SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about one of the greatest thinkers in the world, Leonardo da Vinci. He began his career as an artist. But his interest in the world around him drove him to study music, math, science, engineering and building design. Many of his ideas and inventions were centuries ahead of his time.
STEVE EMBER: We start with one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous drawings, called “Vitruvian Man.” This work is a good example of his ever questioning mind, and his effort to bring together art, math and science. "Vitruvian Man" is a detailed sketch of a man’s body, which is drawn at the center of a square and circle. The man’s stretched arms and legs are in two positions, showing the range of his motion. His arms and legs touch the edges of the square and circle.
Detail from the drawing "Vitruvian Man"
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: With this drawing Leonardo was
considering the size of the human body and its relationship to geometry and the
writings of the ancient Roman building designer Vitruvius.
Leonardo wrote this about how to develop a complete mind: “Study the science of
art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see.
Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
STEVE EMBER:
Leonardo da Vinci spent his life studying and observing in order to develop a
scientific understanding of the world. He wrote down his thoughts and project
ideas in a series of small notebooks. He made drawings and explained them with
detailed notes. In these notebooks, he would write the words backwards.
Some experts say he wrote this way because he wished to be secretive about
his findings. But others say he wrote this way because he was left-handed and
writing backwards was easier and helped keep the ink from smearing.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The notebooks show many very modern ideas.
Leonardo designed weapons, machines, engines, robots, and many other kinds of
engineering devices.
When disease spread in Milan, Leonardo
designed a city that would help resist the spread of infection. He designed
devices to help people climb walls, and devices to help people fly. He designed
early versions of modern machines such as the tank and helicopter. Few of these
designs were built during his lifetime. But they show his extraordinarily
forward- thinking mind.
The notebooks also contain details about
his daily life. These have helped historians learn more about the personal side
of this great thinker.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: Very
little is known about Leonardo’s early life. He was born in fourteen fifty-two
in the town of Vinci. His father, Ser Piero da Vinci, was a legal expert.
Experts do not know for sure about his mother, Caterina. But they do know that
Leonardo’s parents were never married to each other. As a boy, Leonardo showed a
great interest in drawing, sculpting and observing nature.
However, because Leonardo was born to parents who were not married to each
other, he was barred from some studies and professions. He trained as an artist
after moving to Florence with his father in the fourteen sixties.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: It was an exciting time to be in Florence, one of the
cultural capitals of Europe. Leonardo trained with one of the city’s very
successful artists, Andrea del Verrocchio. He was a painter, sculptor and gold
worker. Verrocchio told his students that they needed to understand the body’s
bones and muscles when drawing people.
Leonardo took his
teacher’s advice very seriously. He spent several periods of his life studying
the human body by taking apart and examining dead bodies. Experts say his later
drawings of the organs and systems of the human body are still unequalled to
this day.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: While training as
an artist, Leonardo also learned about and improved on relatively new painting
methods at the time. One was the use of perspective to show depth. A
method called “sfumato” helped to create a cloudy effect to suggest distance.
“Chiaroscuro” is a method using light and shade as a painterly effect. The
artist also used oil paints instead of the traditional tempura paints used in
Italy during this period.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo’s first
known portrait now hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. He made
this painting of a young woman named Ginevra de’Benci around fourteen
seventy-four. The woman has a pale face with dark hair. In the distance,
Leonardo painted the Italian countryside.
He soon received
attention for his extraordinary artistic skills. Around fourteen seventy-five he
was asked to draw an angel in Verrocchio’s painting “Baptism of Christ.” One
story says that when Verrocchio saw Leonardo’s addition to the painting, he was
so amazed by his student’s skill, that he said he would never paint again.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: Leonardo once said the
following about actively using one’s mental abilities: “Iron rusts from disuse,
stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does
inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” His mind was so active that he did not
often finish his many projects.
One religious painting he never
finished was called “Adoration of the Magi”. He was hired to make the painting
for a religious center. The complex drawing he made to prepare for the painting
is very special. It shows how carefully he planned his art works. It shows his
deep knowledge of geometry, volume and depth. He drew the many people in the
painting without clothes so that he could make sure that their bodies would be
physically correct once covered.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Around
fourteen eighty-two, Leonardo moved to Milan. There, he worked for the city’s
ruler, Ludovico Sforza. This ruler invited Leonardo to Milan not as an artist,
but as a musician. Historians say Leonardo was one of the most skillful lyre
players in all of Italy. But he also continued his work as a painter. He also
designed everything from festivals to weapons and a sculpture for Ludovico
Sforza.
STEVE EMBER: One famous work from Leonardo’s Milan period
is called “Virgin of the Rocks.” It shows Jesus as a baby along with his
mother, Mary, and John the Baptist also as a baby. They are sitting outside in
an unusual environment. Leonardo used his careful observations of nature to
paint many kinds of plants. In the background are a series of severe rock
formations. This painting helped Leonardo make it clear to the ruler and people
of Milan that he was a very inventive and skillful artist.
Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper"
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo later made his famous painting “The Last Supper”
for the dining room of a religious center in Milan. He combined his studies in
light, math, psychology, geometry and anatomy for this special work. He designed
the painting to look like it was part of the room. The painting shows a story
from the Bible in which Jesus eats a meal with his followers for the last time.
Jesus announces that one of them will betray him.
The work
received wide praise and many artists tried to copy its beauty. One modern art
expert described Leonardo’s “Last Supper” as the foundation of western art.
Unfortunately, Leonardo experimented with a new painting method for this work.
The paint has suffered extreme damage over the centuries.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: In addition to the portrait of Ginevra
de’Benci that we talked about earlier, Leonardo also painted several other
non-religious paintings of women. One painting of Cecilia Gallerani has come to
be known as “Lady with an Ermine” because of the small white animal she is
holding. This woman was the lover of Milan’s ruler, Ludovico Sforza.
However, Leonardo’s most famous portrait of a woman is called the
“Mona Lisa.” It is now in the collection of the Louvre museum in Paris. He
painted this image of Lisa Gherardini starting around fifteen-oh-three. She was
the wife of a wealthy businessman from Florence named Francesco del Giocondo. It
is from him that the painting takes its Italian name, “La
Gioconda.”
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Lisa Gherardini is sitting down with
her hands crossed in her lap. She looks directly at the painter. She seems to be
smiling ever so slightly. A great deal of mystery surrounds the painting.
Experts are not sure about how or why Leonardo came to paint the work. But they
do know that he never gave it to the Giocondo family. He kept the painting with
him for the rest of his life, during his travels through France and Italy.
Leonardo da Vinci died in France in fifteen nineteen. A friend who was with him
at his death said this of the great man’s life: “May God Almighty grant him
eternal peace. Every one laments the loss of a man, whose like, Nature cannot
produce a second time.”
STEVE EMBER: This program was written and
produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And
I’m Shirley Griffith. You can see some of Leonardo da Vinci’s work at our
website voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA
Special English.
