Das Vinci Eterno

Early Life

Leonardo was born in Vinci, a short distance from Florence.

He was the illegitimate son of a notary.

His father married four times and had 11 children – but Leonardo was 20 before the 2nd child was born

Training

His father apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio (True Eyes) in Florence.

Leonardo was likely the model for Verocchio’s David.

A Young Master

By the age of 20 he surpassed his master, painting The Baptism of Christ in 1472.

It is rumoured that Verrochio never painted again after this.

A Young Master

By 1474 he had his own workshop, producing The Adoration of the Magi, which artists studied from his time onward.

A Flawed Genius

Leonardo was witty, charming and exceedingly handsome. He sang and played music brilliantly.

He was a superb host and organizer, but he was reluctant to get close to anyone – probably because of his homosexuality, which was a crime at the time.

He thought sex with women hideous, though he admired their ability to produce life.

He was twice charged with sodomy, though each time the charge was dropped.

A Flawed Genius

At 38, a 10 year old boy, Gian Gicomo de’ Caprotti , was sent to his workshop and a strange relationship developed. Leonardo called him Salia – “little Satan,” and he described him as “thievish, lying, obstinate and greedy,” yet the artist doted on him.

A Universal Man

There was little that Leonardo did not excel at.

He was a painter, a sculptor, an engineer, a musician, a singer, a mathematician, a physicist, a botanist, an anatomist, a cartographer, a geologist, a geographer, a poet, a town planner and an athlete.

A Universal Man

He always wanted to write a treatise on painting (like Alberti), but never did.

He seems to have not mastered Latin, the language of scholarship.

- or perhaps he was simply too busy.

The Notebooks

Leonardo kept notes on everything.

Around 5,000 pages still exist.

However, he used mirror-writing to ensure privacy while and after he wrote.

More mundanely, perhaps he did so because he was left handed and found this easier.

The Notebooks

Leonardo made notes on everything.

His notes and sketches reveal a mind constantly searching for understanding.

He was constantly examining and disecting the world.

The Notebooks

His studies were large and small – from anatomical studies of the human arm to plans for a bridge to cross the Golden Horn in Istanbul.

The Notebooks

Curiously, the Sultan declined building Leonardo’s span, thinking it impossible.

In 2006 the Turkish government commissioned Bulent Gungor to build the structure.

Poor Completion Record

He had a reputation for not completing works.

Involved in so many things, he could not manage his time.

When given the commission for the Virgin of the Rocks, he promised it within 7 months but did not deliver it until 25 years later.

The Great Horse

In the 1480’s he began work on the largest equestrian statue ever attempted, at 26 feet in height and requiring 100 tons of bronze.

The clay model was not completed until 1493.

His bronze stockpile was cast into canons to fight the French.

In 1499, the French used his clay model for target practice.

Until 1965 it was assumed that the statue was never caste because of technological problems. However, close study of his notebooks reveal that he solved the problem on paper.

The Last Supper

Leonardo was commissioned to