Research into Leonardo da Vinci's genealogy traces an eccentric grandfather to outside of Italy. The crash left the painter with life-long pain and injuries that would fuel the vibrant, intensely personal artwork that would make her famous. Credited as one of the great minds of the Scientific Revolution, Newton's 17th-century findings have molded our modern world.
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He also made a glass model of part of the heart to explore its function. The use of experimental apparatus at such a time, Kemp adds, is extraordinary. His thoughts were, at times, spot on: not least he pushed back against the idea that fossils unearthed on mountains were the result of a great, biblical flood.
He also made discoveries about how blood moves through blood vessels and the role of valves. But he did not realise that the blood circulates. Not exactly. In he was charged with sodomy — but a lack of evidence meant nothing came of the anonymous accusations. Kemp adds that when Leonardo was in Rome in his 50s working on concave mirrors for starting fires, he fell out with his German mirror makers who denounced him for his work on anatomy — which led to some frustrations in his anatomy work.
However, Kemp says the idea that Leonardo was known only for his paintings is a simplification, as his writings and drawings were transcribed and available to scholars, albeit a small number, throughout the centuries, suggesting they could have inspired others.
Da Vinci used the mathematical principles of linear perspective — parallel lines, the horizon line, and a vanishing point — to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface.
In The Annunciation, for example, he uses perspective to emphasise the corner of a building, a walled garden and a path. He realised that if arm span and height are related, the person would fit perfectly inside a square. It was first recognised by Luca Pacoli in that the use of the Golden Ratio led to aesthetically-pleasing images.
Da Vinci believed it was critical in providing accurate proportionality, and it underpins the structure of the Mona Lisa. He wanted to understand the fluid dynamics of water: the eddies and vortices under and on water surfaces. As a polymath, he was able to combine his knowledge and ability in art, design, science, philosophy and engineering to design projects, ideas and instruments to test his hypotheses.
In a compilation of writings — the Codex Leicester — Leonardo made conclusions about water alone. Through this work and others, da Vinci made many contributions to modern water engineering and science including accurately describing the hydrological cycle, understanding the impact of flow speed on pressure, and engineering canals and reservoirs for flood management and irrigation. Not all of his long list of water ideas and creations were as influential or as accurate, such as his water walking device, but collectively, his uniqueness and overriding contribution to water science and engineering is the development of a scientific approach.
However, he never finished this work as he was soon lured to Milan to serve as an engineer, painter, architect and sculptor for the ruling Sforza dynasty. He worked on a bronze equestrian statue to honor dynasty founder Francesco Sforza off and on for 12 years, but war ultimately interfered and that project never came to fruition.
While war stopped the Sforza project, da Vinci also did not complete many of his paintings and other works. His diversified interests, including scientific law and nature, often sidetracked him.
In the early s, da Vinci began chronicling his thoughts about painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy. While it has been speculated that the half-length painting was a man in drag or not even based on a living model, many accounts identify the subject as Lisa del Gioconda, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy silk merchant.
While historians believe the painting was commissioned for their home and to commemorate the birth of their second child, it never hung in their home, as da Vinci never delivered it.
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