How to Appreciate Leonardo da Vinci

The work of Leonardo da Vinci, the first truly inventive artist of the modern era, was different from anything that came before it. His art seems almost touched by the divine.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Art History Books
• Art Reproductions
• Airline Tickets
• Pencils
• Notebooks
• Pencils
• Binoculars
• Binoculars
• Pencils
• Notebooks

1. Think of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) as the first of the moderns.

2. Know that Leonardo is considered one of the three geniuses working in Italy during the 15th century and High Renaissance. He employed linear and aerial perspective in his paintings as well as a realism which, until then, had never been seen.

3. Know that Leonardo epitomized the Renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, inventor, scientist, engineer and architect. Although a vegetarian and hater of war, Leonardo invented deadly weapons and the first flying machine.

4. View Leonardo's anatomical sketches. These drawings helped doctors understand the layout of muscle and bones in the human body.

5. Compare the paintings of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Michelangelo borrowed liberally from the Greco-Roman tradition in design and art while Leonardo invented his own style independently.

6. Study, at the very least, Leonardo's three most famous paintings: "The Virgin of the Rocks," "The Last Supper" and the "Mona Lisa."

7. Acquaint yourself with his scientific studies. Understand the artist by familiarizing yourself with the scientist.

Tips & Warnings

• Leonardo encrypted the work in his notebooks by writing backward from right to left with an inverted hand. There are three possible reasons for this: he was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas; he was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed; or writing left-handed from left to right was messy, because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it.
• Linear perspective employs a horizon line where the sky meets the ground, a vanishing point in or near the center of the horizon line, and orthogonal lines (visual rays that draw the viewer's eye to the vanishing point).
• Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective creates a sense of depth in painting by imitating the way the atmosphere makes distant objects appear less distinct and more bluish than they would be if nearby. In morning light, Leonardo observed that distant objects such as mountains look bluer and less distinct than nearby mountains. The more distant the mountain, the more its color approached that of the surrounding atmosphere. He noted that, to color objects correctly at different distances, artists should paint the nearest one its true color, paint the one behind proportionately bluer, and the one behind that bluer still.

[Estreetloans]

on 10/4/2007 The Da Vinci Code does definitely give instant insight into the life and works of Da Vinci. I find his life and work to be utterly fascinating. This is my favorite ehow to date! Thank you so much for publishing this. More people should learn to appreciate this genius for what he did not only for art but for science and technology as well.
Regards,
Melissa Fish
www.estreetloans.com
www.keydegree.com

on 11/22/2005 The following books can be really helpful:

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown...This bestseller is fiction but is helpful and entertaining as well. It's a must read.

"How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci" by Michael Gebbs...Think like Da Vinci!