Download Draft 2 Sergio Sancak The Renaissance as a period in history is

Draft 2
Sergio Sancak
The Renaissance as a period in history is described as “the spirit, or time of the
great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe. Beginning in the 14th century
and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the
modern world.” The word Renaissance means the rebirth of learning. Leonardo da
Vinci was often described as a Renaissance man in Renaissance times. This means that
during his life, he was a “multitasker.” His passions were anatomy, mathematics, aero
dynamics and many other areas of knowledge not just painting and sculptor. Although
he is best known for his paintings of the Mona Lisa (1503-1505) and the Last Supper
(1495 to 1498).
Leonardo da Vinci was born in the year 1452 in the beginning of the renaissance
period, in Italy in a small town of Vinci near Florence. As a child he lived on his
family’s farm. He was able to explore his surrounding and was really interested to find
out how things work. He bought birds in cages in the market place and set them free.
Not because he did not like seeing birds in captivity but because he wanted to learn
how birds fly.
At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. At
this time Florence was the centre of humanist to both theoretical training and a vast
range of technical skill including drafting chemistry metallurgy, metal working, plaster
casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry as well as the artistic skill of
drawing and painting sculpting and modelling. All these things were to be of great
help to Leonardo in the future. This workshop was one of the finest in Florence. He
was specially inspired by his teacher’s sculptures. By 1472 Leonardo became master of
the painter’s guild. A few years later he painted such a beautiful angel that his master
Verrocchio is said to given up paint for good.
In 1482 Leonardo left Florence to enter the house of duke of Milan. There he
painted court portraits, designed costumes, built machines of war, and even installed a
central heating in the palace. In the Palace he also sang and lyre to entertain the duke
and his court.
Between 1482 and 1499 he worked in Milan. From 1500 to 1506 was his second
period in Florence. 1506-1513 he returned to Milan. From September 1513
Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere in the Vatican in
Rome. During this time the famous painters Raphael and Michealanegelo were
both working there. The last three years of his life from 1516 to 1519 were spent
between Rome and France where he worked for Francis the great. Leonardo
died at Clos Luce on May 2, 1519
From Leonardo’s notebooks we can tell that he approached both science
and art in the same methodical way. First he studied a problem, than he made
many sketches to make him find a solution. There was no difference for
Leonardo between painting and designing a machine. He became a expert in
every field that interested him.
Leonardo’s greatest achievements were his drawings of the Vitruvian Man in 1487,
his painting of Mona Lisa 1503 to 1505, Last supper 1495 to 1498. Leonardo also
designed and made protypes of a airplane and a helicopter 300 years before the
first flying machines. Leonardo is also known for his tank designs and his plans of
constructing a catapult.
The Vitruvian Man was created in 1487. It is a pen and ink drawing which is to
be found in Venice. It is not shown very often as it is very fragile. It consists oftwo superimposed drawings of a male figure in two positions with his arms and
legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and
text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of
Man.
The Mona Lisa is a portatrait of a Woman painted in oil paint in 1503 to 1505. It
was painted in Florence and is now in The Louvre in Paris. This portatait is one of
the most famous paintings in the world. Mostly because of the Mona Lisa’s eyes.
Leonardo painted them in such a way that wherever you stand the Mona Lisa is
looking at you.
Leonardos other very famous painting is to be found in Milan and is a painting
of the Last Supper. It was painted between 1495 to 1498 it shows Jesus with his 12
apostles at the last supper they had together before his death.
Leonardo’s scientific studies—particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and
hydraulics—anticipated many of the developments of modern science. His
scientific theories, like his artistic innovations, were based on careful observation
and precise documentation, and he understood the importance of precision in
science. His interest in anatomy led him to perform dissections, and he studied
blood circulation and the action of the eye. He systematically studied the flight of
birds, which he applied in his drawings and discussions of ornithopters and other
flying crafts. His flying devices, although impracticable, embodied sound
principles of aerodynamics.
To conclude, the period we know as the Renaissance is marked by cultural
changes and a reawakening of interest in the classics--government, literature, art, and
thought. The immense scope of Leonardo da Vinci's accomplishments was the
impetus for the term "Renaissance Man," becoming part of everyday language. His
achievements and interests spanned the arts and sciences to an extent unequalled in
known history. He was a
painter, sculptor, architect, musician,scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, ana
tomist, geologist, cartographer,botanist and writer. Leonardo has often been described
as the archetype of the Renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was
equaled only by his powers of invention.[1] He is widely considered to be one of the
greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to
have lived.[2]