Leonardo Davinci The Greatest Genius History Essay

da Vinci Davinci The Greatest Genius History EssayLeonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, near Vinci in the Republic of Florence, which is now Italy. He died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux (now Clos-Luce) France. Leonardo da Vinci is believed to be the greatest genius that ever lived. Leonardo had become a master in more fields of any separate before or since him. Most geniuses such as Albert Einstein or Alfred Hitchcock were masters yet in a single field. It was not the case with Leonardo. He believed that all subject matter was interconnected in one way or another. Leonardo expressed a great deal of his other works in his works of art. He was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculpture, architect, engineer, mathematician, musician, scientist, a writer, and a known inventor.Da Vinci, the artisanLeonardo started his career as an artist in about 1469 in Verrocchios fabled workshop. Leonardo, a youth at the time was Verrocchios assistant. One of their famous masterpieces w as the Baptism of Christ. This icon was started in 1472 and took roughly 3 years to complete. It is currently being housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. A great deal of the detail of this painting was believed to be do by Leonardo himself. X-rays of the painting and comparing them to the original sketches shows that Leonardo had done the painting entirely different that the way Verrocchio had think it to be in finished form. This may be the earliest indication that Leonardo was trying to free himself from his masters coaching to follow his own path. Verrocchio had felt threatened by the fact that da Vincis angel in the painting had seemed to be a great deal better than the other three which were painted by Verrocchio (John the Baptist) and other students) After this Verrocchio had lost interest in painting and concentrated on his other talents such as sculpture and metal working. Suffice to say, this was Verrocchios last well-known painting and the start of Leonardos career as a famous artist. Another of his more famous works, the Mona Lisa, has brought forth much controversy over the years since its finish in 1506. It was painted in Florence, Italy on wood with oil paints and now currently resides at the Musee du Louvre, Paris. Some of this controversy includes such questioning as follows wherefore is she smiling (was she secretly pregnant at the time of the painting), is this really a woman or a cleverly disguised self-portrait of Leonardo himself? If Mona Lisa was actually a self portrait of Leonardo, then the smile couldnt have been of a secret pregnancy, but most-likely of a secret that the painting is actually based on the artist. The detain Supper is another one of Leonardos great works of art. It is a mural that measures 30 feet by 14 feet. This great size mad it a great take exception for the very talented Leonardo. The work was started in 1495 and after 3 years of umpteen sketches and preparatory drawings, the work was finally com pleted in 1498. This painting was done at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie on the north refectory. This job focused on a scene at the moment of the declaration Judas betrayal. Instead of seating them in a traditional seating arrangement for that time, he seated them so that one could see each of the apostles faces and facial expressions as they hear the announcement of the betrayal of Jesus. This job couldnt have come at a more perfect time for Leonardo, for he was in his time of depression. This job not however brought him out of his depression, but it also won back the Duke Lodovicos patronage and through this he acquired a vineyard and a piece of property of 16 rods located near San Vittore. Other paintings by Leonardo include St. John in the Wilderness, Benois Madonna, Sala delle Asse, St. Jermome, Adoration of the Magi, and many others.Da Vinci and his sculpturesLeonardo not only had a talent for art, which he seems the most famous for, but also he had a flare for scu lpture. Some of his more well-known sculptures are the Horse in bronze and the Il Cavallo. The dye horse was started in 1482 when the Duke of Milan had commissioned Leonardo to build the worlds biggest horse in honor of his father to guard over the Dukes castle. It stood 24 feet in high spirits upon its completion. The sculpture started out as a full size cay model and was eventually later cast in Bronze, thus the name the Bronze Horse. Leonardos other well known sculpture, Il Cavallo, was another horse sculpture that he would not see completed. This only exists in the form of the multitude of drawings that were leftover behind by da Vinci. Also left behind were two issues da Vinci had with his sculpture. The first was the fact that he needed to fill the space where the horses stomach was to be and the second issue was settling on the position of the rider. Unfortunately for Leonardo, this was one sculpture he could not complete.Da Vinci, the InventorLeonardo had many great inve ntions for his time period and a great deal of them was ahead of their time. These inventions nookie be put into a number of categories according to the invention and the intended purpose of the invention. The first kinfolk would be flight. This category includes the parachute, the helicopter, and the glider. The second category is forgeries. In this category would be the Turin Shroud. The reason for this as being in the forgery category is the fact that people question whether it is authentic or it was one of da Vincis illusions of making it look authentic by using his many tasty talents. The third category of his inventions is maps. Leonardo had made great improvements in the area of map making in his time period. The fifth category is the military. This category includes the plans he had drawn up for an automobile (re-invention), the invention of a three-tiered machine gun, a scaling ladder (improvement), and a military tank. Even his paintings, which are the sixth category, c an be considered as inventions for Leonardo in the fact that he had made improvements in the art and also in his creative techniques. The seventh category for inventions for da Vinci is statues in the fact that, just as in paintings he had made improvements and used different techniques and also invention. The last but not least category in the inventions for da Vinci is a category that I would have never even thought or known about is robots. Leonardo was experimenting with this concept in 1495. The robot is a knight in appearance and is wearing the traditional armor for the time which was Italian-German. It had realistic features as well. For instance if one were to look into the blab of the robot one would find it looked as a real humans mouth would. Leonardo had done this to prove to himself how easily a human beings carcass could be imitated. This to me in itself shows pure genius.I could go basically on and on forever about the great deal of accomplishments of the great Leon ardo da Vinci. He had made great improvements to the art world, helped science a great deal, made inventions and plans for inventions that would be a great help to society. He was also a great mathematician, musician and writer as well. I believe that for one to be considered the greatest genius to ever live they need to have a vast knowledge of a multitude of different subjects. Leonardo da Vinci is the only person thus far has come to mind as that such person who greatly qualifies for such an honor.