Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy.

While growing up Leonardo was fascinated by animals and insects. Throughout his long life, he never stopped studying nature-plants, anatomy, the movement of water, the mechanics of flight-and applying his observations to his art.

An Artist and a Scientist

Because Leonardo the artist sought for the ideal face, he skillfully sliced open the skull to reveal the brain cavity and see what lay beneath. Combining art and science he analyzed the proportions of the head.

“We shall describe this mechanical structure of man by means of

diagrams”

Leonardo raised the study of the “structure of man” to a science. He sought to illustrate the inner structure of man. His drawings were so accurate that they are still used to illustrate anatomy texts today.

Animal Studies

Leonardo was often impatient with men, but he had a special fondness for animals. His lively sketches of cats are drawn with great affection. Look carefully for the cat that became a dragon.

At first Leonardo intended to learn about the human body so that he could paint it more realistically. But soon he began to hope that it would bring him to the answer to the riddle of creation.

Man and God

Anatomical Study

Leonardo often watched doctors perform autopsies so that he could study human anatomy. He later began dissections on his own and carefully sketched everything that he saw.

The Inventor

Leonardo modeled his flying machines after his studies of bird wings. And though he failed at actually taking air, his careful and inventive researches in aerodynamics made him a forerunner of modern flight.

Mona LisaLeonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pine wood in the year 1506. Never in the history of Art has one painting been so admired. This is due largely to the enigmatic smile, which has caused much speculation. Some people have even suggested that it is a self-portrait.

The Last SupperConsidered by many to be Leonardo’s greatest painting, The Last Supper employs all of his anatomical work in the expressions of Christ and the Apostles.

The Codes

Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. People who study his notebooks have long been puzzled by something else, however. He usually used "mirror writing," starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left. Only when he was writing something intended for other people did he write in the normal direction.

An Artistic and Scientific Search for the True Picture of Man and his Universe

"Leonardo da Vinci was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep"

-Sigmund Freud 

Leonardo Da VinciChiariscuroThe Last Supper was painted on the wall of the dining hall in the monastet of Santa Maria della Grazie in MilanSfumato-an effect used to create depth by obscurity

MichelanegloOne of the most inspired creators in the history of art One of the most potent force in the Italian High Renaissance. As a sculptor, architect, painter, and poet, he exerted a tremendous influence on his contemporaries and on subsequent Western art in general

MichelanegloHis great works were almost entirely in the service of the Catholic Church Include a huge statue of the Biblical hero David (over 14 feet tall) in Florence, sculpted between 1501 and 1504

Works•Marble David (Accademia, Florence)• Produced between 1501 and 1504•Depicted by Michelangelo as a lithe nude youth, muscular and alert, looking off into the distance as if sizing up the enemy Goliath, whom he has not yet encountered. •The fiery intensity of David's facial expression is termed terribilità, a feature characteristic of many of Michelangelo's figures and of his own personality.

Moses

Now located in Rome's church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The muscular patriarch sits alertly in a shallow niche, holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments, his long beard entwined in his powerful hands. He looks off into the distance as if communicating with God

Sistine ChapelThe ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (commissioned by Pope Julius II), was painted between 1508 and 1512.

In order to prepare for this enormous work, Michelangelo drew numerous figure studies and cartoons, devising scores of figure types and poses.

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SistineChapelVirtualTour

TheHighRenaissance1495-1527Art capital of EuropePopes invented artists through commissioningLasted 20 yearsArtists viewed as geniusesWorked created by divine inspirationRelied on formulas, scientific perspectives, ratios and proportionsVenetian artists make dramatic innovations in painting