Science and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci
While the full extent of his scientific studies has only become recognized in the last 150 years, during his lifetime he was employed for his engineering and skill of invention. Many of his designs, such as the movable
One of Leonardo's drawings, the
Approach to scientific investigation
During the Renaissance, the study of art and science was not perceived as mutually exclusive; on the contrary, the one was seen as informing upon the other. Although Leonardo's training was primarily as an artist, it was largely through his scientific approach to the art of painting, and his development of a style that coupled his scientific knowledge with his unique ability to render what he saw that created the outstanding masterpieces of art for which he is famous.
As a scientist, Leonardo had no formal education in Latin and mathematics and did not attend a university. Because of these factors, his scientific studies were largely ignored by other scholars. Leonardo's approach to science was one of intense observation and detailed recording, his tools of investigation being almost exclusively his eyes. His journals give insight into his investigative processes.[3]
As a researcher, Leonardo divided nature and phenomena into ever smaller segments, concretely with knives and measuring instruments, intellectually with formulas and numbers, to wrest the secrets of creation from it. The smaller the particles, runs the assumption; the closer one will get to the solution of the enigmas.[4]
A recent and exhaustive analysis of Leonardo as a scientist by
Notes and journals
Leonardo kept a series of journals in which he wrote almost daily, as well as separate notes and sheets of observations, comments and plans. He wrote and drew with his left hand, and most of his writing is in mirror script, which makes it difficult to read. Much has survived to illustrate Leonardo's studies, discoveries and inventions.
On his death, the writings were left mainly to his pupil and heir
Publication
Leonardo illustrated a book on mathematical proportion in art written by his friend Luca Pacioli and called De divina proportione, published in 1509. He was also preparing a major treatise on his scientific observations and mechanical inventions. It was to be divided into a number of sections or "Books", Leonardo leaving some instructions as to how they were to be ordered. Many sections of it appear in his notebooks.
These pages deal with scientific subjects generally but also specifically as they touch upon the creation of artworks. In relating to art, this is not science that is dependent upon experimentation or the testing of theories. It deals with detailed observation, particularly the observation of the natural world, and includes a great deal about the visual effects of light on different natural substances such as foliage.[7]
Leonardo wrote:
Begun at Florence, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli, on the 22nd day of March 1508. And this is to be a collection without order, taken from many papers which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they may treat. But I believe that before I am at the end of this [task] I shall have to repeat the same things several times; for which, O reader! do not blame me, for the subjects are many and memory cannot retain them [all] and say: 'I will not write this because I wrote it before.' And if I wished to avoid falling into this fault, it would be necessary in every case when I wanted to copy [a passage] that, not to repeat myself, I should read over all that had gone before; and all the more since the intervals are long between one time of writing and the next.[7]
Natural science
Light
Leonardo wrote:
The lights which may illuminate opaque bodies are of 4 kinds. These are; diffused light as that of the atmosphere; And Direct, as that of the sun; The third is Reflected light; and there is a 4th which is that which passes through [translucent] bodies, as linen or paper etc.[7]
For an artist working in the 15th century, some study of the nature of
At the time when Leonardo commenced painting, it was unusual for figures to be painted with extreme contrast of light and shade. Faces, in particular, were shadowed in a manner that was bland and maintained all the features and contours clearly visible. Leonardo broke with this.
In the painting generally titled
Leonardo's treatment of light in paintings such as
Human anatomy
Leonardo wrote:
...to obtain a true and perfect knowledge ... I have dissected more than ten human bodies, destroying all the other members, and removing the very minutest particles of the flesh by which these veins are surrounded, ... and as one single body would not last so long, since it was necessary to proceed with several bodies by degrees, until I came to an end and had a complete knowledge; this I repeated twice, to learn the differences...[7]
Topographic anatomy
Leonardo began the formal study of the topographical anatomy of the human body when apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio. As a student he would have been taught to draw the human body from life, to memorize the muscles, tendons and visible subcutaneous structure and to familiarise himself with the mechanics of the various parts of the skeletal and muscular structure. It was common workshop practice to have plaster casts of parts of the human anatomy available for students to study and draw.
If, as is thought to be the case, Leonardo painted the torso and arms of Christ in
In the 1490s he wrote about demonstrating muscles and sinews to students:
Remember that to be certain of the point of origin of any muscle, you must pull the sinew from which the muscle springs in such a way as to see that muscle move, and where it is attached to the ligaments of the bones.[7]
His continued investigations in this field occupied many pages of notes, each dealing systematically with a particular aspect of anatomy. It appears that the notes were intended for publication, a task entrusted on his death to his pupil Melzi.
