Download Man and the Universe: A Study of Leonardo da Vinci`s

9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
Man and the Universe: A Study of Leonardo da Vinci’s Works
Abhipsa Chakraborty
Asst. Professor
Daulat Ram College
University of Delhi
India
Abstract:
This paper attempts to locate da Vinci’s artistic and theoretical works in the larger context of
Italian Renaissance art and philosophy. Renaissance philosophy moved far beyond the medieval
philosophical traditions like Scholasticism and Averroism in its endeavour to recover the classical
philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. da Vinci’s art evolves as a process of the reconciliation of
contrary elements, like scientific objectivity and imagination, materiality and spirituality, unity
and multiplicity, movement and repose among others. Da Vinci’s artistic and theoretical works
remain a crucial moment in the history of Western art. I have attempted to analyse how da Vinci
laid the intellectual foundations of Western art by introducing several new styles and theories in
art, the most significant being the methodology of scientific enquiry for artistic creation.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452 in a village near Vinci in Italy. The formative
influence on da Vinci was of Verrochio, a Florentine artist with whom he worked as an apprentice
for several years. This paper attempts to locate da Vinci’s artistic and theoretical works in the
larger context of Italian Renaissance art and philosophy. Renaissance philosophy moved far
beyond the medieval philosophical traditions like Scholasticism and Averroism in its endeavour to
recover the classical philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. The influence of Aristotelianism (the
ruling doctrine of the academies) and Neo-Platonism (the philosophy that dominated the
Florentine intellectual circles) can be traced in the art and the literature of the age. As a
Renaissance man, da Vinci borrows critically from these traditions in order to formulate a more
individualized and syncretic philosophical conception of man’s position in the universe. His art
works provide a visual expression of his philosophical notions.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
Ernest Cassirer observes that it is characteristic of the Renaissance intellectual world that the
theory of mathematics is closely allied with the theory of art.1 Works of thinkers like Cusanus2,
Pico and Ficino introduced several novel impulses and theories in Italian philosophy and art. The
most significant of these is the introduction by Cusanus of a new methodology in the
philosophical system which relies on the certainty of mathematics. Cusanus says that all true love
is based on an act of knowledge. This philosophy draws directly from the Platonic idea of love
(eros) explicated in the Symposium which maintains that knowledge of the object of desire must
always precede love.
Cusanus explains that the logic and exactness of the mathematical method is the only means by
which we can acquire knowledge of the infinite. The influence of this method was deeply felt by
da Vinci who was concerned with the development of a “deeper understanding” of the “creative
and artistic activity”.3 Da Vinci writes in his Notebook that “painting is the way to know the maker
of all marvelous things—and this is the way to love so great an inventor. For in truth great love
springs from the full knowledge of the thing that one loves; and if you do not know it you can love
it but little or not at all”.4 The Renaissance theory of knowledge renders a new significance to art
by making a move away from the Platonic notion of art as merely a mimetic exercise. Da Vinci
allies painting with philosophy and natural science and thus confers a new value to art, as against
the Platonic notion. He writes:
“He who despises painting loves neither philosophy nor nature. If you despise painting, which is
the sole imitator of all the visible works of nature, you will be despising a subtle invention which
brings philosophy and subtle speculation to bear on the nature of all forms—sea and land, plants
and animals, grasses and flowers, which are enveloped in shade and light. Truly painting is a
science, the true-born child of nature, for painting is born of nature…and is related to God.” 5
The close alliance of art theory with mathematics introduces the mathematical concept of
“proportion” in the domain of aesthetics. Cusanus defines “proportion” as the “medium of
knowledge” since all knowledge is acquired through logical-mathematical measurement. The
Renaissance believes that proportion, symmetry and harmony are indispensable qualities that good
1
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. Trans. Mario Domandi. 1963.
Nicolas Cusanus was a German philosopher and mathematician whose philosophy undergoes a change
after his encounter with Italy.
3
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 50.
4
Leonardo da Vinci. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinici. 217.
5
Ibid. 195.
2
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
art must possess. Da Vinci writes in Manuscript K that “proportion is not only to be found in
number and measure, but also in sounds, weights, times and places, and in every power that
exists”.6 The “harmony of proportions” in painting, sculpture and architecture is compared to the
sensuous delight that is derived from music. The component parts of a painting must be arranged
in a harmonious relationship with each other “so that they can be seen at one and the same time
both together and separately; together by viewing the design of the composition as a whole; and
separately by viewing the design of its component parts.” 7
Renaissance philosophy says that the divine manifests itself in manifold forms in the universe.
