Leonardo (German) Paperback – 18 Mar 2008

Leonardo da Vinci has always been a hero of mine. While we have many academic and mathematical geniuses to pick from ( Galileo, Einstein, Newton etc), only a few of them revealed themselves to truly multifaceted as did Leonardo. It is for this reason that Leonardo is referred to as a Renaissance Man. It's not just that he seemed to be multi-talented (and alas, ambidextrous, as his reverse writing seemed to flaunt), but that he was so delightfully curious and interested in much of life, and never resigned himself to just music, or just painting, or just calculation.How is this possible? And what was his method? What was it that drove him? Was it money? Surely, he died with a vast estate, so the argument could be made that he was driven by money. The more impressive his stature, the more he could charge royals for her services and counsel. On top of his obvious artistic mastery (and constant improvement in the most minute details), he was also one of the most capable and ingenious engineering minds of the day (for the record, the end of the 15th century, and beginning of 16th). Thusly, the more he researched and the more he 'proved' the more money he could earn and the more his artwork would improve. And the more money he could earn per project (much like a big time Hollywood actor nowadays) the more time he could afford to indulge his true passion without much regard for income.And what was his hobby that required so much time of him to indulge? It was Leonardo's curiosity that brought him all those royal monies and all those amazing talents. You see, Leonardo actually used his artwork, as a way to prove his scientific theories. Oftentimes he would prepare to do a portrait of a famous Duke, but couldn't quite understand why the light was to be softer on various parts of the face, but more brilliant on the silk or leather garment he was wearing. It was the drive for perfection as a painter, that led him to ask these questions. When it came to perspective, Leonardo very likely single handedly wrote the book on point of view in technical drawing, achieving startling photorealism in drawing on canvas before adding even the first drop of paint.But what were these things he made? We have volumes and volumes of his illustrated theories on light, the behaviour thereof, and wind, and fire, and water. In the late 15th century there was much debate as to what drove these forces, and reading Leonardo's notebooks is like seeing the worlds very first college textbook. He would draw pictures of the human body with a huge chunk missing, where he could then rotate the image and reveal how each layer of flesh and skin wrapped around the bone. In true Da Vincian fashion, he effectively invented the 'exploded' view we now come to expect for any technical or engineering drawings (think of the last piece of Ikea furniture you had to put together). Also, the paintings that he did produce, he often copied (by way of assistants) by making copies he could triple his salary and spend the rest of his time experimenting and fooling around with his new theories. When his next piece was revealed, it was more likely than not, more beautiful than anyone could imagine, thus pushing up the income earned on his next project.It's important to remember here, that as a famous inventor, Leonardo was himself very good at copying. He copied from nature, he copied the patterns of leaves on trees, and copied the inner workings of the human body, to better understand the most efficient system for pumping water. In many ways Leonardo's genius was that he saw the world like one huge analogy, a fractal, a metaphor if you will. Whereas the human body is rivers of blood circulating and pumping with 100% efficiency, Leonardo looked out at the horizon and saw the very same system, water circulating and being rerouted for ultimate efficiency. It was that ability to translate something from the microcosm, to the macrocosm, and back, which made him so brilliant. There is a universal law to nature, then, and Leonardo chose to employ it. And when he asked if man could imitate birds, it seemed logical to invent a flying machine.Perhaps Renaissance man is a misnomer, as he's not doing 4 million different things, he's doing about two very different things (that's still enough to be called a renaissance man): firstly, he was an artist, whose art informed his science and secondly, he was a scientist whose science informed his art. It's the symbiotic relationship that Leonardo insists upon that makes him such a fascinating figure. To the casual observer, painting, drawing, architecture, and water distribution, and military arms are all different. But to Leonardo, they were all the same.Once you understand that Mona Lisa was a Flying Machine herself, it all makes sense.More reviews like this on 21tiger