Leonardo da Vinci is the most famous artist in the world. Which in itself is surprising. There are only 19 surviving paintings by the master. How is this possible? Does two dozen works make an artist the greatest?

It's all about Leonardo himself. He is one of the most extraordinary people ever born. Inventor of various mechanisms. Discoverer of many phenomena. Virtuoso musician. And also a cartographer, botanist and anatomist.

In his notes we find descriptions of a bicycle, a submarine, a helicopter and a tanker. Not to mention scissors, a life jacket and contact lenses.

His innovations in painting were also incredible. He was one of the first to use oil paints. Sfumato effect and cut-off modulation. He was the first to incorporate figures into the landscape. His models in portraits became living people, not painted mannequins.

Here are just 5 masterpieces of the master. Which demonstrate the genius of this man.

1. Madonna of the Rocks. 1483-1486

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna of the Rocks. 1483-1486 Louvre, Paris. Wikimedia.commons.org

Young Virgin Mary. Pretty Angel in a red cloak. And two well-fed children. The Holy Family with the baby Jesus were returning from Egypt. Along the way we met little John the Baptist.

This is the first picture in the history of painting when people are depicted not in front of the landscape, but inside it. The heroes are sitting by the water. Behind the rock. So old that they look more like stalactites.

The “Madonna of the Rocks” was commissioned by the monks of the Brotherhood of St. Francis for one of the Milan churches. But the customers were not happy. Leonardo was late with deadlines. They also didn't like the lack of halos. The angel's gesture also confused them. Why is his index finger pointed at John the Baptist? After all, baby Jesus is more important.

Leonardo sold the painting on the side. The monks got angry and filed a lawsuit. The artist was obliged to paint a new picture for the monks. Only with halos and without the angel's pointing gesture.

According to the official version, this is how the second “Madonna of the Rocks” appeared. Almost identical to the first one. But there is something strange about her.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna of the Rocks. 1508 National Gallery London.

Leonardo carefully studied the plants. He even made a number of discoveries in the field of botany. It was he who realized that tree sap plays the same role as blood in human veins. I also figured out how to determine the age of trees by their rings.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the vegetation in the Louvre painting is realistic. These are the plants that grow in a damp, dark place. But in the second picture the flora is fictitious.

How did Leonardo, so truthful in his depiction of nature, suddenly decide to fantasize? In a single picture? Unthinkable.

I think Leonardo was not interested in painting a second painting. And he instructed his student to make a copy. Who obviously didn’t understand botany.

2. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490

Leonardo da Vinci. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490 Czertoryski Museum, Krakow. Wikimedia.commons.org

Before us is young Cecilia Gallerani. She was the mistress of the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. At whose court Leonardo also served.

Smiling, good-natured and smart girl. She was an interesting conversationalist. He and Leonardo talked often and for a long time.

The portrait is very unusual. Leonardo's contemporaries painted people's profiles. Here Cecilia stands in three quarters. Turning your head in the opposite direction. It was as if she was looking back at someone's words. This spread makes the shoulder line and neck especially beautiful.

Alas, we see the portrait in an altered form. One of the owners of the portrait darkened the background. Leonardo's was lighter. With a window behind the girl's left shoulder. The two lower fingers of her hand are also rewritten. That's why they are curved unnaturally.

It is worth talking about the ermine. Such an animal seems like a curiosity to us. A modern person would be more accustomed to seeing a fluffy cat in the hands of a girl.

But for the 15th century, it was the ermine that was an ordinary animal. They were kept to catch mice. And cats were just exotic.

3. Last Supper. 1495-1598

Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper. 1495-1498 Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazia, Milan

The fresco “The Last Supper” was commissioned by the same Ludovico Sforza at the request of his wife Beatrice d’Este. Alas, she died very young during childbirth. Never saw the painting completed.

The Duke was beside himself with grief. Realizing how dear his cheerful and beautiful wife was to him. He was all the more grateful to Leonardo for the work he had done.

He paid the artist generously. Handing him 2,000 ducats (about 800 thousand dollars in our money), and also giving him ownership of a large plot of land.