In conjunction with studies of aspects of the body are drawings of faces displaying different emotions and many drawings of people suffering facial deformity, either congenital or through illness. Some of these drawings, generally referred to as "caricatures", on analysis of the skeletal proportions, appear to be based on anatomical studies.
Dissection
As Leonardo became successful as an artist, he was given permission to dissect human corpses at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. Later he dissected in Milan at the hospital Maggiore, and in Rome at the Ospedale di Santo Spirito (the first mainland Italian hospital). From 1510 to 1511 he collaborated in his studies with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre.
I have removed the skin from a man who was so shrunk by illness that the muscles were worn down and remained in a state like thin membrane, in such a way that the sinews instead of merging in muscles ended in wide membrane; and where the bones were covered by the skin they had very little over their natural size.[7]
In 30 years, Leonardo dissected 30 male and female corpses of different ages. Together with Marcantonio, he prepared to publish a theoretical work on anatomy and made more than 200 drawings. However, his book was published only in 1680 (161 years after his death) under the heading
Among the detailed images that Leonardo drew are many studies of the
Leonardo was a
Leonardo studied internal organs, being the first to draw the human
Leonardo studied the
Leonardo's observational acumen, drawing skill, and the clarity of depiction of bone structures reveal him at his finest as an anatomist. However, his depiction of the internal soft tissues of the body are incorrect in many ways, showing that he maintained concepts of anatomy and functioning that were in some cases millennia old, and that his investigations were probably hampered by the lack of preservation techniques available at the time. Leonardo's detailed drawing of the internal organs of a woman (See left) reveal many traditional misconceptions.[9][10]
Leonardo's study of
Comparative anatomy
Leonardo not only studied human anatomy, but the anatomy of many other animals as well. He dissected
I have found that in the composition of the human body as compared with the bodies of animals, the organs of sense are duller and coarser... I have seen in the Lion tribe that the sense of smell is connected with part of the substance of the brain which comes down the nostrils, which form a spacious receptacle for the sense of smell, which enters by a great number of cartilaginous vesicles with several passages leading up to where the brain, as before said, comes down.[7]
In the early 1490s Leonardo was commissioned to create a monument in honour of
He studied the topographical anatomy of a bear in detail, making many drawings of its paws. There is also a drawing of the muscles and tendons of the bear's hind feet. Other drawings of particular interest include the uterus of a pregnant cow, the hindquarters of a decrepit mule and studies of the musculature of a little dog.
Botany
The science of botany was long established by Leonardo's time, a treatise on the subject having been written as early as 300 BCE.[11] Leonardo's study of plants, resulting in many detailed drawings in his notebooks, was not to record in diagrammatic form the parts of the plant, but rather, as an artist and observer to record the precise appearance of plants, the manner of growth and the way that individual plants and flowers of a single variety differed from one another.
One such study shows a page with several species of flower of which ten drawings are of wild violets. Along with a drawing of the growing plant and a detail of a leaf, Leonardo has repeatedly drawn single flowers from different angles, with their heads set differently on the stem.
Apart from flowers the notebooks contain many drawings of crop plants including several types of grain and a variety of berries including a detailed study of
A number of the drawings have their equivalents in Leonardo's paintings. An elegant study of a stem of
The plants which appear in the Louvre version of
In
All the branches of a tree at every stage of its height when put together are equal in thickness to the trunk [below them].[7]
Geology
As an adult, Leonardo had only two childhood memories, one of which was the finding of a cave in the Apennines. Although fearing that he might be attacked by a wild beast, he ventured in driven "by the burning desire to see whether there might be any marvelous thing within."
Leonardo's earliest dated drawing is a study of the
It had been observed for many years that
And a little beyond the sandstone conglomerate, a tufa has been formed, where it turned towards Castel Florentino; farther on, the mud was deposited in which the shells lived, and which rose in layers according to the levels at which the turbid Arno flowed into that sea. And from time to time the bottom of the sea was raised, depositing these shells in layers, as may be seen in the cutting at Colle Gonzoli, laid open by the Arno which is wearing away the base of it; in which cutting the said layers of shells are very plainly to be seen in clay of a bluish colour, and various marine objects are found there.[7]
This quotation makes clear the breadth of Leonardo's understanding of geology, including the action of water in creating sedimentary rock, the tectonic action of the Earth in raising the sea bed and the action of erosion in the creation of geographical features.