Nature is interpreted not just as a reflection of the splendor of God but is the “book of God”.
Therefore, nature must be investigated, analysed and systematically interpreted in the new
intellectual attitude introduced by Cusanus. Leonardo’s Notebooks trace his growing interest to
acquire empirical scientific knowledge of the natural world. Cusanus says that “all knowledge is
nothing but the unfolding and explication of the complication that lies within the simple essence of
the mind”.
8
All forms of knowledge-acquisition are actually a means to gain self-knowledge.
Therefore, the human mind can come to know of itself and to measure its own powers only by
devoting itself “completely and unconditionally to the world.”9 Nature for Petrarch provides a new
means of expression for man’s inner self. However, da Vinci’s objective in studying nature lies in
unraveling the “rational principles” of nature because he says that “(R)eason is the immanent,
unbreakable law governing nature”. He understands nature as a system, a “thoroughly ordered
whole”. He writes:
“Nature conceals within it countless principles which have never come forth as sensible
phenomena. The true path of investigation, then, is to bring a definite measure and a fixed rule to
the indistinct mass of phenomena by constantly relating experience to mathematics; and that is
done by transforming empirical accidentality into orderly necessity.”10
6
7
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 37.
Leonardo da Vinci. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinici. 146.
8
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 44.
The problem of human freedom is also closely related to the problem of knowledge because knowledge is
the path to freedom. This is a significant theme which recurs throughout the literature and art of the
Renaissance.
9
10
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 155.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
For da Vinci, therefore, the sense of nature is not experienced mystically or merely sensually
but is to be understood in an intellectual and logical manner by conducting scientific
experiments.11 He says that “the painter’s mind must of necessity enter into nature’s mind in order
to act as an interpreter between nature and art”.12 Thus, according to him, a scientific knowledge
of nature should be closely woven with the texture of the artist’s imagination.
Da Vinci perceives nature as a dynamic force. His Notebooks demonstrate a remarkably close
scientific analysis of natural phenomena. Da Vinci was a keen observer of natural phenomena,
such as formation of clouds, thunder, lightening, cause of rain and snow, movement of air,
movement of sound waves, etc. He conducted mountain expeditions in order to study shells and
fossils among the rocks. He engaged extensively with geological study and wrote that rocks “were
a part of the earth’s bones, with an anatomy of their own.”13
According to da Vinci, painting is a “recreation of the visible world”.14 The artist’s mind is like
the mind of God. Therefore, the process of artistic creation should not exclude any aspect of
nature. He further says that a good artist must “represent everything according to nature”.15 The
mind of the painter should be like a mirror “which always takes the colour of the object it reflects
and is filled by the images of as many objects as are in front of it”.16 Hence it is necessary for an
artist to have a scientific knowledge of the inner life of the objects that he paints. For da Vinci art
is no longer “a mere outpouring of the subjective fantasy…Its immanent truth value is not inferior
to that of science”.17
Da Vinci compares a landscape to the body of a human being, “a part of a vast machine”18
which is to be understood part by part, separately as well as in the whole. The most characteristic
landscape that da Vinci paints is the wild, romantic landscape forming the background in the
“Mona Lisa”. The sense of enigma that the portrait evokes is also reflected in the surrounding
11
The influence of da Vinci’s emphasis on the scientific study of natural phenomena is deeply felt on
Galileo. Cassirer quotes Galileo on this subject: “Philosophy is written in the great book of nature, which
lies constantly before our eyes, but which no one can read unless he has first learned to understand the
ciphers in which it is composed, that is, the mathematical figures and their necessary relationships.” Ernest
Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 156.
12
Leonardo da Vinci. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 205.
13
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 125.
14
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci.127.
15
Leonardo da Vinci. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 227.
16
Ibid. 218.
17
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 157.