When the residents of Milan were able to see the fresco, amazement knew no bounds. The apostles differed not only in appearance, but also in their emotions and gestures. Each of them reacted in their own way to the words of Christ, “One of you will betray me.” Never before has the individuality of the characters been as clearly expressed as in Leonardo.

The painting has another amazing detail. Restorers found that Leonardo painted the shadows not in gray or black, but in blue! This was unthinkable until the middle of the 19th century. When they began to write colored shadows.

Leonardo da Vinci. Fragment from “The Last Supper”. 1495-1498 Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazia, Milan

This is not so clearly visible in the reproduction, but the composition of the paint speaks for itself (blue crystals of copper acetate).

Read about other unusual details of the painting in the article

4. Mona Lisa. 1503-1519

Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa. 1503-1519 . Wikimedia.commons.org

In the portrait we see Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. This version is official, but doubtful.

One curious description of this portrait has reached us. It was left by Leonardo's student, Francesco Melzi. And the Louvre lady does not fit this description at all. I wrote about this in detail in the article .

Now another version of the woman’s identity is being considered. This may be a portrait of Giuliano de' Medici's mistress from Florence. She bore him a son. And soon after giving birth she died.

Giuliano ordered a portrait from Leonardo especially for the boy. In the image of the ideal mother Madonna. Leonardo painted the portrait according to the customer's words. Mixing into them the features of his student Salai.

That is why the Florentine Lady is so similar to “John the Baptist” (see the next picture). For which the same Salai posed.

In this portrait, the sfumato method is revealed to the maximum. A subtle haze, creating the effect of shaded lines, makes the Mona Lisa almost alive. It seems that her lips are about to part. She will sigh. The chest will rise.

The portrait was never given to the customer. Since Giuliano died in 1516. Leonardo took it to France, where King Francis I invited him. He continued to work on it until his last day. Why did it take so long?

Leonardo perceived time completely differently. He was the first to argue that the Earth is much older than commonly thought. He did not believe that the biblical flood brought shells to the mountains. Realizing that in place of the mountains there was once a sea.

Therefore, it was common for him to paint a picture for decades. What is 15-20 years compared to the age of the Earth!

5. John the Baptist. 1514-1516

Leonardo da Vinci. Saint John the Baptist. 1513-1516 Louvre, Paris. wga.hu

“John the Baptist” caused bewilderment among Leonardo’s contemporaries. Dull dark background. While even Leonardo himself loved to place figures against the backdrop of nature.

The figure of a saint emerges from the darkness. But it’s difficult to call him a saint. Everyone got used to the elderly John. And then the pretty young man bowed his head meaningfully. A gentle touch of a hand to the chest. Well-groomed curls of hair.

The last thing you think about is holiness when you look at this effeminate man in leopard skin.

Don't you think that this painting doesn't seem to belong at all? It's more like the 17th century. The hero's mannerisms. Theatrical gestures. Contrast of light and shadow. All this comes from the Baroque Age.

Did Leonardo look into the future? Predicting the style and manner of painting of the next century.

Who was Leonardo? Most know him as an artist. But his genius is not limited to this calling.

After all, he was the first to explain why the sky is blue. He believed in the unity of all life in the world. Anticipating the theorists of quantum physics with their “butterfly effect”. He realized such a phenomenon as turbulence. 400 years before its official opening.

It is a pity that humanity was not able to take full advantage of his genius.

I wonder if Leonardo is an exception whose equal will never appear on Earth again? Or is this a superman of the future who was accidentally born ahead of time?

Read about another masterpiece by Leonardo, which is stored in the article.

Certain trends in the art of the High Renaissance were anticipated in the work of outstanding artists of the 15th century and were expressed in the desire for grandeur, monumentalization and generalization of the image. However, the true founder of the High Renaissance style was Leonardo da Vinci, a genius whose work marked a grandiose qualitative shift in art. The significance of his comprehensive activities, scientific and artistic, became clear only when Leonardo's scattered manuscripts were examined. His notes and drawings contain brilliant insights in various fields of science and technology. He was, as Engels put it, “not only a great painter, but also a great mathematician, mechanic and engineer, to whom the most diverse branches of physics owe important discoveries.”

