da Vinci and the Renaissance 2020 Gallery

Much of the knowledge and focus of astronomy during Leonardo’s time was on the Sun and Moon. Regarding the Sun, da Vinci spent much of his time attempting to define its characteristics through his knowledge of optics. Using his principle that stars gained their light by reflecting the sun’s light, Leonardo proved that the sun was not a foot in length (as previously suggested by Epicurus), as he roughly knew the size of the Earth, and inferenced that a small sun would mean that very few stars would receive sunlight outside the shadow of the Earth, leaving the night sky mostly black. This…

This sketch is one of the many sketches within the Codex on the Flight of Birds that attempt to translate the anatomy of birds to a mechanical device. Although it is not known if any actual prototypes were attempted, Leonardo’s sketches show that careful consideration was paid to devise a mechanically sound machine that mirrored the method’s used by birds to achieve flight. Leonardo’s theoretical flight machine used a combination of stirrups, levers, and pulleys to allow a human to manipulate the mechanical wing device to move in a way similar to the flapping of a bird’s wing. The sketch…

Leonardo’s helicopter sketch illustrates a device that was designed to allow for human powered flight. The sketch is of a device that included a wooden base and frame that was connected to a screw-shaped canopy. This sketch was one of the first attempts at creating a rotary flight device, the same concept behind modern day Helicopters. While some scholars argue that this sketch was actually a device used for pageants, the physical principles behind it as a device for human flight were actual sound. The fundamental reason that this device could never function as a flying machine is that…

As Leonardo da Vinci began to research geology and landscapes, and as other artists of the time began to develop, his landscapes began to have much more detail.  Around 1483 this painting was commissioned for the church of San Francesco Grande, Milan for a group of religious followers devoted to the Immaculate Conception. In this artwork, there is so much detail in the background of the image in the rocks. The colors in the background are much darker than typical for depicting the Virgin Mary which could be to bring the focus into the bright colors around the Virgin Mary, and it could…

Leonardo da Vinci is known for some of his great works of art and many scientific discoveries, but one of his lesser known discoveries has to do with his geological studies.  A big shift in Renaissance painting had to do with the landscape in the back of paintings which was much different than the Byzantine art prior which had more of a blank background.  Because of Leonardo’s sketches and art there was a shift to put more attention into the background in images. In this sketch from his notebooks there is dimension in the back of the sketch that contrasts with the ducks sitting…

In one of his manuscripts, Leonardo records his experimentation with how different sounds are produced depending on the hardness and softness of objects. Leonardo was also focused on the time after a blow that a sound is produced, and concluded that a blow can always be seen before it is heard. Leonardo made many other notes of how size, length, shape, and speed have an effect pitch. His observations included studying the speed of wind passing through a reed instrument to conclude that high speeds produce high sounds, and slower wind speeds produce lower sounds. With his knowledge…

The SS Great Eastern was the first double hulled ship ever built. This image is during its construction, which gives a view of both the inner and outer hull at the same time. It was also the largest ship ever built at the time, and would remain so until 1899. It was originally designed to take passengers from London to Sydney and back without refueling; however, it only ever made transatlantic voyages. At one point, the ship hit a rock while trying to find a place to dock, tearing a 9ft wide 83ft long hole in its outer hull. The inner hull remained intact. If not for the double…

Leonardo's double hull design merely appears as a drawing on the side of a page in the Paris Manuscripts. Drawn in a manuscript that describes war machines, the double hull was probably a way of protecting against Leonardo's own designs, as a second hull provides extra protection from outside damage, such as enemy attacks or submerged objects. However, the double hull would not appear in an actual ship for another 370 years. As for the reason, double hulls are more expensive and very difficult to build. Going by deductive reasoning, without modern technology, the double hull…

One of Leonardo’s most well-known astronomical discoveries resulted from a simple observation any human could have made. Looking up at the night sky, most people today know that the moon goes through different phases depending on how much of the half-lit of the moon we can see. However, even during crescent and new moon phases, the remainder of the moon can be faintly seen. Leonardo was able to piece together that this phenomenon was due to sunlight hitting the Earth and reflecting onto the moon, giving it a dim but noticeable glow, which he titled “Earthshine.” At the time, da Vinci…

This is the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy. The inside is a prime example of Brunelleschi's incorporation of classical architecture and its aspects of it. He visited Rome in 1403, and during the trip, he became inspired to implement the classicist ideas of Greek and Roman architecture that existed for centuries. For the interior, he included features like columns and arches. The design of the church is also emblematic of the symmetrical aspect of Renaissance architecture. Brunelleschi used a series of squares and rectangles and integrated mathematical proportions when designing…

This image shows the perspective lines of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Working to popularize the technique of linear perspective first explored by Filippo Brunelleschi, da Vinci used a series of converging lines as a basis to portray the idea of a single vanishing point that concluded at the center of his work, Jesus Christ.  This use of depth perception was unique to the Renaissance, varying from the two-dimensional, characteristically-Medieval style that preceded da Vinci.  With the knowledge that his painting would be displayed on the chapel wall of the…

This picture shows an example of one of the modern technologies used to examine and restore The Last Supper, the infrared reflectoscope.  Imperfections such as hidden, microscopic damage, and potential inscriptions can be detected using this process because infrared penetration causes the additional paint layers to slowly become transparent.  This method allows for the identification and chemical properties of inorganic pigments found within the painting.