18
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 175.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
landscape, thereby establishing a link between the human and the natural worlds. A careful choice
of subtle tones, the expression on the face and the play of light and shade produce the effect of
“sfumato” and infuse a sense of repose in the picture. The landscape of the “Virgin and Child and
St. Anne” showing craggy mountain slopes is drawn in a similar romantic character. Da Vinci
rebelled against the tame, tranquil landscapes drawn by the Quattrocento painters. For da Vinci,
landscape represents the “wildness of nature, the vast, untamed background of human life”.19 He
does not interpret nature as the antithesis to human society. Rather, he visualizes an organic
continuity between the two. In “Leda” the landscape is shown as vibrant and bursting with new
life. There is a remarkable detailing of trees, foliage, thick grasses, and “at her feet, four human
babies tumble out of the broken eggs”.20 Da Vinci’s selection of the classical myth for this
painting enables him to bring the human in contact with nature. The presence of the swan near the
woman and the birth of the babies from eggs symbolize the theme of organic connection between
man and nature.
A major preoccupation of Renaissance artists is the representation of movement. Kenneth
Clark notes that the first instance in Renaissance art of the complex flow of movement “achieved
by contrasted axes of the figures” is found in Verrochio’s “St. Thomas” and “David”. It is from
these works that da Vinci imbibed the sense of rhythm that he learnt to execute so beautifully in
his paintings. The philosophical basis for the artistic preoccupation with movement in the
Renaissance lies in humanist concept of the unfinished nature of man. The Renaissance model of
man is a dichotomous and dynamic one. The Renaissance believes that the human essence
comprises of both matter and spirit. Man is endowed with the capacity of infinite selfdetermination, progress and self-renewal. The incomplete nature of man enables him, on the one
hand, to constantly develop himself and aspire towards the infinite. However, on the other, man
also possesses the potential to degenerate into bestiality. Therefore, the power to rise or fall in the
order of beings lies entirely with the individual human will.
Cusanus in Of Learned Ignorance analyses the Platonic idea that the circle or the sphere is the
model of perfection and is, therefore, the symbol of the “Absolute Maximum”.21 Man is
incompetent to conceive and understand all the manifold ways in which the divine manifests itself
in the universe. He can conceive God’s infinite greatness only in proportion to the limited power
19
Ibid.
Ibid. 186.
21
Nicolas Cusanus, Of Learned Ignorance. 52.
20
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
and capacity of his intellect. The divine constitutes the realm of the infinite and the permanent,
whereas man inhabits a world of finitude, constant flux, variety and multiplicity. Renaissance
philosophy states that it is because of the unbridgeable chasm between the finite and the infinite
that man’s intellect constantly attempts to transcend the finite.22 Therefore, the authentic human
truth lies in the incessant pursuit towards the infinite.
For da Vinci, art becomes the site where the formless “idea” in the mind of the artist actually
acquires a form. Art is a journey towards the truth—an expression of constant human aspiration
towards the Platonic ideal. Therefore, the experience of art is similar to the experience of love. Da
Vinci’s paintings depict smooth, harmonious movements through “flowing gestures, floating
draperies, curling or rippling hair”23, interlocking figures, complex knots and curvilinear designs.
The earliest evidence of this is found in “the cascade of hair, rippling” over the shoulder of the
angel that he painted in Verrochio’s work “Baptism of Christ”. A sense of movement is also
discernible in the surrounding landscape (which was also painted by da Vinci) with the movement
of light over the hills, the stirring of leaves and the flow of water in cascades. In the
“Annunciation” the rich flowering covering the space between the angel and the Madonna is
detailed and has been arranged in a wave like manner. Similarly, Clark says that the “panorama of
mountains” seen through the arched windows of the background are arranged as a “series of
verticals” by rows of steep mountains. They symbolize a “negation of repose, a refusal to allow
that anything in nature should be devoid of movement”. 24
Da Vinci also uses certain postures and positions of human figures to produce the effect of
movement in his paintings. The interlocking figures of St. Anne and the virgin in “Virgin and the
Child and St. Anne” that evoke a complex rhythmic effect is a significant example of this.
However, it is “Leda”, as Clark comments, which remains the best example of “Leonardo’s love
of twisting forms”.25 Leda’s pose of contrapposto, the fluidity and the lightness of her body, the
delicateness of her frame remind the viewer of Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” which also has a
female nude as the central figure in the foreground. The entire painting is designed in a carefully
arranged sequence of curves with Leda’s full breasts, the curve of her hips and figure of the swan
forming a perfect s-shaped curve. Da Vinci’s sketches for the study of Leda reveal an elaborate
22
Ficino argues that this chasm is constituted of eros or love. The Renaissance metaphysical foundation of
love is predicated on the above doctrine of tragic yearning for the divine.
