In my humble opinion, Leonardo Da Vinci was the greatest human being in recorded history. Now, I know everyone has his or her own selected person. I could not say enough about him here nor list all of his genius and talents to prop up my selection. But, I read a few factoids that I didn't know and thought interesting.
I love his horse studies. He designed one that was never finished. Someone, somewhere was going to finish it. I'll have to look that up.
And because of my devotion and love for dogs, I love his dog studies.
Of course, you know which dog study is my favorite.
So, here is a tiny list of things I didn't know about Leo.
1. Da Vinci and Michelangelo were frenemies and rivals and would cause serious, reality show worthy scenes in public places by insulting each other.
2. Researchers at universities studied the Mona Lisa painting with face recognition software and concluded that ML was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry.
3. Ever the animal rights activist, Da Vinci enjoyed purchasing caged birds so that he could set them free.
4. Da Vinci was also a committed vegetarian which was exceedingly rare in his day.
Bill Gates purchased Da Vinci's Codex a few years ago for $30 million dollars and has loaned it to museums around the world. So many things interest me about Da Vinci I really wouldn't know where to start. I was in the Loire Valley in France a few years ago and didn't even know he was buried there. I would have loved to visit his grave site.
18 comments:
Next time you go;)
His artwork is undeniably magnificent of course:)
DaVinci's perfectly proportioned man lent me a wonderful trick I used many times. The perfectly proportioned man has a foot the same length as his elbow to his wrist. At a party one could say "if you put the heel of your foot in your elbow, your big toe will end at your wrist. That's always a good one. But the better one is, if I put my ruler in the crook of your elbow and measure to your wrist, I will know how long to make the foot of your sock. I would say "It's a need to know thing," and present socks at the appropriate time.
Great factoids Donna. I didn't know he was buried in the Loire Valley either - would have thought Italy.
I agree with you, Da Vinci was the GREATEST of artists and a genius to boot. Oh to have but a fraction of such insight and talent! I am delighted to learn that he freed the caged birds. By the way, I meant to say in your last post , your horse sculpture on the side bar is simply incredible.. you are a wonderful artist in so many ways.
Sure hope so Monique. Like Robert Frost said in his epic poem though, I doubt I should ever go back.
His divine proportions are the standard, are they not?
If I remember correctly Amanda, he feared death by the papists for his beliefs and fled to France.
Jeri, thank you. It is the ultimate compliment coming from such a successful artist and renaissance woman like you.
TOTALLY agree...he was also one of my faves and I studied his horses relentlessly, as well as his humans...however, I never studied his dogs, guess that's on my list of 'to-dos'...my recent post was for my brother's soul mate, we just got a hold of her yesterday to tell her the news. She's not on facebook, but follows my blog regularly, so guess I'll be doing more posts for her...good to talk to ya!
sharon
Donna, I so agree with you about Da Vinci. It is startling to realize all that he did all those centuries ago. Humbling, too.
xo
Glad to hear from you Sharon. It has been a long time, but I know most of my old blog pals now do facebook and instagram and twitter et al. I am afraid if I got started, I couldn't get a thing done.
Yes Frances. He did it all it seems. Can't think of anyone like him. Endlessly fascinating.
Such a wonderful man - ahead of his time without a doubt. His skill and artistry is beyond words.
Elaine, your comment "beyond words" says it all.
Lovely choice for a busy Tuesday---I'll have lots to mull and ponder as Jack Reacher and I get this new kitchen all spiffed up with all the new plastic goodies we bought on Sunday. (Like my dear neighbor said once, of another neighbor whose propensity for great, gaudy displays all over her yard, no matter the holiday or occasion: "I SWEAR, there ain't a THANG left in K-Mart!")
So, off I went, silly me, to click to enlarge and enjoy, and also to see if I could translate just a bit of the which-hand-did-he-write-this-with, and forward-or-backward?, and there it was in everyday English. So befuddled my already beswizzled brain from all this chaos and clutter, I felt sorta time-warped for a minute there, my Latin/Italian-ready brain cells squinting at the familiar shapes, but the letters took a moment to emerge. My laugh on me, for today.
Thanks for the lesson and the little smack to my ASSUME.
r
Incredible skills and beauty.
Oh Donna, this is such a rich post.....first of all, I have a book called, "How to Think like Leonardo DaVinci." It is a great read, academic in that it relates this Renaissance man's approach to art with how people LEARN. It's a teacher's inspirational guide to enriching instruction, tapping into learners' possible ports of entry for learning. GOOGLE IT!
Secondly, his sketches of the horse are my favorite, since I am smitten with this creature since childhood, drawing over and over again the perfect equine profile. But I've NEVER seen his dog sketches! GORGEOUS!
Thank you kindly for coming to visit my post. Carmel can be a reality. GO. It's worth it. Anita
Thank you so Anita for the info. I will have to get a copy of that book. I drew horses my entire childhood too. I will go to Carmel one day. I love California.
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