Leonardo Da Vinci 1452-1519

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Leonardo Da Vinci1452-1519

• Rediscovering/Remapping
• the World of the Human Mind

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Leonardo da Vinci
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Lets find out if its true

• Vitruvius wrote
• ...in the human body the central point is
  naturally the navel. For if a man be placed flat
  on his back, with his hands and feet extended,
  and a pair of compasses centered at his navel,
  the fingers and toes of his two hands and feet
  will touch the circumference of a circle
  described therefrom. And just as the human body
  yields a circular outline, so too a square figure
  may be found from it. For if we measure the
  distance from the soles of the feet to the top of
  the head, and them apply that measure to the
  outstretched arms, the breadth will be found to
  be the same as the height ...

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Focus of Inquiry

• Originality and Legacy of Leonardo
• the quintessential Renaissance Man
• A New Vision
• The world as
• A Composition, A Machine

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Symmetry"Non mi legga chi non e matematico."
Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1513, dim. 25
x 19.2 cm Cf. Vitruvius, De Architectura The
Planning of Temples
The Regular Solids, one of Leonardo's
Illustrations for Pacioli's Divina proportione,
Reti p. 70.
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Questions 1

• Leonardo and the Renaissance Man
• 1.1 Why is he often described as the "Universal
  Renaissance Man"? What are his major
  achievements? Why is he worth studying?
• 1.2 And Michelangelo's Statue, David (1501-4),
  sculpting as "making of men." Points to consider
   
• growing artistic consciousness and attention to
  detail 
• commodified use of art objects, e.g., the Medici
  patronage
• commonalities and differences between Leonardo
  and Michelangelo in their style/philosophy.
• 1.3 Leonardos Self-Portraits
• 1.4 Leonardos sketches and notebooks a genius
  who studies and studiously explores his
  imaginations.
• 1.5 What do you see there? Check out, for
  instance, his anatomical drawings chain-link
  drive double-hulled ship flying machine gear
  study helicopter military tank parachute
  printing press triple-tier machine gune
  variable speed device, etc. 

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Questions 2

• Leonardo and the Renaissance ideas of Beauty and
  Representation Contemporary Variations and
  Parodies
• 2.1 The Last Supper (1497) compare Leonardo's
  version with Others' such as Giotto's, Dürer's or
  Bassano's a contemporary, controversial Twist
  (parody in Milan, 2005)
• 2.2 Mona Lisa (1503) Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q.
  (1919) Salvador Dali. Self Portrait as Mona Lisa
  (1954) Andy Warhol, Mona Lisa (1963) Mary Rose
  Storey, Mona Lisas (1980) Lillian Schwartz, Mona
  Lisa/Leonardo Composite (1987) Lillian Schwarts,
  Leonardo morphed to the Mona Lisa (1995) An
  array of Mona Lisa Adaptations
• 2.3 St. Jerome (1481)

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Questions 3

• Leonardo and Mysteries
• 3.1 architectural and anatomical symmetry in
  nature vitruvian man (cf. Greek
  Philosophy/Mathematics such as Pythagoras)
• 3.2 Add your own