Leonardo the botanist?

Okay. As I look for information about our hero in the new fashion way (web-surfing), I stumble upon a music video that features Leonardo's famous portraits of women. I know it is off topic, but I couldn't help but share it.

Nice work who ever you are!

1400's anatomy

I thought it would be interesting to see what people in the 1400s knew about the human body, so I sent myself there and looked around. I found that many artists of the time were anatomists by necessity. Leonardo had good company in the field. Among his peers were Italians, Vasari and Pollaiuolo.

The primary means of self-education for these pioneers was dissection of corpses. Thorough drawings came as a result. It wasn't until 1489 that Da Vinci began studying anatomy. He began with a human skull, and by about 1510 had produced the most detailed representations of human anatomy to date. None of these works, howevever, were published until after his death.

By accident, I have noticed that Leonardo had few relationships with women. His closest companions were his two young pupils, and early on there was talk of buggery. I guess it is possible that Leonardo's appreciation for the feminine was a product of jealousy, but it matters not. He was critisised for focusing on the beauty found in the androgenous, possibly because fault could not be found in the technical aspect of his work.

So although it wasn't until the turn of the 15th century, I think I have found adequate evidence that Leonardo was the greatest anatomist of the Renaissance Era. I wonder if he was a botanist as well...I will ponder that in the garden. Caio for now.

Lesser Known Inventions

Acredited with inventing the parachute, the transmission, and the helicopter, Leonardo's other work often goes un-noticed. He disigned a device for making sequins! Did I mention last post that he liked the ladies?

Leonardo worked on the development of transportation; not just by sketching flying devices and spring-loaded wheeled vehicles, but by designing a two-barge dredging system to clean the canals of Italy.

Much of Da Vinci's work in technical development was for the purpose of war. He designed many crossbows, one of which was incredibly large. He designed a multi-chamber fire-arm capable of firing 8 rounds virtually simultaneously. One sketch depicts a war chariot outfitted with sythes that rotated with the wheels. The carriage is elegant in design despite its grizzly purpose.

Leonardo's curiosity doesn't end with art and engineering. He was fascinated with the human body, and documented much of his research. Let's take a look next time.

The Artist

Most everyone knows the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, but what about Leonardo's other works? I was browsing a "dedicated to Da Vinci" site, again foregoing my own transversal of time and space, and it occured to me that he must have really liked women. I mean appreciated the beauty of women. So many of his portraits were of women, garbed in what was, no doubt, the style of the time. You dog, Leonardo!

This provocative peice brings to mind the old saying "pets look like thier owners". Like an infant distracted from a breast-feed, the ermine looks away and the eyes of her mistress follow. The good people at Stanford make the bold statement that this is one of the most important works of art in the Western world.

Did I say the last image was provocative? Let me take that back, as I am mesmerized by this vixen's sleepy demeanor. Okay, she is not the entire work. Her image comes from the masterpeice that is the central panel in the altar backdrop at the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception in S. Francesco, Milan.

Well, religious figures aren't exempt from the rakish strokes of Leonardo's brush, but Saints? St. Anne was depicted by our hero with sketching that look guided by the divine, and in such a pose as to convert the most base offenders of decency.

In our day, sex sells. It seems that Leonardo had an understanding of the primal nature of common humans, and subtley added beacons to sinners in his works for religious institutions.

I will be posting again soon. I think while surfing my own net.

Modern day Da Vincis

I will waver from exploring Leonardo's work, and take a look at other inventors with a similar ingenuety. Also, I will let technology do the work for me this time, as I am tired from mentaly transporting myself through time. The internet will be my guide as I rejuevenate and re-hydrate myself.

I found a unique musician (a paid one). Just kidding, Diego Stocco has made an instrument in the spirit of great inventors everywhere. If Leonardo could see this, I think he would be pleased.

While looking at Stocco's acheivments, I came upon a curious project. Digital musicians, taking samples of a 70 year old synthesizer, and releasing new music. It reminded me of Leonardo. Taking something in use, and modifying it for use in a new platform. A composition from the project has a somewhat modern feel, but the vintage tone of synths from the 30's and 40's.

Indeed the Renaissance Era, and its great minds, gave precedent to humanity's continuing thirst for new things. Leonardo's name lives on in a company that fancies itself highly advanced. They claim to be less invasive, take less time, and have a lower cost than other surgical institutions.

I'm not convinced Leonardo would approve of being associated with a marketing campaign, but none-the-less, it is a positive association. Next post I will be back on track and discuss Da Vinci's art as promised.

Machines

Last post, I mentioned "travelling" to the town of Da Vinci's birth. Now I will attempt to project myself into his workshop. To prepare for the journey, I deprived myself of food during the past few days. I have just ingested a tea brewed with South American botanicals known for opening pathways in the mind. I now sit in the dark, breathing slowly and deeply, and empty my thoughts of all things other than Leonardo's workshop.

An image becomes clear in my mind, and I realize I'm looking at Leonardo's drafting table. I am in his workshop! Okay. Now I'm back home. I will try to find an image like this on the web, and get some information on this contraption. After some browsing, I found this site. It explains that Leonardo's vision enabled him to see the separate parts of machines, and combine them in new ways.

Astral projection being an arduous endeavor, I've had a nap. I will now attempt to find an example of the device above in use........Oh it was horrible. I was transported to a suburban garage and witnessed a chubby school-boy turning a modified culvert to raise a glass of kool-aid for his little sister. Still, a good example of a device that was intensely modified upon by our hero, Leonardo.

Aaahh, this is more like it. Back at the drawing table and looking at the first European variable speed transmission. This drawing, and others like it, influenced humankind's industrial aspirations centuries after Da Vinci sketched them.

Next post, I would like to back-track a little and explore the artistic legacy of you-know-who.

Leonardo, the man

Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452. Through the miracle of astral projection, I visited the Tuscan town of Vinci where his birth took place. His parents were a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. The unlikely couple stayed together and fostered Leonardo's talents. His father knew that his son was an artist when the lad asked if he could paint a shield. His representation of a smoke-breathing monster was eerily realistic.

Although he started as an artist, his resume did not stop there. He would indeed become a great engineer, architect, scientist, and inventor.

Next time, a look at his contributions to science.