In Leonardo's earliest paintings we see the remarkable attention given to the small
Cartography
In the early 16th century
Recent research by Donato Pezzutto suggests that the background landscapes in Leonardo's paintings depict specific locations as aerial views with enhanced depth, employing a technique called
Hydrodynamics
Leonardo wrote:
All the branches of a water [course] at every stage of its course, if they are of equal rapidity, are equal to the body of the main stream.[7]
Among Leonardo's drawings are many that are studies of the motion of water, in particular the forms taken by fast-flowing water on striking different surfaces.
Many of these drawings depict the spiralling nature of water. The spiral form had been studied in the art of the Classical era and strict mathematical proportion had been applied to its use in art and architecture. An awareness of these rules of proportion had been revived in the early Renaissance. In Leonardo's drawings can be seen the investigation of the spiral as it occurs in water.
There are several elaborate drawings of water curling over an object placed at a diagonal to its course. There are several drawings of water dropping from a height and curling upwards in spiral forms. One such drawing, as well as curling waves, shows splashes and details of spray and bubbles.
Leonardo's interest manifested itself in the drawing of streams and rivers, the action of water in eroding rocks, and the cataclysmic action of water in floods and tidal waves. The knowledge that he gained from his studies was employed in devising a range of projects, particularly in relation to the Arno River. None of the major works was brought to completion.
Through experimentation, he developed ideas about natural
Astronomy
Leonardo lived at a time when
The earth is not in the centre of the Sun's orbit nor at the centre of the universe, but in the centre of its companion elements, and united with them. And any one standing on the moon, when it and the sun are both beneath us, would see this our earth and the element of water upon it just as we see the moon, and the earth would light it as it lights us.[16]
In one of his notebooks, there is a note in the margin which states, "The Sun does not move," which may indicate Leonardo's support of heliocentrism.[17]
Alchemy
Claims are sometimes made that Leonardo da Vinci was an alchemist. He was trained in the workshop of Verrocchio, who according to Vasari, was an able alchemist. Leonardo was a chemist in so much as that he experimented with different media for suspending paint pigment. In the painting of murals, his experiments resulted in notorious failures with The Last Supper deteriorating within a century, and The Battle of Anghiari running off the wall. In Leonardo's many pages of notes about artistic processes, there are some that pertain to the use of silver and gold in artworks, information he would have learned as a student.[18]
Leonardo's scientific process was based mainly upon observation. His practical experiments are also founded in observation rather than belief. Leonardo, who questioned the order of the Solar System and the deposit of fossils by the Great Flood, had little time for the alchemical quests to turn lead into gold or create a potion that gave eternal life.
Leonardo said about alchemists:
The false interpreters of nature declare that quicksilver is the common seed of every metal, not remembering that nature varies the seed according to the variety of the things she desires to produce in the world.[7][19]
Old alchemists... have never either by chance or by experiment succeeded in creating the smallest element that can be created by nature; however [they] deserve unmeasured praise for the usefulness of things invented for the use of men, and would deserve it even more if they had not been the inventors of noxious things like poisons and other similar things which destroy life or mind.[20]
And many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude.[7]
Mathematical studies
Perspective
The art of perspective is of such a nature as to make what is flat appear in relief and what is in relief flat.[7]
During the early 15th century, both
Leonardo studied linear perspective and employed it in his earlier paintings. His use of perspective in the two Annunciations is daring, as he uses various features such as the corner of a building, a walled garden and a path to contrast enclosure and spaciousness.
The unfinished
Leonardo wrote:
Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this Perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing.[7][22]
Geometry
While in Milan in 1496, Leonardo met a traveling
All the problems of perspective are made clear by the five terms of mathematicians, which are:—the point, the line, the angle, the superficies and the solid. The point is unique of its kind. And the point has neither height, breadth, length, nor depth, whence it is to be regarded as indivisible and as having no dimensions in space.[7]
Anamorphosis
...And if you will paint this on a wall in front of which you can move freely, it will look out of proportion… and if notwithstanding that you still wish to paint it, it will be necessary that your perspective is seen through a single hole…
— Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus
Leonardo was the author of some of the earliest known examples of pictorial anamorphosis identified and studied.[24][25] Anamorphosis is a type of optical artifice in which images are represented with altered proportions, and are recognizable only when the image is observed from a specific vantage point or using distorting instruments. A notable example in painting is The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger.