23
Ibid. 38.
24
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 62.
25
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 183.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
arrangement of the curls of her hair which is braided in complex patterns. The tone of the picture
is subtle and it evokes a tranquil effect. Joseph Manca observes that the painting can be read as a
sign of the artistic movement towards “Cinquecento maniera”. According to his reading, this work
forms a connection between the mannerist style and pre-renaissance gothic art.26
Renaissance art makes a marked departure from Byzantine art in its representation of the
human form in all its muscularity, materiality and substance. Byzantine art attempts at
representing ideality by depicting human figures as flat, linear forms with restricted movement.
The Renaissance artists rebel against the Byzantine aesthetic by celebrating the dignity of the
human body in all its bulk and physicality. The Renaissance aims at recovering the classical
values which celebrate and glorify the worldly life. This is a move away from the medieval
philosophical preoccupation with the nature of the divine and the mystical unknown. Cassirer
observes that in the Renaissance “the spirit of asceticism is overcome; mistrust of the world
disappears”.27 Massaccio’s painting “Expulsion from Paradise” depicts Adam and Eve in the
fullness of their physical forms. Similarly, Botticelli’s nudes are an unabashed portrayal of the
physical beauty of the human form. They depict the human form as a composite of the body and
spirit. Cusanus observes:
“The perfect mode of unity would be a being which (is) both creator and creature and in which the
relative, without ceasing to be relative, would be one with the absolute…The created being to
which this union God is appropriate would be one which combined all levels of the created world
and (is) thus a miniature universe in itself…Man is such a microcosm combining body and spirit,
life, sense and intellect. Hence the crown of creation and the means by which the world returns to
its creator would be a human nature in hypostatic union with God.”28
This explains the philosophical interest of the Renaissance thinkers in the idea of incarnation.
Christ is the embodiment of the unity of spirit and matter since He is both God and man. Da
Vinci’s religious paintings such as “Madonna and the Child”, “The Adoration of the Kings”, “The
Virgin of the Rocks”, “Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist” among others
depict the infant Christ in both his human and spiritual dimensions. Christ is seen as the link
between the human and the divine. The most popular of da Vinci’s devotional paintings is “The
Last Supper”. Da Vinci’s depiction of this biblical theme is vastly different from its earlier
26
Joseph Manca, “The Gothic Leonardo: Towards a Reassessment of the Renaissance”.
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 44.
28
Ibid, Book III, 3.
27
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
representations in art. The sheer variety of facial and hand gestures of the Apostles bring out the
literary and dramatic quality of this work. da Vinci’s studies for this painting reveal the intense
labour he undertook to accomplish the final work. Clark argues that “The Last Supper” can be
called an “academic, intellectual work” of the artist. The painting demonstrates da Vinci’s theory
of painting as an intense scientific enterprise.
In Renaissance philosophy, matter is no longer thought of as evil or base. Cassirer notes:
“(In the Renaissance) sensible nature and sense-knowledge are no longer merely base things,
because they provide the first impulse and stimulus for all intellectual activity. The mind is the
living illustration of eternal and infinite wisdom; but until it is stimulated to movement by that
admiration which arises from contemplation of the sensible, it is asleep within us”.29
Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” shows the goddess emerging as a full-bodied woman from the
natural element, water. Venus here symbolizes the fusion of both materiality and spirituality.
Similarly, da Vinci’s Leda is also represented as a full breasted woman. For da Vinci, Leda does
not hold significance as an allegory for sensuality. He endows her with an inner life, a serenity and
calmness that produce an effect of spirituality. Leda’s full breasts and heavy hips signify a
regenerative female body. She therefore stands for the female principle of creation. Da Vinci
performed a diagrammatic analysis of the female anatomy and studied the female reproductive
organs around the time he painted the picture.30 This painting captures the true essence of his art
which aims at merging both artistic beauty and scientific knowledge.
Da Vinci notes that the fusion of the material and the spiritual, that is the mind and the body is
essential for artistic creation. He writes that the “human body is the outward and visible
expression of the soul.” The body is shaped by its soul. However, the task of the painter is to
reverse the process and “by constructing a body give expression to a spirit. Da Vinci draws on
Aristotelian philosophy to state that “the spirit is a power united to a body”.31 The corporeal thus
becomes indispensable for the spirit’s existence. Da Vinci’s portraits are excellent examples of the
potential of art to capture the essence of the human soul in the form of the physical body. The
most obvious example of this is undoubtedly the “Mona Lisa”. Clark comments: “The Mona
Lisa’s smile is the supreme example of that complex inner life” which evokes an element of
29
Ernest Cassirer, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. 44.
