Leonardo da Vinci

1452 to 1519

The Era• Da Vinci was born in Italy during a time in

history called ‘The Renaissance’ – this is French for ‘rebirth’ or ‘new birth’.

• It was a time of learning and creativity. • Men were thirsty for knowledge and it was

a time of big ideas. • It was a time of great works of art by

brilliant artists.• Raphael, Da Vinci, Titian, Corregio,

Michelangelo and others produced words of art that have never been surpassed.

Early LifeLeonardo da Vinci was born inEurope.

He was bornin Italy onApril 15,1452.

He was born inthe town ofVinci, justoutsideFlorence.

• He was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary (a legal officer who can authorise documents) and a peasant woman called Catarina.

• In the mid-1460s the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, a major intellectual and artistic centre of Italy, could offer.

•He was handsome, persuasive in conversation, and a fine musician and improviser.

• When he was about 15 (in about 1466) his father apprenticed him to the renowned workshop of Andrea del Verrochio in Florence. Verrocchio was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his day.

• Even as an apprentice, Leonardo demonstrated his colossal talent.

• In 1472 he was entered in the painter's guild of Florence, and in 1476 he was still considered Verrocchio's assistant.

• In 1478 Leonardo became an independent master.

• In search of new challenges and the big bucks, he entered the service of the Duke of Milan in 1482, abandoning his first commission in Florence, "The Adoration of the Magi".

• He spent 17 years in Milan, leaving only after Duke Ludovico Sforza's fall from power in 1499. It was during these years that Leonardo hit his stride, reaching new heights of scientific and artistic achievement.

• The Duke kept Leonardo busy painting and sculpting and designing elaborate court festivals, but he also put Leonardo to work designing weapons, buildings and machinery.

• From 1485 to 1490, Leonardo produced studies on loads of subjects, including nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, canals and architecture (designing everything from churches to fortresses). His studies from this period contain designs for advanced weapons, including a tank and other war vehicles, various combat devices, and submarines.

An Artillery Park is a 1487 drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Designs for a Boat is part of a series of (1485 - 1487)

The ornithopter flying machine was never actually created. It was a design that Leonardo Da Vinci made to show how man could fly. Some experts say that the modern day helicopter was inspired by this design.

Design for a Flying Machine 1488

Design for a Flying Machine 1488

Armoured Car a pen drawing dated 1487

Drawing of giant crossbow about 1485 to 1487

Machine for Storming Walls a 1480 drawing by Leonardo da Vinci for a war machine

Eight Barrelled Machine Gun Designed and Drawn by Leonardo da Vinci

Parachute Drawing

Line drawing of submarine.

The Mona Lisa is one of Da Vinci’s most famous paintings.

It hangs in the Louvre gallery in Paris.

Leonardo da Vinci died May 2, 1519 in Cloux, near Amboise, France.

•As a scientist Leonardo towered above all his contemporaries.

•His scientific theories, like his artistic innovations, were based on careful observation and precise documentation. He understood, better than anyone of his century or the next, the importance of precise scientific observation. •Unfortunately, just as he often failed to finish artistic projects, he never completed his planned treatises on a variety of scientific subjects.

Leonardo actually anticipated many discoveries of modern times: *In anatomy he studied the circulation of the blood and the action of the eye. *He made discoveries in meteorology and geology, learned the effect of the moon on the tides, foreshadowed modern conceptions of continent formation, and surmised the nature of fossil shells. *He was among the originators of the science of hydraulics and probably devised the hydrometer; his scheme for the canalization of rivers still has practical value. *He invented a large number of ingenious machines, many potentially useful, among them an underwater diving suit. His flying devices, although not practicable, embodied sound principles of aerodynamics.

•His theories are contained in many notebooks, most of which were written in mirror script.

•Because they were not easily decipherable, Leonardo's findings were not disseminated in his own lifetime; had they been published, they would have revolutionized the science of the 16th century.

• Leonardo da Vinci is considered a genius - an Italian inventor, artist, architect, and scientist.

• Many of his inventions were so advanced that they would have to be reinvented hundreds of years later when technology had caught up with them.

• Da Vinci was a brilliant artist and a great inventor. He was also a gentle, peace-loving vegetarian, who bought caged birds just for the joy of setting them free.

Useful websites

• www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeosMysteriousmachinery.html • inventors.about.com/od/.../a/LeonardoDaVinci.htm • www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/ • www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/page/d/davinci.shtml • http://inventors.about.com/od/dstartinventors/ig/Inventions-of-Leonar

do-DaVinci/• http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/leonardo/leonardo.html• http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/• http://www.leonardo-history.com/inventor.htm• www.jsayles.com (renaissance music)