One of the instruments used by Leonardo for his research on anamorphosis was the tool for the angle of contingence, recreated in modern times using the Codex Atlanticus.[26] It is an instrument to determine the reflexion angle of a ray of light incident on the surface of a cylindrical mirror.
The first examples of Leonardo's studies on anamorphosis can be found both in his treatise
Engineering and invention
He made designs for mills, fulling machines and engines that could be driven by water-power... In addition he used to make models and plans showing how to excavate and tunnel through mountains without difficulty, so as to pass from one level to another; and he demonstrated how to lift and draw great weights by means of levers, hoists and winches, and ways of cleansing harbours and using pumps to suck up water from great depths.
Practical inventions and projects
With the same rational and analytical approach that he used in anatomic studies, Leonardo faced the study and design of a bewildering number of machines and devices. He drew their "anatomy" with unparalleled mastery, producing the first form of the modern technical drawing, including a perfected "exploded view" technique, to represent internal components. Those studies and projects have been collected in his codices and fill more than 5,000 pages.
It is impossible to say with any certainty how many or even which of his inventions passed into general and practical use, and thereby had impact over the lives of many people. Among those inventions that are credited with passing into general practical use are the strut bridge, the automated
As an inventor, Leonardo was not prepared to tell all that he knew:
How by means of a certain machine many people may stay some time under water. How and why I do not describe my method of remaining under water, or how long I can stay without eating; and I do not publish nor divulge these by reason of the evil nature of men who would use them as means of destruction at the bottom of the sea, by sending ships to the bottom, and sinking them together with the men in them. And although I will impart others, there is no danger in them; because the mouth of the tube, by which you breathe, is above the water supported on bags of corks.[7]
Bridges and hydraulics
Leonardo's study of the motion of water led him to design machinery that utilized its force. Much of his work on
...very light and strong bridges that can easily be carried, with which to pursue, and sometimes flee from, the enemy; and others safe and indestructible by fire or assault, easy and convenient to transport and place into position.
Among his projects in Florence was one to divert the course of the Arno, in order to flood
In 1502, Leonardo produced a drawing of a single span 240 m (720 ft) bridge as part of a
War machines
Leonardo's letter to
When a place is besieged I know how to cut off water from the trenches and construct an infinite variety of bridges, mantlets and scaling ladders, and other instruments pertaining to sieges. I also have types of mortars that are very convenient and easy to transport.... when a place cannot be reduced by the method of bombardment either because of its height or its location, I have methods for destroying any fortress or other stronghold, even if it be founded upon rock. ....If the engagement be at sea, I have many engines of a kind most efficient for offence and defence, and ships that can resist cannons and powder.
In Leonardo's notebooks there is an array of war machines which includes a vehicle to be propelled by two men powering crank shafts. Although the drawing itself looks quite finished, the mechanics were apparently not fully developed because, if built as drawn, the vehicle would never progress in a forward direction. In a BBC documentary, a military team built the machine and changed the gears in order to make the machine work. It has been suggested that Leonardo deliberately left this error in the design, in order to prevent it from being put to practice by unauthorized people.[36] Another machine, propelled by horses with a pillion rider, carries in front of it four scythes mounted on a revolving gear, turned by a shaft driven by the wheels of a cart behind the horses.
Leonardo's notebooks also show cannons which he claimed "to hurl small stones like a storm with the smoke of these causing great terror to the enemy, and great loss and confusion." He also designed an enormous crossbow. Following his detailed drawing, one was constructed by the British Army, but could not be made to fire successfully. In 1481 Leonardo designed a breech-loading, water cooled cannon with three racks of barrels allowed the re-loading of one rack while another was being fired and thus maintaining continuous fire power. The "fan type" gun with its array of horizontal barrels allowed for a wide scattering of shot.
Leonardo was the first to sketch the
While Leonardo was working in Venice, he drew a sketch for an early diving suit, to be used in the destruction of enemy ships entering Venetian waters. A suit was constructed for a BBC documentary using pigskin treated with fish oil to repel water. The head was covered by a helmet with two eyeglasses at the front. A breathing tube of bamboo with pigskin joints was attached to the back of the helmet and connected to a float of cork and wood. When the scuba divers tested the suit, they found it to be a workable precursor to a modern diving suit, the cork float acting as a compressed air chamber when submerged.[38] His inventions were very futuristic which meant they were very expensive and proved not to be useful.