Da Vinci’s extensive studies for his paintings illustrate his interest in human anatomy which shall be
discussed in detail later.
30
31
Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 48.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
enigma, mystery and subjectivity. The “Mona Lisa” has been called the Leonardo’s ideal of
beauty. Here too da Vinci departs from the medieval representation of beauty by making the
woman more “fleshly” and “worldly” than the gothic images. Yet the portrait possesses a certain
inexplicable spiritual quality. This reveals the underlying philosophy of the reconciliation of
contraries that is truly characteristic of Renaissance art. In the “Ginerva de’ Benci” too da Vinci
successfully infuses the portrait with an individual character, an identity. The portrait of the
woman is placed against a dark background formed by the sharp contours of juniper leaves so that
her illuminated face dominates the picture.
Da Vinci’s representation of St. John the Baptist in his painting “St. John” and the angel in
“Angel of Annunciation” are exemplary of the remarkable transformation that happened in the
Renaissance in the depiction of saints and angels. Renaissance art aims at a curious amalgamation
of classical and Christian themes. St. John and the Angel are outstanding portrayals of how far the
Renaissance artists move away from the medieval representations of the figures of saints and
angels. Clark observes a likeness in the “general conception” between the two figures which have
almost similar poses except for the positions of the arms with their forefingers pointing upwards.
Da Vinci’s image of the Angel is a highly “personal conception” which suggests the “union of
flesh and spirit, human and divine”.32 It goes far beyond traditional iconographic portrayals of
angels with delicate, light bodies in medieval art. The fingers pointing upwards in both paintings
suggest the announcement of the birth of Christ. This posture also instills a subtle sense of
spirituality and mystery in the paintings. The element of mystery is also evoked by the smile on
the faces of both figures that conveys a sense of inner life. The play of light on the canvas almost
produces the effect of the emergence of the figures from the surrounding darkness. One of the
most interesting studies of da Vinci remains the red chalk study of St. John. The sketch shows St.
John as “completely nude, with a clear, articulate, muscular body” almost resembling the image of
Bacchus. Such a personalized image of the Christian saint is characteristic only of the great
Renaissance artist.
Da Vinci believed that although a painter’s work represents only the surface reality of things an
artist’s skill should be supplemented by a deep knowledge what lies below the visible surface. Just
like an accurate representation of a landscape requires the artist to know the morphology of
organic life, similarly, he should be well acquainted with the scientific knowledge of the
32
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 250.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
mechanism of the human body. Martin Kemp argues that da Vinci’s interest in anatomy is
reflective of “the genesis, development and deepening of his total vision of the natural system”33
as compared to the classical and medieval traditions.
His anatomical studies range from a discussion of the “nature of the womb” and the growth of
the foetus inside it to the description of a “fully grown man and woman, with their proportions,
and nature of their complexions, colour and physiognomy”.34 Kemp notes that what da Vinci is
actually concerned with is a demonstration of “the pulsing harmony of man”. As we have
discussed earlier, he considers the human body as the complex microcosmic unity representing the
“elements and powers” of the larger macrocosm. Therefore, the mechanisms of the human body
are also subjected to similar mathematical laws governing the rest of the universe. He writes:
“In fifteen entire figures there shall be revealed to you the microcosm on the same plan as before
me was adopted by Ptolemy in his cosmography; and I shall divide them into limbs as he divided
the macrocosm into provinces; and I shall then define the functions of the parts in every direction,
placing before your eyes the representation of the whole figure of man and his capacity of
movements by means of his parts.”35
In his discussion of the various parts of the human body da Vinci maintains that just like in
painting “each part of the whole must be in proportion to the whole”.36 Based on the scientific
observations of Vitruvius, he diagrammatically illustrates the exact mathematical proportions that
the human frame is based on. He proves by empirical observation that the navel forms the centre
of a circle that is drawn in a way that its circumference touches the tips of the outstretched limbs
of a man. His legs opened wide apart so as to decrease his height by 1/14 form an equilateral
triangle. The proportions of the human body have also been employed in architectural planning in
the Renaissance.
