Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci. Or simply Leonardo da Vinci, Anchiano, April 15, 1452 - Amboise, May 2, 1519, was an Italian polymath, one of the most important High Renaissance, which stood out as a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, poet and musician. It is also known as the forerunner of aviation and ballistics. Leonardo has often been described as the archetypal Renaissance man, a man whose insatiable curiosity was matched only by their ingenuity. Is considered one of the greatest painters of all time and as possibly the person endowed with diverse talents to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the depth and breadth of his interests were unprecedented and mind and personality seem superhuman to us, and the man himself [we think] mysterious and distant. Born as the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman, Caterina, at Vinci in the region of Florence, was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. He spent most of his early professional life in the service of Ludovico Sforza (Ludovico il Moro), in Milan, then worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and spent his last days in France, a house that was presented by King Francis I.Leonardo was, as today, known chiefly as a painter. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, are among the most famous paintings, most reproduced and most parodied of all time , and their fame approached only for the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. The drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo, is also regarded as a cultural icon, and was reproduced by all parties, since the euro t up.About fifteen of his paintings have survived to this day, the small number due to their experiences constant - and often disastrous - with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Still, these few works, together with his notebooks - which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting - make a contribution to future generations of artists that can only be rivaled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo. Leonardo is revered for its technological ingenuity, conceived ideas far ahead of his time, like a helicopter, a tank, the use of solar power, a calculator, the double hull vessels, and a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. A relatively small number of their designs came to be built during his life (many were not even feasible), but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automatic coil, and a device that tests the endurance to pull a wire, entered without any credit to the industrial world. As a scientist, was responsible for major advancement of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, civil engineering, optics and hydrodynamics.Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many the greatest genius in history due to his multitude of talents in arts and sciences, their ingenuity and creativity, and his polemical works. In a study in 1926 his IQ was estimated at about 180.

Principal obra

Mona Lisa (1503-1507—Louvre) é o retrato que mais tem rendido, em termos de literatura -tem dado origem a contos, romances, poemas e até mesmo óperas- e paródia -desde seu tempo, como a Monna Vanna de Salai- em toda a história da arte. Foi uma obra famosa desde o momento da sua criação; e inspirou muitos, como o jovemRafael, que se embebedou nela. Seu sorriso sutil é visto em sua crueldade e tem sido considerado o implacável sorriso de mulher que escraviza os homens. Outros foram deslumbrados pelo seu encanto, pela sua doçura. Para o crítico Walter Pater, simboliza o "espírito moderno com todos os seus traços patogênicos", considerando como a "beleza extraída desde o interior, trabalhando a carne, célula por célula". Provocado pelo mestre no modelo com o toque do alaúde, como citado por Vasari: "Mona Lisa era muito bela e Leonardo, ao mesmo tempo que a pintava, procurava que tivesse alguém cantando, tocando algum instrumento ou brincando. Desta forma, o modelo foi mantido em um bom humor e não adotava um aspecto triste, cansado [...]".