Flight
In Leonardo's infancy a hawk had once hovered over his cradle. Recalling this incident, Leonardo saw it as prophetic:
An object offers as much resistance to the air as the air does to the object. You may see that the beating of its wings against the air supports a heavy eagle in the highest and rarest atmosphere, close to the sphere of elemental fire. Again you may see the air in motion over the sea, fill the swelling sails and drive heavily laden ships. From these instances, and the reasons given, a man with wings large enough and duly connected might learn to overcome the resistance of the air, and by conquering it, succeed in subjugating it and rising above it.[7]
The desire to fly is expressed in the many studies and drawings. His later journals contain a detailed study of the flight of birds and several different designs for wings based in structure upon those of bats which he described as being less heavy because of the impenetrable nature of the membrane. There is a legend that Leonardo tested the flying machine on Monte Ceceri with one of his apprentices, and that the apprentice fell and broke his leg.[39] Experts Martin Kemp and Liana Bortolon agree that there is no evidence of such a test, which is not mentioned in his journals.
One design that he produced shows a flying machine to be lifted by a man-powered rotor.[40] It would not have worked since the body of the craft itself would have rotated in the opposite direction to the rotor.[41]
While he designed a number of man powered flying machines with mechanical wings that flapped, he also designed a
Musical instrument
The viola organista was an experimental musical instrument invented by Leonardo da Vinci. It was the first bowed keyboard instrument (of which any record has survived) ever to be devised.
Leonardo's original idea, as preserved in his notebooks of 1488–1489 and in the drawings in the Codex Atlanticus, was to use one or more wheels, continuously rotating, each of which pulled a looping bow, rather like a fanbelt in an automobile engine, and perpendicular to the instrument's strings.
Inventions made reality
In the late 20th century, interest in Leonardo's inventions escalated. There have been many projects which have sought to turn diagrams on paper into working models. One of the factors is the awareness that, although in the 15th and 16th centuries Leonardo had available a limited range of materials, modern technological advancements have made available a number of robust materials of light-weight which might turn Leonardo's designs into reality. This is particularly the case with his designs for flying machines.
A difficulty encountered in the creation of models is that often Leonardo had not entirely thought through the mechanics of a machine before he drew it, or else he used a sort of graphic shorthand, simply not bothering to draw a gear or a lever at a point where one is essential in order to make a machine function. This lack of refinement of mechanical details can cause considerable confusion. Thus, many models that are created, such as some of those on display at Clos Lucé, Leonardo's home in France, do not work, but would work, with a little mechanical tweaking.
Projects
-
Leonardo da Vinci: Tool for the angle of contingency reconstructed from the Codex Atlanticus
-
Walking on water
-
Compasses for drawing parabolas
-
A water poweredgyroscopic compass
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An "aerial screw", suggestive of a helicopter
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Cannons (Firing)
-
Sketch of a lifebelt
Models based on drawings
-
Model of a Leonardo bridge
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Model of Leonardo's parachute
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Model after Leonardo's design for the Golden Horn Bridge
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Ribauldequin (or organ gun)
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Model of a fighting vehicle by Leonardo
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Model of a flywheel
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Model of wing by Leonardo da Vinci, in the National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan
Exhibitions
- Leonardo da Vinci Gallery at Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan; permanent exhibition, the biggest collection of Leonardo's projects and inventions.[43]
- Models of Leonardo's designs are on permanent display at Clos Lucé.
- The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, held an exhibition called "Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, and Design" in 2006
- Logitech Museum
- "The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition" was held in a pavilion in the Cultural Forecourt, at South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 2009. The exhibits shown were on loan from the Museum of Leonardo da Vinci, Florence, Italy.
Television programs
- The U.S. Public Broadcasting Service(PBS), aired in October 2005, a television programme called Leonardo's Dream Machines, about the building and successful flight of a glider based upon Leonardo's design.
- The Discovery Channel began a series called Doing DaVinci in April 2009, in which a team of builders try to construct various inventions of Leonardo based on his designs.[44]
See also
Notes
- ISSN 1058-6180.
- ISBN 9783319904481.
- ^ Cook, Theodore Andrea (1914). The Curves of Life. London: Constable and Company Ltd. p. 390.
- ISBN 978-3-00-063700-1
- ^ Capra, Fritjof. The Science of Leonardo; Inside the Mind of the Genius of the Renaissance. (New York, Doubleday, 2007)
- ^ Wallace 1972, p. 170.
