Chapter
1
Introduction
A.
Background
of the Study
Leonardo
Da Vinci is one of the most famous painters in the entire history. He is
considered as one of the finest painters with smooth strokes and realistic
looking paintings. Born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci
was the son of a prominent attorney notary and a young peasant girl. Born out
of wedlock, he was raised by his father, Ser Piero, and several stepmothers. He’s
been famous because of his artworks that somehow gave mysterious aura to people
like “Mona Lisa” and “Last Supper”. In fact, his works are considered to be one
of the most expensive auctioned paintings in the Art history.
Shelley
Esaak wrote a certain article entitled “Leonardo Da Vinci” in a website called
arthistory.about.com wherein she narrated the biography of Leonardo as a one of
a kind painter all throughout the history.
She
stated, “How to make this brief? Leonardo
spent about twenty years (1480s - 1499) in the service of Lodovico Sforza, the
Duke of Milan (who frequently neglected to pay Leonardo). His output during
this period included two of his best known paintings: The Madonna of the Rocks
(1483-85) and the mural The Last Supper (1495-98).When Milan was seized by
French troops in 1499, Leonardo returned to Florence. It was here that he
painted one of the most famous portraits of all time, The Mona Lisa, more
correctly known as La Gioconda (1503-06).” (http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesdd/a/leonardo.htm).
As
an artist, I view Leonardo as an inspiration in my works. When it comes to
smooth and clean strokes, Leonardo Da Vinci is irreplaceable. Even though a lot
people copied his works, the original will always be the most expensive and
most beautiful.
He
is also considered as the father of Science, technology and modern research.
Unlike other historical people, Leonardo didn’t stick with one subject. He
experimented and enhanced himself on doing what he thinks he can. Science is
not easy during the old times. Since there are no books, newspapers or
internet, they have to know everything by themselves and they soon settled on
superstitions and false allegations. But Leonardo changed the views and began
analyzing things.
According
to the article entitled “Is Leonardo da Vinci a great artist or a great
scientist?” by Jonathan Jones of theguardian.com, a lot people have been
debating whether Da Vinci is an Artist or Scientist. The thing is, people see
him differently on both professions. It is explained in the article that
Leonardo became a scientist when he questioned started questioning things.
Curiosity gave him power. He was one of the pioneer researchers in the Renaissance
Period and that soon gave him the passion to pursue science and design
technology that can help humankind in the future.
Jonathan
Jones also said in his article “He is
never more an artist than when he is most a scientist. Even as he patiently
reveals the nature of heart valves, he draws with such tender beauty that you
gasp at the complex artistic achievement, the subtle textures and
three-dimensional illusions, even as you marvel at his insights into the human
body. For me, Leonardo's anatomical
drawings are both icons of science, and wonders of art.” (http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/may/01/leonardo-da-vinci-artist-or-scientist).
He
was considered as the Renaissance Man. During the 14th century, rise
of modern thinking and ideas began to bloom out. Different people presented
ideas and explanation beyond phenomena and scientific happenings. But despite
the number of people who lived like that in the Renaissance Period, Leonardo Da
Vinci was considered the greatest.
According
to an article entitled “Leonardo Da Vinci: Ultimate Renaissance Man” by Jeremy
Hsu of nbcnews.com, people of America took notice of Leonardo’s greatest works
and made it a Hollywood film in order to inform people what he contributed to
the modern world of Science and technology. Hsu also discussed the different
ideas drawn by him on how he views the machines of the future. These reasons
made him become the greatest Renaissance Man. The evidences of every logical
things he found out were presented.
Hsu
also said “What's weird about Leonardo is
that he anticipated all sorts of revolutionary breakthroughs in science and
medicine, and yet in fact, if he'd never have existed, most of those things
would have happened anyway," (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/46765215/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/t/leonardo-da-vinci-ultimate-renaissance-man/).
The
greatest contribution of Da Vinci is that he studied anatomy by the use of
corpses. During his time, studying human body is sacred because the church views
our body as something divine and sacred. But Leonardo took a step out and began
studying on how it works out. He later on moved on using small animals to see
how living organism’s anatomy works out.
According
to an article entitled “Leonardo Da Vinci: Anatomy of an Artist” by Alastair
Stook of telegraph.co.uk, Leonardo began studying using corpses when sat with a
dying old man in Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. The old man said that whenever
had any disease except for being old, so due to curiosity, he studied the old
man’s body when he died. Stook also said that what’s interesting about Leonardo
is that he provided a visual proof on his studies. He gave us a clear view on
how our body looks like that no one ever did before. He introduced us one of
the greatest mysteries of the history.
Stook
also gave added information about Leonardo’s anatomical work by saying “The
fruits of this research, a series of 18 mostly double-sided sheets known
collectively as the Anatomical Manuscript A, overflow with more than 240
meticulous drawings as well as 13,000 words of notes written in his
idiosyncratic “mirror-script”.” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/leonardo-da-vinci/10202124/Leonardo-da-Vinci-Anatomy-of-an-artist.html).
This
eager attitude of Leonardo about studying Human Anatomy gave a lot of knowledge
to us regarding our delicate body and how it works.
However,
despite all these positive contributions, the researcher observes that Leonardo’s
live the life full of conspiracies. On doing all this things that are out of
the norm, people began suspecting if he lived a real life or something that is
scripted for the sake of others.
Therefore,
having background information about Leonardo Da Vinci will give the readers
knowledge about how the greatest Renaissance Man lived his life and how people
see him when he was still alive and now that is gone. It will also clarify the
misconceptions about him.
Instead
of dealing with the famous works of Leonardo Da Vinci, this paper will focus on
explaining and exposing the different secrets and mysteries about Leonardo Da
Vinci’s life and works.
B.
Statement
of the Problem
This study aims to answer this question:
1. What
are the different secrets and mysteries about Leonardo Da Vinci’s life and
works?
C.
Significance
of the Study
Students
with courses related to Arts and History. This paper will
study about the greatest man of Art and History which will be very useful to
the students of Arts and History. Information about Leonardo Da Vinci’s secret
life will make them exposed on how arts and science work back then.
Professors
of Arts and History. Professors of Arts and History can have
gain knowledge on what to explain when the students ask them regarding Da Vinci’s
life. Also, they will be aware of the questions and answers about him.
Art
Enthusiasts and Conspiracy addicts. These people will benefit
greatly in this paper because these people are the ones who have a lot of
questions regarding Da Vinci.
Future
Researchers. Future Researchers who wish to have the same
topic can see the advantage and disadvantages of this certain topic. They can also
have primary references on what to search on and look for when they began
researching.
D.
Scope
and Delimitation
This paper will focus on explaining and
exposing the secrets and mysteries about Leonardo Da Vinci’s life and works.
Historical views and information about his paintings and works will be included
in order to put a greater depth on the proofs.
The researcher will not include the
infamous works of Da Vinci and the personal information of him since it will just
become unnecessary for the paper.
E.
Material
and Methods
This paper will be using blogs and
online research papers because it most likely to be updated and required.
Professional views and blogs will be widely accepted for the blog.
The information and data will be
classified according to the substance and what it is talking about. Personal
views, biases and untrusted references will not be accepted.
F.
Definition
of Terms
Anatomy. A
person’s body.
Painter. A
profession focusing on putting art in a certain medium by using water based
materials.
Renaissance. The
period of European history between the 14th and 17th centuries when there was a
new interest in science and in ancient art and literature especially in Italy.
Science. A
specific branch of study specializing on natural based facts.
Technology.
The
practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area.
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