Source: Karagiannis, G., et al. “Nondestructive Multispectral Reflectoscopy between 800 and 1900nm: An…

Del moto e misura dell’acqua is a large collection of Leonardo’s writings and sketches related to the motion and measurement of water. Within the collection, Leonardo looks at everything from useful applications of fluid properties to relative fluid densities. However, the main focus of his work is on fluids in motion, the field now known as fluid mechanics. da Vinci was very interested in the ways that water moved through a pipe, and as a result, sketched many variations of pipe flow systems. In this drawing from Del moto e misura dell’acqua, da Vinci models turbulent and laminar flow…

Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch of water exiting a square hole into a pool was “perhaps the first use of visualization as a scientific tool to study turbulent flow” (Gad-El-Hak). In the modern era, flow visualization is an entire industry, in which complex models and computer programs are used to simulate flow patterns. For example, in the field of computational fluid dynamics, NASA uses computer programs to visualize how modifying structural geometries impacts stresses, deformations, and velocities that a material must endure (ANSYS). However, in the Renaissance, the only interpretations of…

The dome of the Florence Cathedral is perhaps the most important feat of architecture that Brunelleschi has done. In 1419, his design was chosen after the church was looking for one that would fill the hole in the roof. His design consisted of several arches designed to keep the dome standing, a practice used in Roman architecture. The dome would be completed in 1436 and was an architectural marvel, becoming the largest brick dome in the world. The success of the dome led to future construction projects incorporating the dome into their designs, which helped signal the revitalization of…

The tiburio is a structure located on the Milan Cathedral in Milan, Italy. It is most notable for being the first construction project Leonardo da Vinci took part in. While the style of the tower is Gothic, the methods used in its design are Renaissance. The challenge was to create one that would stand over the cathedral's crossing area. da Vinci proposed a design that was in the shape of a square, stating that it would be much stronger than that of an octagon. He drew a system of buttresses that would hold the tower and strengthen the building's infrastructure. His design would be change…

One of Leonardo's most important drawings in anatomy, was that of the heart. He was one of the first to describe the heart with four chambers, atria, ventricles, and valves. He discovered that the ventricles and atria would contract at different times to push blood from one area to another. Leonardo, who was also an expert of hydrolics, used his knowledge to understand the importance of the valves. In one experiment Leonardo filled a ox heart with wax, then removed the heart and put glass around the wax to create a glass heart. He filled the glass heart with a seed/water solution to…

This is a photograph of the letter that Leonardo da Vinci sent to Sultan Beyazid II of Istanbul during the Second Florentine Period of his life. At the time, da Vinci was attempting to secure a position as a scientist and architect within the Sultan's court. Within the letter, da Vinci proposed an arched bridge from Galata to Istanbul that spanned the Golden Horn. Such a project would have been the longest bridge at the time, made possible by da Vinci's unique design. The letter was recovered in the national archives of Istanbul in 1952 and is currently in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul.…

This image is a drawing of a basilica that da Vinci created. After he read The Vitrivian Man when visiting Pavia in 1490, he was inspired to create buildings that were like that of a human and being connected to its surroundings. The use of geometric shapes like circles and squares have an element of humanism to them because they were used in the drawing of The Vituvian Man, where it depicts the human being inscribed in a circle and a square. This implies that the church, like the human, fits in a certain ratio that is universal in nature.

Source: Craven, Jackie. “…

Leonardo da Vinci completed this drawing of an autumn forest using red chalk on paper around the year 1500. This image is currently on display in the Musee de Louvre in Paris. This drawing is significant because much of what da Vinci discusses in his notes published in Trattato Della Pittura is employed in this sketch. Notes associated with this drawing explain that "when light falls, the clumps of leaves will be seen standing out in relief; where the tree is in shadow, it will read simply as a silhouette" (Da Vinci 414). Da Vinci utilized his principals of how…

Roman architect and engineer, Vitruvius, wrote and published the treatise on architecture entitled de Architectura, now known as The Ten Books on Architecture, circa 30 to 15 BCE and dedicated it to the emperor of Rome of the time, Caesar Augustus. It is the only surviving document on Classical architecture and heavily influenced the Renaissance period as well. 