- ^ ISBN 0-486-22572-0. (accessed 2007-02-04)
- ^ "Da Vinci clue for heart surgeon". BBC News. 2005-09-28. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
- ISBN 0-19-280644-0
- ^ Live Science
- ^ E.g. Theophrastus, On the History of Plants.
- ^ The London painting of the Virgin of the Rocks is denounced by the geologist Ann C. Pizzorusso, [1] of New York, as largely by the hand of someone other than Leonardo, because the rocks appear incongruous and the lake looks like a fjord. Pizzorusso says "Fjords do not exist in Italy and it is highly unlikely the glacial lakes of the Lombard region would have such steep relief surrounding them." In fact, the glacial lake, Garda, has just such steep geological formations. The sedimentary red limestone which appears in the picture is also typical of Italy.
- ^ Pezzutto, Donato (2012-10-24). "Leonardo's Landscapes as Maps". OPUSeJ. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
- S2CID 224946752. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Livio, Dr. Mario (8 October 2013). "The Da Vinci Astronomy". Huff Post. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ Da Vinci's notebooks on astronomy.
- ^ "Leonardo Da Vinci". Giants of Science. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ISBN 0-674-01495-2
- ^ "Quicksilver" is an old name for mercury.
- ISBN 978-0-19-929902-7
- ^ "Animations of anamorphosis of Leonardo and other artists". Illusionworks.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
- ^ "Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson". Retrieved 2022-07-20.
- ^ L. Murphy Smith, Luca Pacioli: The Father of Accounting Archived 2011-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bassoli, F., Leonardo da Vinci e l'invenzione delle anamorfosi, in "Atti della società dei Naturalisti e Matematici in Modena" LXIX/1938
- ^ Decio Gioseffi, Perspectiva artificialis: per la storia della prospettiva. Spigolature e appunti, Smolars, Trieste, 1957
- ^ ISBN 978-3840950032.
- ^ A Treatise on Painting, by Leonardo da Vinci 1721 Senex and Taylor, London
- ^ Leonardo Da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, folio 98 recto-Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, dating around 1515
- ^ ""Eyed Awry": Blind Spots and Memoria in the Zimmern Anamorphosis".
- ISBN 978-0810906624
- ^ J. Baltrusaitis, Anamorfosi o thaumaturgus opticus, Milano 2004
- ^ http://www.educational.rai.it/materiali/file_lezioni/64888_636314928342978742.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- S2CID 202729396.
- ^ "Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)". Nano-world.org. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
- ^ Chandler, David L. (2019-10-09). "Engineers put Leonardo da Vinci's bridge design to the test". MIT News. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
- ^ "Da Vinci war machines "designed to fail"". The Age. Melbourne. December 14, 2002.
- ^ Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 199.
- ^ "Youtube Video of the BBC documentary". Archived from the original on 2010-10-13.
- ^ Liana Bortolon, Leonardo, Paul Hamlyn, (1967)
- ^ "The Helicopter » Leonardo Da Vinci's Inventions". leonardodavincisinventions.com. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- ^ see Helicopter for detailed description of solutions and types of functional helicopter.
- Public Broadcasting Service(PBS), Leonardo's Dream Machine, October 2005
- ^ "Leonardo". Museoscienzaorg. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
- ^ About Doing DaVinci : Doing DaVinci : Discovery Channel Archived April 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
References
- Bsmbach, Carmen (2003). Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 414. ISBN 0-300-09878-2.
- Wallace, Robert (1972) [1966]. The World of Leonardo: 1452–1519. New York: Time-Life Books.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-4020-5598-0.
- Capra, Fritjof (2007). The Science of Leonardo; Inside the Mind of the Genius of the Renaissance. New York: Doubleday.
External links
- The Art of War: Leonardo da Vinci's War Machines
- Complete text & images of Richter's translation of the Notebooks
- Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, Design (review)
- Some digitized notebook pages with explanations from the British Library (Non HTML5 Available)
- Digital and animated compendium of anatomy notebook pages
- BBC Leonardo homepage
- Leonardo da Vinci: The Leicester Codex
- Leonardo's Letter to Ludovico Sforza
- Animations of anamorphosis of Leonardo and other artists
- Da Vinci – The Genius: A comprehensive traveling exhibition about Leonardo da Vinci
- The technical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci – a high resolution gallery
- Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Friday, 4 May 2012 to Sunday, 7 October 2012. High-resolution anatomical drawings.