For the Italian artist, art was a means of understanding the world. Many of his sketches serve to illustrate scientific work, and at the same time they are works of high art. Leonardo embodied a new type of artist - a scientist, a thinker, striking in his breadth of views and versatility of talent. Leonardo was born in the village of Anchiano, near the city of Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a notary and a simple peasant woman. He studied in Florence, in the studio of the sculptor and painter Andrea Verrocchio. One of the young artist’s early works – the figure of an angel in Verrocchio’s painting “Baptism” (Florence, Uffizi) – stands out among the frozen characters with its subtle spirituality and testifies to the maturity of its creator.

Among Leonardo’s early works is the “Madonna with a Flower” (the so-called “Benois Madonna,” circa 1478), kept in the Hermitage, which is decidedly different from the numerous Madonnas of the 15th century. Refusing the genre and careful detailing inherent in the works of the early Renaissance masters, Leonardo deepens the characteristics and generalizes the forms. The figures of a young mother and baby, subtly modeled by side light, fill almost the entire space of the picture. The movements of the figures, organically connected with each other, are natural and plastic. They stand out clearly against the dark background of the wall. The clear blue sky opening in the window connects the figures with nature, with the vast world dominated by man. In the balanced construction of the composition, an internal pattern is felt. But it does not exclude the warmth, the naive charm observed in life.

Madonna with the Infants Christ and John
Baptist, around 1490, private collection

Savior of the world
around 1500, private collection

In 1480, Leonardo already had his own workshop and received orders. However, his passion for science often distracted him from his studies in art. The large altar composition “Adoration of the Magi” (Florence, Uffizi) and “Saint Jerome” (Rome, Vatican Pinacoteca) remained unfinished. In the first, the artist sought to transform the complex monumental composition of the altar image into a pyramid-shaped, easily visible group, to convey the depth of human feelings. In the second - to a truthful depiction of complex angles of the human body, the space of the landscape. Not finding proper appreciation of his talent at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, with his cult of exquisite sophistication, Leonardo entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Moro. The Milan period of Leonardo's work (1482–1499) turned out to be the most fruitful. Here the versatility of his talent as a scientist, inventor and artist was revealed in full force.

He began his activity with the execution of a sculptural monument - an equestrian statue of the father of Duke Ludovico Moro, Francesco Sforza. The large model of the monument, which was unanimously praised by contemporaries, was destroyed during the capture of Milan by the French in 1499. Only drawings have survived - sketches of various versions of the monument, images of either a rearing horse, full of dynamics, or a solemnly performing horse, reminiscent of the compositional solutions of Donatello and Verrocchio. Apparently, this last option was turned into a model of the statue. It was significantly larger in size than the monuments of Gattamelata and Colleoni, which gave rise to contemporaries and Leonardo himself to call the monument “the great colossus.” This work allows us to consider Leonardo one of the largest sculptors of that time.

Not a single completed architectural project by Leonardo has reached us. And yet his drawings and designs of buildings, plans for creating an ideal city speak of his gift as an outstanding architect. The Milanese period includes paintings of a mature style - “Madonna in the Grotto” and “The Last Supper”. “Madonna in the Grotto” (1483–1494, Paris, Louvre) is the first monumental altar composition of the High Renaissance. Her characters Mary, John, Christ and the angel acquired features of greatness, poetic spirituality and fullness of life expressiveness. United by a mood of thoughtfulness and action - the infant Christ blesses John - in a harmonious pyramidal group, as if fanned by a light haze of chiaroscuro, the characters of the gospel legend seem to be the embodiment of ideal images of peaceful happiness.

