The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci
‘The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci’ is a collection of writings, sketches, and notes by the famous artist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci. The notebooks are a window into the mind of one of history's greatest thinkers and innovators. They cover a wide range of topics, including art, science, engineering, and architecture. They include drawings of flying machines, war machines, and detailed studies of the human body. They also contain notes on his observations of nature, such as the movement of water and the flight of birds. The notebooks are not only a fascinating glimpse into the workings of a brilliant mind, but they also reveal da Vinci's curiosity, creativity, and insatiable thirst for knowledge. This collection of notebooks serves as an inspiration to all those who are interested in science, art, and innovation. "Man has much power of discourse which for the most part is vain and false; animals have but little, but it is useful and true, and a small truth is better than a great lie." — Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo's Notebooks)
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Leonardo da Vinci(Italian: “Leonardo from Vinci”) (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence [Italy]—died May 2, 1519, Cloux [now Clos-Lucé], France) Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) are among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of their time.
Explore the life of Italian painter, architect, engineer, and humanist Leonardo da Vinci
Explore the life of Italian painter, architect, engineer, and humanist Leonardo da Vinci
This video examines the life and works of the Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Made in 1957, it is a production of the Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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The unique fame that Leonardo enjoyed in his lifetime and that, filtered by historical criticism, has remained undimmed to the present day rests largely on his unlimited desire for knowledge, which guided all his thinking and behaviour. An artist by disposition and endowment, he considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge; to Leonardo, sight was man’s highest sense because it alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty. Hence, every phenomenon perceived became an object of knowledge, and saper vedere (“knowing how to see”) became the great theme of his studies. He applied his creativity to every realm in which graphic representation is used: he was a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer. But he went even beyond that. He used his superb intellect, unusual powers of observation, and mastery of the art of drawing to study nature itself, a line of inquiry that allowed his dual pursuits of art and science to flourish.