Download Leonardo`s fascination with machines probably began during his

Inventor : Leonardo daVince
Leonardo's fascination with machines probably began during his boyhood. Some of
his earliest sketches clearly show how various machine parts worked.
Starting out as an apprentice in the studio of another famous artist , Leonardo
observed and used a variety of machines. By studying them he gained practical
knowledge about their design and structure. Leonardo became a famous artist .
Many ancient machines were in common use in Leonardo's time. For example, water
wheels turned millstones to grind grain and Archimedes' twist lifted water from streams
providing a ready supply for drinking and washing.
Artists and craftsmen in Leonardo's time knew how to build and repair the familiar
kinds of machines. The idea of inventing new kinds of machines, however, would not
have occurred to them.
Leonardo developed a unique new attitude about machines. He reasoned that by
understanding how each separate machine part worked, he could modify them and
combine them in different ways to improve existing machines or create inventions no one
had ever seen before.
His tremendous talents as a illustrator allowed him to draw his mechanical ideas with
exceptional clarity. Five hundred years after they were put on paper, many of his sketches
can easily be used as blueprints to create perfect working models.
Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself.
People who study his notebooks have long been puzzled by something else, however. He
usually used "mirror writing", starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left.
Only when he was writing something intended for other people did he write in the normal
direction.
Leonardo da Vinci trained as a painter during the Renaissance and became a true
master of the craft. His traits of observation and skill as an illustrator enabled him to
notice and recreate the effects he saw in nature, and added a special liveliness to his
portraits.
Curious as well as observant, he constantly tried to explain what he saw, and
described many experiments to test his ideas. Because he wrote down and sketched so
many of his observations in his notebooks, we know that he was among the very first to
take a scientific approach towards understanding how our world works .
Questions
1. When did Leonardo’s fascination with machines begin ?
2. Leonardo started out working as a what ?
3. Were ancient machines common during Leonardo’s time ?
4. Name an example of an ancient machine .
5. Leonardo had tremendous talents. He used his talents as a what that allowed him
to draw parts of machines.
6. What language did Leonardo write in ?
7. What kind of shorthand writing did Leonardo use ?
8. Da Vince trained as a what during the Renaissance period of time ?
9. What traits did Leonardo have that led him to create such unique portraits and
paintings ?
10. What did Leonardo use to write down his ideas , observations and sketches ?
Class Notes:
Leonardo da Vinci - A famous artist and engineer
Apprentice ~ A person who agrees to work for someone else
Middle Ages ~ The period of history between the last Roman emperor and the Renaissance
Renaissance ~ 1300 to 1500
A rebirth of Roman and Greek art , science and math