(attribution to Carlo Pedretti), 1505,
Museum of the Ancient People of Lucania,
Vallo Basilicata, Italy

The most significant of Leonardo’s monumental paintings, “The Last Supper,” executed in 1495–1497 for the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan, takes you into the world of real passions and dramatic feelings. Departing from the traditional interpretation of the Gospel episode, Leonardo gives an innovative solution to the theme, a composition that deeply reveals human feelings and experiences. Having minimized the outline of the refectory furnishings, deliberately reducing the size of the table and pushing it to the foreground, he focuses attention on the dramatic climax of the event, on the contrasting characteristics of people of different temperaments, the manifestation of a complex range of feelings, expressed in facial expressions and gestures with which the apostles respond to the words of Christ: “One of you will betray me.” A decisive contrast to the apostles is provided by the images of an outwardly calm, but sadly pensive Christ, located in the center of the composition, and the traitor Judas, leaning on the edge of the table, whose rough, predatory profile is immersed in shadow. Confusion, emphasized by the gesture of his hand frantically clutching his wallet, and his gloomy appearance distinguish him from the other apostles, on whose illuminated faces one can read an expression of surprise, compassion, and indignation. Leonardo does not separate the figure of Judas from the other apostles, as the early Renaissance masters did. And yet, the repulsive appearance of Judas reveals the idea of ​​​​betrayal more sharply and deeply. All twelve disciples of Christ are located in groups of three, on either side of the teacher. Some of them jump up from their seats in excitement, turning to Christ. The artist subordinates the various internal movements of the apostles to a strict order. The composition of the fresco amazes with its unity and integrity; it is strictly balanced and centric in construction. The monumentalization of the images and the scale of the painting contribute to the impression of the deep significance of the image, subordinating the entire large space of the refectory. Leonardo brilliantly solves the problem of the synthesis of painting and architecture. By placing the table parallel to the wall that the fresco adorns, he asserts its plane. The perspective reduction of the side walls depicted on the fresco seems to continue the real space of the refectory.

The fresco is badly damaged. Leonardo's experiments using new materials did not stand the test of time; later recordings and restorations almost hid the original, which was cleared only in 1954. But the surviving engravings and preparatory drawings make it possible to fill in all the details of the composition.

After Milan was captured by French troops, Leonardo left the city. Years of wandering began. Commissioned by the Florentine Republic, he made cardboard for the fresco “The Battle of Anghiari”, which was to decorate one of the walls of the Council Chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio (city government building). When creating this cardboard, Leonardo entered into competition with the young Michelangelo, who was executing an order for the fresco “The Battle of Cascina” for another wall of the same hall. However, these cardboards, which received universal recognition from their contemporaries, have not survived to this day. Only old copies and engravings allow us to judge the innovation of the geniuses of the High Renaissance in the field of battle painting.

In Leonardo’s composition, full of drama and dynamics, the episode of the battle for the banner, the moment of the highest tension of the forces of the combatants is given, the cruel truth of the war is revealed. The creation of a portrait of Mona Lisa (“La Gioconda”, circa 1504, Paris, Louvre), one of the most famous works of world painting, dates back to this time. The depth and significance of the created image is extraordinary, in which individual features are combined with great generalization. Leonardo's innovation was also evident in the development of Renaissance portraiture.

Plastically detailed, closed in silhouette, the majestic figure of a young woman dominates a distant landscape shrouded in a bluish haze with rocks and water channels winding among them. The complex, semi-fantastic landscape subtly harmonizes with the character and intelligence of the person being portrayed. It seems that the unsteady variability of life itself is felt in the expression of her face, enlivened by a subtle smile, in her calmly confident, penetrating gaze. The face and sleek hands of the patrician are painted with amazing care and gentleness. The thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro (the so-called sfumato), enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows; There is not a single sharp stroke or angular contour in the picture.

In the last years of his life, Leonardo devoted most of his time to scientific research. He died in France, where he arrived at the invitation of the French King Francis I and where he lived for only two years. His art, scientific and theoretical research, and his very personality had a tremendous impact on the development of world culture. His manuscripts contain countless notes and drawings that testify to the universality of Leonardo's genius. There are carefully drawn flowers and trees, sketches of unknown tools, machines and apparatus. Along with analytically accurate images, there are drawings that are distinguished by their extraordinary scope, epicness or subtle lyricism. A passionate admirer of experimental knowledge, Leonardo strove for its critical understanding and search for generalizing laws. “Experience is the only source of knowledge,” said the artist. “The Book of Painting” reveals his views as a theorist of realistic art, for whom painting is both “science and the legitimate daughter of nature.” The treatise contains Leonardo's statements on anatomy and perspective; he looks for patterns in the construction of a harmonious human figure, writes about the interaction of colors, and reflexes. Among Leonardo's followers and students, however, there was not a single one approaching the teacher in terms of talent; deprived of an independent view of art, they only externally assimilated his artistic style.

