ideas from many different perspectives. Leonardo

was constantly thinking of new ideas and writing them down in notebooks.3 All his thoughts

were scrambled around in his notebooks; he used every spot he could find to write thoughts

down (Kresh). His notebooks were very messy because his mind was very messy; he always had

thoughts racing through his head—his mind was his workshop. Leonardo used his notebooks for

a few different purposes: write things down to remember, create a “playground” for his thoughts,

argue with himself about a problem, or chase new ideas (Kresh).

Da Vinci was able to create extremely detailed designs for machines because he had a

great ability to draw. In 1485, he began making sketches for military equipment. He never

supported war, but did work as a military engineer and designed a few deadly weapons, such as

the giant crossbow and military tanks. These two designs were very complex, requiring a great

amount of skill needed to draw them.

In the 1480s, Leonardo da Vinci studied aerodynamics. He designed a couple of

machines that would eventually become aerodynamic when constructed4: The Flying Machine

(Refer to Appendix III) and the Aerial Screw (Refer to Appendix IX). These designs were used

to construct the modern-day airplane and helicopter.

Another idea Leonardo had that acted more like a safety figure was the parachute (Refer

to Appendix X). A Swiss parachutist successfully used the parachute da Vinci designed and

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3 Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are called codex’s—books filled with da Vinci’s writings and drawings (Stone).4 These were only designs, as the technology to construct them was not invented yet.

landed safely after jumping from a helicopter (Montagne). It’s amazing how such simple designs

can save people from death.

Being a straight-forward person, Leonardo da Vinci didn’t rely on other sources for

information—he had to test everything himself. He also wasn’t a man of faith, so he found fact

in nature and science. After a long time of observing life on earth, he concluded that all animals

on the planet must be related (Kresh). This was the basis for the theory of evolution, but these

findings weren’t discovered until a few hundred years later.

In 1513, da Vinci started working in Rome, Italy for Pope Leo X. In Rome, he did

dissections of deceased bodies to study blood circulation and the structure of the human eye

(Biography.com). For the last few years of his life, he worked for the King of France; he is said

to have died in the King’s arms. Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, in Amboise France, at

the age of sixty-seven.

Leonardo da Vinci was an extremely intelligent man who was very ahead of his time. He

designed apparatuses that weren’t invented until about four hundred years later—mainly because

his work was very challenging to decipher. Leonardo was left handed, so he wrote backwards

because he would cross his arm over his body and start writing on the right side of the paper.

People could easily put a mirror up to his writing and read it, but that helped very little because

da Vinci had very sloppy handwriting (Kresh).

Taking a stand in history doesn’t have to mean leading a large protest, it can also be

simply breaking social norms. Leonardo da Vinci did just that; he made extraordinary

discoveries in the fields of science, art, and engineering. Although his machines weren’t built

during his time, he still contributed to the inventions of them.

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The works of Leonardo da Vinci shaped today’s society. Mark Rodgers, the Da Vinci

Exhibition Director in Florence, Italy said, “Everything that da Vinci said, everything that da

Vinci did, applies to our life today.” This remains true and will continue to be true in the future

as we continue to use airplanes, helicopters, and military tanks. Leonardo stood up against social

norms during the Renaissance period and his creations continue to influence the lives of people

today. Technology has changed drastically in the last four hundred years, and will continue to

grow and become more developed in the future.

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Appendix I

8Appendix II

9Appendix III

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Appendix IX

11Appendix X

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BibliographyPrimary Sources

Pictures

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Design for a Flying Machine. Digital image. Leonardodavinci.net. Leonardodavinci.net, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.leonardodavinci.net/design-for-a-flying-machine.jsp>. This source was a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci that showed his version of a Flying Machine. The picture helped me understand what Leonardo was envisioning in his mind when he thought of the concept of a person being able to fly. Although the website I found the picture on is not a primary source, the picture itself is because Leonardo da Vinci drew it himself.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Design for a Helicopter. Digital image. Leonardodavinci.net. Leonardodavinci.net, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.leonardodavinci.net/design-for-a-helicopter.jsp>.This is another drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. It showed his design for an “Aerial Screw”, or helicopter. This source helped me understand how da Vinci thought a figure such as a helicopter would be able to float in the air.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Parachute Design. Digital image. Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/inventions-for-flight/leonardo-da-vincis-parachute/>.This source showed me how a parachute would be constructed. The picture was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci and somewhat showed how a person would be able to land safely on the ground if they were to be falling from a great height.

Da Vinci, Leonardo. The Last Supper. Digital image. Leonardodavinci.net. Leonardodavinci.net, 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.leonardodavinci.net/the-last-supper.jsp>.“The Last Supper” is one of Leonardo’s paintings, and I think this picture showed how the oil paints deteriorated over time.

Verrocchio, Andrea, and Leonardo da Vinci. Baptism of Christ. Digital image. Totally History. Totallyhistory.com, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://totallyhistory.com/the-baptism-of-christ/>. This image was used as a reference, and it didn’t provide me with much information.

13Secondary Sources

Books

Doeser, Linda. The Life and Works of Leonardo da Vinci. N.p.: Paragon, 1994. Print.This book was helpful in that it had the basic information about Leonardo’s life, but it didn’t give confident information. I did look at other sources, and the information in the book was correct.

Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo Da Vinci: Flights of the Mind. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.This source was extremely helpful to my research because it had lots of small details about Leonardo’s work and his life. It was packed with information, and even other sources within the book.

Encyclopedias

"Leonardo Da Vinci." Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert S. Phillips, Leon L. Bram, and Norma H. Dickey. 1979. Print.My sister has this set of encyclopedias, so I decided to use them to get some background information about Leonardo da Vinci. They were helpful because I was able to get information from them, then use other sources to dig deeper into that subject.

"Mona Lisa." Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert S. Phillips, Leon L. Bram, and Norma H. Dickey. 1979. Print.This encyclopedia just gave me a little information about the “Mona Lisa” and how it was painted.

Websites

Fortune, Jane. "Guilded in Florence." The Florentine. The Florentine, 22 Mar. 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.theflorentine.net/art-culture/2007/03/guilded-in-florence/>. This source gave me information about the Guild of Florence. I used this website to get background information about the Guild of Florence because Leonardo became part of it when he was twenty years old.

Gould, Stephen Jay. "Theory of the Living Earth." Natural History. Biography in Context, May 1997. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A19493092/BIC1?u=eau96926&xid=7519825d>.This source was helpful to my research because it gave me information about how Leonardo studied fossils and landforms.

14"Leonardo Da Vinci." Artinthepicture.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Leonardo_da_Vinci/Biography/>.

This website told me that Leonardo asked so many questions that he drove his teachers crazy. I found this interesting because he must have been a very curious guy and really wanted to learn.

"Leonardo Da Vinci." BBC News. BBC, 2014. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/da_vinci_leonardo.shtml>.This website provided me with a quote and introduced me to the idea of a “artist-engineer”. I found this interesting because I never thought you could combine two words like that to create a whole new meaning.

"Leonardo Da Vinci." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.biography.com/people/leonardo-da-vinci-40396#related-video-gallery>.This website gave me lots of information about Leonardo’s life in general. I found this information useful because I was able to use this source to check other sources and see if they were reliable.

"Leonardo Da Vinci Timeline." World History Project. MCHABU, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <https://worldhistoryproject.org/topics/leonardo-da-vinci>.This site was extremely helpful to me because it gave me the years that Leonardo created each piece of art and drew each sketch. I also used this information and found other sites with more detail to dig deeper into my research.

"List of 5 Most Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci." List of 5 Most Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci - History Lists. Historylists.org, 2016. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://historylists.org/art/list-of-5-most-famous-artworks-by-leonardo-da-vinci.html>.I found this website helpful because I was able to use this and research Leonardo’s most famous artworks in depth and focus on those.

McMahon, Barbara. "Da Vinci 'paralysis Left Mona Lisa Unfinished'." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 30 Apr. 2005. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/01/italy.arts>.I thought this website article was very intriguing because this was all new information to me and I had no idea that the “Mona Lisa” was never finished. It also gave me some more information about Leonardo’s health conditions.

Stone, Madeline. "Look inside the Rare Leonardo da Vinci Notebook That Bill Gates Paid More than $30 Million for." Business Insider. Business Insider, 13 July 2015. Web. 12 Feb.

152017. <http://www.businessinsider.com/look-inside-the-codex-leicester-which-bill-gates-bought-for-30-million-2015-7>.

This source gave me information about Leonardo’s codex’s and I was able to further understand what they were by reading this article.

"The Renaissance Man." Museum of Science. Museum of Science, Boston, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <https://www.mos.org/leonardo/>.This source gave me some out-of-the-box information, such as, Leonardo was a vegetarian. I would have never guessed that he was if I didn’t read the information on this website.

Videos

Da Vinci On Display. N.d. Clipsyndicate.com. 27 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/10833/4751934?cpt=8&title=cengage_broadcast&wpid=6424>.This source gave me information about Leonardo’s Flying Machine. I even got a quote from the video that I used in my paper.

Leonardo Da Vinci-Mini Biography. N.d. Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.biography.com/people/leonardo-da-vinci-40396>.This video gave me a brief summary of Leonardo’s life. I knew this source was reliable because there were experts from the University of Southern California that spoke about his experiences.

Leonardo's Workshop. Perf. Kresh, Diane. The Library of Congress. United States Copyright Office, 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3652>.This source was extremely helpful to me because it was a video of a play that was performed at the Library of Congress. I learned my things about Leonardo’s life, but more specifically about his mind and notebook. I learned a lot of valuable information about his life.

Audio

Montagne, Renee. "Da Vinci's Design Takes Flight." Audio blog post. Npr.org. NPR News, 28 Apr. 2008. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89990600>.

16This source gave me a little bit of information about Leonardo’s design for the parachute. I learned that his design actually worked when his design was executed.

Montagne, Renee. "'Da Vinci's Ghost' Lives on in the Vitruvian Man." Audio blog post. Npr.org. NPR News, 8 Mar. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2017. <http://www.npr.org/2012/03/08/148235387/da-vincis-ghost-manifest-in-the-vitruvian-man>.This source gave me information about Leonardo’s drawing, “The Vitruvian Man”. I learned that this drawing was to show the proportions of the ideal man.