LEONARDO DA VINCI

The Renaissance was the greatest expression of human art and imagination, and its greatest personality was Leonardo da Vinci. Born the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl at Vinci in 1452, he had an elementary education before becoming a student of sculptor, Verrocchio. Going on to become one of the greatest painters and scientists ever, in about 1482 he served as court artist in Milan. In 1500 he returned to Florence, becoming engineer to Cesare Borgia, before returning to Milan in 1506. Going to France in 1516, he died by the Loire three years later.
A man of exceptional talent and inspiration, his The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa are amongst the greatest works of art, and his numerous notes and sketches show an inquiring mind far ahead of his time, designing such things as tanks, submarines aeroplanes, suspension bridges and a myriad other devices that wouldn’t see the light of day for centuries, including the camera. In his art, he shunned the Classical styles that expressed the Renaissance, preferring to base his works on the study of nature.
This information is perhaps the best indication of the man behind the work. Hints exist that his love of nature was more than a passing element of his life. In a strictly Christian world, hints of nature suggest more occult tendencies behind his works, suggesting an heretical mind-set and not a little sense of humour. This is principally suggested by the latest ideas concerning the Holy Shroud. If correct, Da Vinci actually produced a form of camera and made the image himself as a clever forgery, the head on the shroud actually being the image of Da Vinci himself.

© Anthony North, February 2003