The most extraordinary genius in the entire history of mankind. During his life history, he managed to lay the foundation of modern botany, anatomy, architecture, engineering, without being any of them. The flight of his thoughts was ahead of his time by many centuries. His paintings were and remain unique and mystically attractive. He was perhaps the first consistent realist in painting. Perhaps his observations of nature and research were the reason for his incredible detail and accuracy.

Childhood

On April 15, 1452, the greatest artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci, a Tuscan village. Mystery enveloped him from the first days of his existence. Being the illegitimate offspring of the young legal representative Piero da Vinci and the unknown peasant woman Katerina. His father, being from a noble family, later remarried a noblewoman, but the marriage was childless. After some time, upset by this, he created a new family with another wife. After all the marriages, there were 11 children in Pierrot's family. In his youth, the future genius was distinguished from his peers by his well-built body, extraordinary attractiveness and knowledge-hungry mind. Even then, his unusual attitude to the world and perception of his surroundings from a different perspective was noticeable. He spent a lot of his free time outdoors exploring his environment.

Education

Despite this, the education he received was very superficial. But this did not prevent the young talent from mastering singing, playing the lyre, drawing, and making great progress in mathematical sciences by the age of 15. In his adolescence, da Vinci became an apprentice to the then famous artist Andrea del Verrocchio. The learning process brought pleasure to both of them because their views on life coincided. The title of master of painting was given to him in 1472, and for another four years after that he did not leave his teacher, wanting to complete all joint projects. However, it was during this period of his life that he developed the habit of not finishing his work.

Personal life

The life of a genius was surrounded by people. Friends and students surrounded him throughout his life. But matters of the heart are covered in a curtain of secrecy, like many aspects of his life. Leonardo hid this part of his life so carefully that there were rumors that he was a homosexual. Some believed in his close connection with his students. The model for the masterpiece “Lady with an Ermine” was also the painter’s mistress, according to some theories. Yet it is generally accepted that he was so passionate about nature and science that he was not interested in relationships of any kind.

The beginning of a creative journey

In 1481, the young Leonardo received the commission that marked the beginning of his career, “The Adoration of the Magi” for the altar of a pilgrimage church near Florence. Unfortunately, this work did not wait for its completion, but he took a big enough step that he would be talked about as a talented innovator. During this period, he moved to Milan to serve as a courtier for the nobleman Ludovico Sforza, where he lived for 20 years. As a military adviser, he creates designs for “closed wagons” (the future tank) and multi-charged weapons on a revolving base (the prototype of the machine gun). Unfortunately, da Vinci's engineering and technical projects were ahead of the thoughts of the time in which he lived, and did not inspire confidence among his contemporaries. Sforza did not forget the artistic talent of his subject and ordered an equestrian statue from him, which did not wait for completion and was disposed of. The Last Supper fresco was commissioned to decorate the walls of the Santa Maria church. Very meager experience and knowledge in the art of fresco led to experimental compositions trying to improve them. This experience ended in disaster; less than two years after the painting was created, the paint began to crumble, and now it is the most famous ruin in the history of art.

Biology and Anatomy

Trying to understand the structure of nature, the artist made hundreds of sketches and notes on the structure of the human body and animals. The sketches made during the autopsy were drawn in detail. Bones, muscles, vessels and veins have been depicted hundreds of thousands of times. His work was hundreds of years ahead of its time until recently, surpassing even modern anatomy textbooks.

Science and Engineering

His gaze was always directed to the sky, he tried to comprehend it. While developing the aircraft, he studied various species of birds and bats. At first he was aimed at inventing an apparatus with wings powered by human hands. Later he began to make sketches reminiscent of modern helicopters and paragliders. He invented the parachute. He was also the first to come up with the first telescope design with two lenses.