Throughout the treatise, Vitruvius exemplifies his three ideals of architecture, utility, strength, and beauty. Book I describes architecture and civil engineering as a whole. Book II delves into the specifics of…

In the Vitruvian Man c. 1490, Leonardo da Vinci showed that having drawn a human figure with its arms and legs outstretched, by placing the center of a circle at the navel, the circle will perfectly surround the figure. Additionally, the distance between fingertips when the arms are held perpendicular to the body is nearly equal to the height of the human body, allowing him to draw a perfect square around such a figure. da Vinci included notes on his drawing, often referencing the sketch’s inspiration, Vitruvius’s de Architectura. The note includes specific human ratios found in…

Leonardo da Vinci included a sketch of the viola organista in his Codex Atlanticus, but never got around to creating it. His idea with the viola organista was to combine the fingerwork of playing an organ, with the sustained sound produced by stringed instruments. However, not even string players can create the continuous sound Leonardo aimed for in his ideas for the viola organista, for players sometimes pause briefly to change bow direction or pluck. The idea’s sketched out in the Codex Atlanticus were for a mechanical instrument that creates continuous polyphonic sounds, played using…

This photo shows the construction of the horse statue in Pennsylvania by the nonprofit organization 'Leonardo da Vinci's Horse Inc'. This organization was founded by Charles Dent. The construction took many years to complete, and after Charles Dent passed away American sculptor Nina Akamu became the lead sculptor.

“Da Vinci’s Horse at Tallix Beacon.” Polichtallix.com, 15 Nov. 2012, www.polichtallix.com/2012/11/15/da-vincis-horse-at-tallix-beacon/.

The Baptism of Christ was a piece originally intended for the monks of San Salvi, a Catholic monastery in eastern Florence. Verrocchio's brother was an abbot here, meaning he was the head of the monks at San Salvi. The Baptism of Christ painting was a commission and was used as an altarpiece. The painting was kept in this location from approximately the 1470's until 1530, after the monastery was destroyed. The painting was moved to Santa Verdiana, another monastery, and in 1919, was rediscovered and moved to the Uffizi gallery, where it has remained ever…

The Baptism of Christ is a famous work of art by Leonardo Da Vinci with his instructor, Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was only 23 when he worked on this piece of art. This piece was originally intended for the monks of San Salvi, a Catholic monastery in eastern Florence. The Baptism of Christ painting was a commission and was used as an altarpiece.

This piece has been carefully inspected over time. For one, although it is not noticeable, the drawing of the angels is actually very different from the original sketch. The angels in the painting were…

In 1482, Leonardo Da Vinci started plans to create the world's largest equestrian statue. In order to plan his statue, Leonardo studied horses and made sketches of them in his notebook as seen in the photo.

“Study of Horse - by Leonardo Da Vinci.” Study of Horse - by Leonardo Da Vinci, www.leonardodavinci.net/study-of-horse.jsp.

This image is a wooden revolving crane with hoist that was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.  It was used on his last project to assemble the lantern on the Florence Duomo after he received the commission for his design.  He had to lift very heavy materials in a time where machines to do so were very scarce.  One example was a treadmill device that was man-powered and used to construct a dome.  Brunelleschi then came up with a machine of his own, although very few sketches and descriptions of any of his machines remain.  His work with machines inspired Leonardo da…

This is a sketch done by Leonardo da Vinci to record how Verrocchio went about creating the bronze ball.  Mirrors were used to reflect solar rays on the pieces of metal to fuse them together.  The metal was also hammered so mercury guilding could be used.  This method was adopted to prevent the issues the first artist had when creating his palla.  It is not confirmed, but widely thought that the issue must have been with the guilding of the palla and not the hammering of the metal itself.  Unfortunately, the original palla was damaged when it fell and no longer…

A sketch of a human fetus inside of a human uterus drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci. The Uterus is  cut open through the middle, showing the fetus inside in a "fetal position." The drawing is composed of red and black chalk as well as ink. A fallopian tube is shown to the viewers left side of the large uterus. The drawing has a cow placenta because Da Vinci did not know about the human placenta, but had dissected cow placenta previous to the drawing.

Works Cited

"Recto: Fetus in the Womb. Verso: Notes on reproduction, with sketches of fetus in utero, etc." Royal Collection…

The images here show Da Vinci's bridge designs in some of Leonardo's original sketches  of the design and a permanent version of the design that is used as a foot bridge in Denmark. The permanent design is to give a better idea of what it might look like in actual use and to more clearly see the geometries used by Leonardo.

“Leonardo Da Vinci: Self-Supporting-Bridge.” Leonardo3, Leonardo Museum, www.leonardo3.net/en/l3-works/machines/1355-self-supporting-bridge.html.

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Above are designs for Leonardo's Golden Horn Bridge Design. This includes some of the originial sketches and a cleaner modern redition of the sketches that demonstrates the geometries employed by Leonardo such as the parabolic curve, pressed bow, and keystone arch to stabilize the bridge despite not having support beams.

This schematic from Leonardo da Vinci's notebook illustrates his coined "Rule of Trees" (Eloy 25) which suggests that if you fold all the branches of a tree upward, they will combine to create a continuation of the trunk with the same surface area. Modern publications have proven the validity of da Vinci's rule, even though da Vinci did not collect experiemental data (that is known of) to formulate this hypothesis. The bottom right sketch elucidates da Vinci's thoughts on tree branch directionality and size relative to their parent branch (83).

Leonardo da Vinci's…