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Leonardo
da Vinci
1452 - 1519
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About the Master
Head of Bearded Man, c.1510-1515 (self portrait)
Red chalk, 333 x 215 mm
Turin, Biblioteca Reale, Inv. 15571
Five hundred years ago Leonardo da Vinci not only revolutionized art but also anticipated, in his wide-ranging studies, the scientific discoveries of later ages. Among the great figures of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo holds a unique place both for his genius as well as for his diversity. He has left behind the most extensive body of writings, paintings, and
drawings of any artist of his generation.
At Insource, we want to do the best work possible for our clients. Our guiding principles call for pursuing excellence, for creating an environment where people can do their best work, and where we encourage employees to raise their sights and make an impact. So it is no wonder that we are great admirers of Leonardo da Vinci. And while we may never reach the heights that he did, that won't keep us from trying.
The commentaries in this section draw heavily on the recent
book about Leonardo da Vinci written by Frank Zöllner
and Johannes Nathan *
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Wing Study of Flying Machine, c. 1500-05
Red chalk, 180x250 mm
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,
Codex Atlanticus, fol. 70b-r/22v-b
Leonardo's Study of the Wing of a Flying Machine was part of his extraordinary studies of machines and their components. It comes from the Codex Atlanticus, so called because of its enormous size. The codex was an album originally compiled in the 16th century and comprising over a thousand sheets of studies relating to engineering, machinery, and science.
This study, one of Leonardo's many designs for wings, in which his observations on the nature of lift came strikingly close
to the experiences and observations of later pioneers of aviation. The wing, which he based on the anatomy of bats in particular, resemble machines that were actually built and capable of flight in the late 1800s by Otto Lilienthal. Like Lilienthal, Leonardo seems to have realized that the pilot of a flying machine needs to be positioned at least partially below the height of the wings in order to ensure that the machine as a whole has as low a center of gravity as possible and in this way remains stable during flight.
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Shadows Cast by a Large Luminous Body and a Small Opaque Body, c. 1490/91
Pen and ink, 315 x 220 mm
Paris, Bibliotheque de l'Institut de France, MS C, fol. 4v
The extraordinary importance of light and shade as artistic tools to create the appearance of three-dimensionality was known and emphasized by authors as early as the first century AD. The artist and art theoretician who made the greatest study of light and dark was undoubtedly Leonardo da Vinci. In countless notes and drawings, he analyzed the effects of light and shade in nature and in art.
Leonardo's drawings of shadow projections largely employ a format from using just a single light source. However in this drawing Leonardo simulates the case of two luminous bodies. This drawing is also devoted to problems such as the shadows cast by simple, non-spherical obstacles.
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Puzzle Writing Using Pictograms, c. 1487-1490
Pen and ink, 300 x 253 mm
Windsor Castle, Royal Library
(RL 12692r and RL 12692v
Humor was not absent from Leonardo's work. This clearly emerges from a sheet of pictograms (a section of which is represented on our page) in which Leonardo experiments with the translation of short phrases into images, usually by giving each word a different meaning and then illustrating it in a picture. On the verso of the sheet, for example, in pictographs running from right to left on top of the square drawn just to the left of center, he illustrates the laconic expression "ora sono fritto", literally meaning "Now I'm fried!" (i.e. done for) as follows: the Italian word ora ("now") also means "hour" and is represented by an hourglass; sono ("I am") also means "sound" (strictly speaking suono) and is indicated by someone playing a pipe; lastly, the word "fritto ("fried") has been illustrated with a frying pan on fire.
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Studies for an Automobile, c. 1478-1480 (?)
Pen and ink over metalpoint, 265 x 167 mm
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,
Codex Atlanticus, fol. 812r/296v-a
In his early studies of machines and their components Leonardo was frequently working on different problems at the same time
making for an unsystematic but interesting approach. This study is a section of a larger drawing with several different though related ideas illustrated. Typical of the lack of discipline evident at this time of Leonardo's life, sketches and notes were placed in an arbitrary fashion and some of the words on the sheet are written vertically and even upside down.
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Map of Imola, c. 1502
Pen and ink and watercolor, 440 x 602 cm
Windsor Castle, Royal Library
(RL 12284r)
Leonardo's drawings of maps and plans number amongst the most magnificent of the period around 1500. They were executed in some cases for military purposes and in others to satisfy the need for reliable topographical maps for peacetime projects.
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The Proportions of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius) c. 1490
Pen, ink and watercolor over metalpoint 344 x 245 mm
Venice, Gallerie dell'Academia
Inv.228
Leonardo embarked upon detailed studies into the proportions of the human body, anatomy, and physiology by the end of the 1480s. These studies have been acknowledged since the 19th century as the forerunners of an empirical science based on the accurate observation of natural phenomena. In his studies of the human body, for example, and above all in his direct visual translation of his findings and insights, the artist was undoubtedly many generations ahead of his contemporaries.
By measuring man accurately anew, Leonardo succeeded in moving past the canon of human proportions established in antiquity. His drawing thereby marks a triumph of empiricism over the widely held faith in the authority of classical authors. Furthermore, in his famous, revised drawing of the Vitruvian Man, Leonardo created what remains even today the definitive visual statement of the proportions of the human figure.
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Leonardo's Mysterious Handwriting
Leonardo's habit of using mirror-writing in his notebooks and manuscripts, in other words, of writing from right to left, for centuries cast a particular air of secrecy over his legacy. He was regularly suspected of having deliberately veiled his writings so as to prevent unauthorized access to his ideas and inventions. While the sense of mystery with which this surrounded his work may have served to heighten its fascination, Leonardo's reasons for choosing mirror-writing seem to have been chiefly practical in nature. He was left-handed and if he wrote in the normal fashion from left to right he risked smudging the wet ink with his hand. Leonardo evidently made no secret of his reversed method of writing since the early sources (e.g. Vasari) regularly mention that his notes are best read with a mirror.
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Studies of Toothed Gears and for a Hygrometer, c. 1485
Pen and ink, 278 x 385 mm
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,
Codex Atlanticus, fol. 30v/8v-b
This is one of Leonardo's later technical studies contained in the Codex Atlanticus. In contrast to earlier sketches, drawings such as this one demonstrate an impressive precision and clarity. Leonardo created many studies of gears including a sequence of sheets devoted to the transmission of power via gears. These studies rarely serve particular applications but explore solutions to more general principles.
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Head of Bearded Man, c. 1510-1515 (self-portrait)