Life path

The capture of Milan by French troops and the change of government forced the artist to leave the city. Returning to Florence around 1503, he gave life to a creation called the Mona Lisa. Perhaps the greatest work of art in Western European painting is this particular painting. Despite the passing centuries, it remains a mystery whose image is captured on this canvas and why Leonardo da Vinci did not give the portrait to the customer and kept it until his death.
The year 1512 became the cause of many unrest, under the pressure of the papal throne, French troops finally leave Milan, and therefore Leonardo goes to Rome. Unfortunately, his notoriety as a draftsman who starts work but does not complete it became a stumbling block in his work with Pope Leo X. Perhaps the reason for the artistic “downtime” was the appearance on the market of Michelangelo and Raphael, who worked much faster. However, Leonardo, in spite of everything, had fame as a brilliant creator and the French monarch Francis I, being his admirer, invited the genius to his domain.

Last years of life

Having accepted the title of “the first artist, engineer and architect,” at the age of 60, he began not to paint paintings, but to write manuscripts. His dream was to publish his diaries, in which he described his understanding of the world and the unusual flight of his thoughts. Unfortunately, it was not possible for him to do this. At the age of 67, a man rightfully called a genius died. He was buried near the Loire River in a local cemetery, destroyed over time, his grave was lost.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci (1452 - 1519) - Italian painter, sculptor and architect, natural scientist, writer and musician, inventor and mathematician, botanist and philosopher, a prominent representative of the Renaissance.

Childhood

Not far from Italian Florence is the small town of Vinci; near it in 1452 there was the village of Anchiano, where the genius Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15.

His father, a fairly successful notary Pierrot, was 25 years old at that time. He had a love affair with a beautiful peasant woman, Katerina, as a result of which a child was born. But later the father was legally married to a noble and rich girl, and Leonardo remained to live with his mother.

After some time, it became clear that the married couple and Vicni could not have their own children, and then Piero took their common son Leonardo, who by that time was already three years old, from Katerina to raise. The baby was separated from his mother, and then all his life he diligently tried to recreate her image in his masterpieces.

In the new family, the boy began to receive primary education at the age of 4; he was taught Latin and reading, mathematics and writing.

Youth in Florence

When Leonardo was 13 years old, his stepmother died, his father married a second time and moved to Florence. Here he opened his own business, to which he tried to involve his son.

In those days, children born out of legal marriage were endowed with exactly the same rights as heirs born into an officially registered family. However, Leonardo had little interest in the laws of society, and then Pierrot's father decided to make his son an artist.

His teacher in painting was the representative of the Tuscan school, sculptor, bronze caster, and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was accepted into his workshop as an apprentice.

In those years, the entire intellect of Italy was concentrated in Florence, so that, in addition to painting, da Vinci here had the opportunity to study drawing, chemistry, and the humanities. Here he learned some technical skills, learned to work with materials such as metal, leather and plaster, and became interested in modeling and sculpture.

At the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master at the Guild of St. Luke.

The first painting masterpieces

In those days, painting workshops practiced joint painting, when the teacher completed orders with the help of one of his students.

So Verrocchio, when he received his next order, chose da Vinci as his assistant. The painting “The Baptism of Christ” was needed; the teacher instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. But when the master teacher compared the angel he was painting with the work of da Vinci, he threw away his brush and never returned to painting. He realized that the student not only surpassed him, but a real genius was born.

Leonardo da Vinci mastered several painting techniques:

• Italian pencil;
• sanguine;
• silver pencil;
• feather.

Over the next five years, Leonardo worked on creating such masterpieces as “Madonna with a Vase”, “Annunciation”, “Madonna with a Flower”.

Period of life in Milan

In the spring of 1476, da Vinci and three of his friends were accused of sadism and were arrested. At that time, this was considered a terrible crime, for which the death penalty was imposed - burning at the stake. The artist’s guilt was not proven; no accusers or witnesses were found. The son of a noble Florentine nobleman was also among the suspects. These two circumstances helped da Vinci avoid punishment; the defendants were flogged and released.

