Everyone has an idol in life that he/she wants to go in advance, that he respects his talents and skills. For lots of people, it’s Leonardo Da Vinci. He’s probably one of the greatest geniuses in human history, not just his era.
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For example, he considered fire the greatest power in the universe, and his real name was Lionardo. When the name is divided into syllables, each syllable means fire. It’s like: li-on-nar-do. The sign of the ‘Lion’ fire group means ‘Pomegranate’ in Arabic and ‘od’ means fire in Old Turkish.
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Perhaps the most important memories left to us humans after Da Vinci’s death are hidden in his famous notebooks. What’s interesting is that he writes his notes from right to left and backwards. This made his notes readable only in a mirror. One claim about this is that he prefers to write this way because he is left-handed.
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When he drew pictures of babies in the womb, the Pope was reported and it was understood that he had studied on three bodies. He was then forced to leave the city. With these studies, he initiated the scientific studies of the baby in the womb, which is not known at all.
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He also studied human anatomy by breaking down cadavers. ‘I had to open ten bodies just to understand the function of how the veins work,’ Da Vinci wrote in his notes. During his life, he performed 779 anatomical drawings as a result of his anatomy studies in more than 100 cadavers, 30 of which were human.
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Da Vinci often preferred to work at night to avoid people’s attention during his studies on anatomy.
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In a letter to the Duke of Milan, which was not clear if he had sent it, he said: “I’m not sure if he’s sent it. He mentioned war machines, attack and defence vehicles, light bridges that can be used when it is necessary to chase or flee the enemy, easy-to-carry air cannons, armoured vehicles to destroy enemy ranks, and flame-breathing devices. He also had projects related to architecture and water transfer.
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Da Vinci had been very interested in the sky all his life. In fact, his greatest wish was to fly, but unfortunately, he died before he could grant his wish. The thought of conquering the sky drives him to research birds. He observes that birds form two separate lines of motion when flying through the air. Aircraft, parachute, helicopter and wing design are just some of his designs at the airport.
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The great genius carried out ideas not only about the sky, but also about vast waters, and developed the first submarine projects based on the idea that people like fish can live underwater.
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During his journey, he also prepared a series of detailed maps. The plan of the city of Imola, the physical maps of Toscana, Emilia and Romagna are so detailed; it is almost equivalent to images prepared with today’s technology (satellite).
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Da Vinci didn’t just get the attention of his own era. 500 years after his death, Sigmund Freud, the creator of Parapsychology, will say about him: “Indeed, the great Leonardo remained a child in more ways than one throughout his life; In fact, it can be said that all the great men were able to keep part of their childhood hidden. He continued to play even when he was an adult, which was another reason why he often seemed strange and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.”
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Although there are many mysteries that Leonardo Da Vinci left to humanity throughout his life, I think the Mona Lisa painting, which he kept with him until his death, took with him everywhere he went, and which is his symbol since his death, is probably the most remarkable of them all. Well, let’s see what makes this painting so valuable.
The first question mark in minds is who the person in the painting is. This is still being discussed and scientific studies are underway on the identity of the enigmatic Mona Lisa or any information that can be obtained.
In this work of Leonardo, it is an invention of the master that the landscape behind the figure becomes increasingly pale, taking a misty tone. Thus, the depth provided only from the perspective of the line until then, with this new invention, which Leonardo described as “sfumato”, added a more convincing dimension to his other works and made a first in the art community.
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When we examine Da Vinci’s work, we can’t go without mentioning the Vitruvius effect.
Vitruvius mentioned an ideal proportion of the human body and also established a relationship between harmony in nature and the permanence of works of art, arguing that in order to understand art, it should be descended into its nature. The ideal ratio of the human body, the Golden Ratio (Law of Proportions), has an important place in many of Leonardo’s works. Leonardo’s sketch on the side, which establishes an anatomical connection between the human body and the universe, suggests views such as that the square symbolizes the “material” presence and the circle symbolizes the “spiritual” existence, reflecting two different aspects of human beings in his drawing.
