Leonardo da Vinci
1452-1519
Leonardo da Vinci is considered the greatest universal genius in the history of art and science. His inventions, works of art and studies, but not forgetting his mysterious life, continue to interest science and literature to this day.
The universal genius Leonardo da Vinci, the epitome of the Renaissance man, was a painter, sculptor, builder, writer, art theorist, naturalist, inventor and technician all in one. Even though in primary school the illegitimate child had barely learned how to read, write and do arithmetic, thanks to his unique talent, he soon set himself up early for an apprenticeship as a painter and sculptor with Andrea del Verrocchio and tried to gain employment at one of the courts. Temporarily he succeeded in working for the Duke of Milan or Cesare Borgia, the Pope or the French King.
His life was filled with the study of humanities and the universal urge for knowledge and action that was characteristic of his epoch. Through incessantly observing, recording and analysing, he created a huge oeuvre as a scientist and technician alone. For example, he studied the geological formation and cloud formation, the flow of water and air, the flight of birds and apparatus in order to enable human flight.
His work as a visual artist, on the other hand, is smaller but occupies a very high rank, such as the "Last Supper" or the "Mona Lisa".
His artistic striving for compositions with moderately calm geometric basic forms prepared for the High Renaissance. His later approaches to grasping the world of appearance in its transformation through air and light even point ahead to Baroque painting.