After this incident, the young man did not return to Verrocchio, but opened his own painting workshop.

In 1482, the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, invited Leonardo da Vinci to his court as the organizer of the holidays. His job was to create costumes, masks and mechanical “miracles”; the holidays turned out great. Leonardo had to simultaneously combine several positions: engineer and architect, court artist, hydraulic engineer and military engineer. Moreover, his salary was less than that of a court dwarf. But Leonardo did not despair, because in this way he had the opportunity to work for himself and develop in science and technology.

During the years of his life and work in Milan, da Vinci paid especially much attention to anatomy and architecture. He sketched several options for the central-domed temple; got hold of a human skull and made a discovery - cranial sinuses.

During the same Milanese period, while working at court, he became very interested in cooking and the art of table setting. In order to make the work of cooks easier, Leonardo invented some culinary devices.

Artistic creations of the genius da Vinci

Although his contemporaries consider Leonardo da Vinci to be a great artist, he considered himself a learned engineer. He drew rather slowly and did not devote much time to fine art, as he was too keen on science.

Some works have been lost or severely damaged over the years and centuries; many unfinished paintings remain. For example, the large altar composition “Adoration of the Magi”. Therefore, Leonardo's artistic legacy is not so great. But what has survived to this day is truly priceless. These are paintings such as “Madonna in the Grotto”, “La Gioconda”, “The Last Supper”, “Lady with an Ermine”.

In order to depict human bodies so brilliantly in paintings, Leonardo was the first in the world of painting to study the structure and arrangement of muscles, for which he dismembered corpses.

Other areas of activity of Leonardo

But he owns a huge number of discoveries in other areas and areas.
In 1485, a plague epidemic occurred in Milan. About 50,000 city residents died from this disease. Da Vinci justified such a pestilence to the Duke by the fact that in the overpopulated city dirt reigned on the narrow streets, and came up with a proposal to build a new city. He proposed a plan according to which the city, designed for 30,000 inhabitants, was divided into 10 districts, each with its own sewerage system. Leonardo also proposed calculating the width of streets based on the average height of horses. The Duke rejected his plan, as, indeed, many of da Vinci’s brilliant creations were rejected during his lifetime.

However, several centuries will pass, and the State Council of London will take advantage of the proportions proposed by Leonardo, call them ideal and will apply them when laying out new streets.

Da Vinci was also very talented in music. His hands were responsible for the creation of a silver lyre, which was shaped like a horse's head; he could also play this lyre masterfully.

Leonardo was fascinated by the water element; he created many works related to water in one way or another. He owns the invention and description of a device for diving under water, as well as a breathing apparatus that can be used for scuba diving. All modern underwater equipment is based on da Vinci's inventions. He studied hydraulics, the laws of fluid, developed the theory of sewer ports and locks, testing his ideas in practice.

And how passionate he was about the development of an aircraft, and he created the simplest of them based on wings. These are his ideas - an airplane with full control and a device that will have vertical takeoff and landing. He didn’t have a motor and couldn’t bring his ideas to life.

He was interested in absolutely everything about the human structure; he worked very hard to study the human eye.

Some interesting facts

Leonardo da Vinci had many students and friends. As for his relationships with the female sex, there is no reliable information on this matter. It is known for certain that he was not married.

Leonardo da Vinci slept very little and was a vegetarian. He did not understand at all how a person could combine the freedom he strives for with keeping animals and birds in cages. In his diaries he wrote:

“We are all walking cemeteries because we live by killing other (animals).”

Almost 5 centuries have passed without a great genius, and the world is still trying to unravel the smile of Gioconda. It was studied by specialists and scientists in Amsterdam and the USA, and even with the help of computer technology they determined the emotions that a smile conceals:

• happiness (83%);
• fear (6%);
• anger (2%);
• neglect (9%).

There is a version that when Mona Lisa posed for the master, she was entertained by jesters and musicians. And some scientists suggested that she was pregnant and smiled blissfully from the realization of this secret.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, surrounded by his students. The legacy of a brilliant man included not only paintings, but also a huge library, tools, and about 50,000 sketches. The manager of all this was his friend and student Francesco Melzi.