Da Vinci’s study of the human body includes a scientific demonstration of the musculature, the
nervous system, the vital sense organs and the reproductive system. He observes that heat is the
cause of the movement of the “watery humors” and therefore of human life. The force which
moves the water through its springs against the natural course of its gravity is similar to that which
33
34
Martin Kemp, “Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Collection”.
Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 144.
35
Ibid. 152.
36
Ibid. 146.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
moves “the humors in all shapes of animated bodies”. Comparing the worlds of the organic and
the inorganic matter, he notes:
“Man has been called by the ancients a lesser world…While man has within himself bones as a
stay and framework for the flesh, the world has stones which are the supports of earth. While man
has within him a pool of blood wherein the lungs as he breathes expand and contract, so the body
of the earth has its ocean, which also rises and falls every six hours with the breathing of the
world; as from the said pool of blood proceed the veins which spread their branches through the
human body, so the ocean fills the body of the earth with an infinite number of veins of water.”37
Da Vinci’s sketches of the human anatomy have been compared with his contemporary artist,
Michelangelo’s portrayal of the nude male body in sculpture. Infact, da Vinci was strongly
influenced by Michelangelo’s depiction of the nude in his work “David”. However, unlike
Michelangelo da Vinci never made the nude the main subject of artistic composition.
The best manifestation in art of da Vinci’s scientific knowledge of the anatomies of men and
animals and their movements remains the “Battle of Anghiari”. This painting is charged with
energy and captures the Hellenistic obsession with power and passion as against “the dry and
timid movement” of the medieval artists. It shows remarkable detailing of the bodies of horses and
men. The fiery expressions on the warriors’ faces with their “nostrils drawn up and lips arched
upwards discovering the upper teeth; and the teeth apart as with crying out and lamentation”38 and
the energetic movements of the horses have almost Baroquian dimensions. Da Vinci portrays the
atmospheric effects caused by the upward movement of smoke and dust forming cloud-like
masses in thin air and the play of light in the scene with scientific accuracy. The graphic portrayal
of bloodshed, violence and “beastly madness” in the painting is actually an expression of his
abhorrence of war. Clark remarks, “We can imagine how these feelings, conflicting with his
intellectual interest in war as an art, gave to the Anghiari cartoon an added intensity in the
expression of horror”.39 His “Battle of Anghiari” has been compared with Michelangelo’s “Battle
of Cassina” which was painted only a short time later. These two works depicting war are the
turning point of the Renaissance as they initiated the two artistic styles—the Baroque and the
Classical, which were developed by the sixteenth century painters.40
37
Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 45.
Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci. 193.
39
Ibid. 200.
40
Ibid. 198.
38
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
Da Vinci’s artistic and theoretical works remain a crucial moment in the history of Western art.
As a painter, sculptor, mathematician, architect and technician, da Vinci’s contribution to his age
remains immeasurably large. He laid the intellectual foundations of Western art by introducing
several new styles and theories in art, the most significant being the methodology of scientific
enquiry for artistic creation. This paper has attempted to analyze and interpret most of his
significant works in the light of the philosophical works of the age. However, a great deal yet
remains to be discussed. As a true Renaissance man, da Vinci’s art evolves as a process of the
reconciliation of contrary elements, like scientific objectivity and imagination, materiality and
spirituality, unity and multiplicity, movement and repose among others. His works express the
philosophy of “humanitas” or the dignity of man in the universe. Therefore, these works remain
absolutely indispensable for a complete understanding of the Renaissance intellectual and artistic
world.
(This paper has benefited immensely from Prof. Shirshendu Chakrabarti’s lectures on the Visual
Arts and M.Phil seminars on the Italian Renaissance.)
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP
9ROXPH,,,,VVXH,,$SULO,661
Works Cited
Cassirer, Ernest. The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy. Trans. Mario
Domandi. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Clark, Kenneth. Leonardo da Vinci. London: Penguin Books, 1993.
Kemp, Martin.“Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Collection”.
The Burlington Magazine. 120.898 (1978): 42-44. JSTOR. Web. 23 April 2010.
Manca, Joseph. “The Gothic Leonardo: Towards a Reassessment of the Renaissance”.
Artibus et Historiae. 17.34 (1996): 121-158. JSTOR. Web. 30 June 2010.
Vinci, Leonardo. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Ed. Irma A. Richter. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
KWWSZZZLMHOOKFRP