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#nowreading Walter Isaacson's biography of Leonardo da Vinci https://t.co/C4GafToCX6
During Leonardo's 67 years of life (1452 to 1519) - Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Copernicus and Rapharl are born - Portugal rounds south of Africa - Columbus reaches the "New World" - Henry 8 becomes King of England - Martin Luther launches Protestant Reformation
At age 30, Da Vinci was looking for a job. He touted his engineering skills, emphasizing the benefits to his desired employer, the Duke of Milan. And in the 11th paragraph, he casually drops "Likewise in painting, I can do everything possible." https://t.co/wQm8vACzUG
He was playful and obsessive. "He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, delineated the muscles that move the lips, then painted the world's most memorable smile." His study in optics informed his mastery of shading and perspective. This guy was Mr. Inspect Element of the 1400s
Over 7,200 pages of Leonardo's notes survive to this day (I saw a set of them at an exhibition a while ago). He couldn't afford to waste paper, so he crammed his pages with lots of miscellaneous and divergent things. Wonder what he'd have done with an Internet connection
A todo list: - learn the measurement of Milan - draw Milan - ask A how to square a triangle - ask B how the tower of Ferrera is walled - ask C how people in Flanders walk on ice - ask D how to repair a lock, canal and mill, Lombard-style - ask E for measurement of the sun
- observe the goose's foot - why fish in water faster than birds in air? - describe tongue of woodpecker - go every Saturday to the hot bath where you will see naked men 😂 - inflate pig lungs and observe how exactly they expand ... I love this weirdo
Leonardo was lucky on several counts, his circumstances allowed him to be who he became. Gutenberg had recently opened his publishing house. He was spared a dogmatic education, and was able to be quite innovatively self-taught - might not have been possible a generation earlier
Love these passages about Leonardo contemplating fear and desire, the power and powerlessness of a mighty whale, existential dread and the inexorable reality of the passage of time https://t.co/J2gQZqtbIq
15th century Florence was something special - 84 woodcarvers, 83 silkworkers, 30 master painters, 44 goldsmiths. It was a banking center. A third of the population was literate (highest in Europe). Leading thinkers embraced a Renaissance humanism. Trade brought ideas
According to an essayist in 1472, Florence had 1. "Complete liberty" 2. Large, rich, elegantly dressed population 3. River with clear, pure water 4. Rules over castles, towns 5. University teaching both Greek & accounting 6. Masters in every art 7. Banks & biz agents worldwide
Florence had 40k people when Leonardo arrived, down from 100k in 1300 (Black Death, plagues) 100 elite families, 5,000 prosperous middle class members (guildsmen, merchants) Lots of new money eager to establish status by commissioning art, becoming patrons
But it was not democratic or egalitarian. The Medici family, wealthy from banking, dominated Florentine politics and culture. In 1430, Cosimo de' Medici made the family bank the biggest in Europe. He founded Florence's first public library. Died 1464, just before Leonardo arrived
2 of Leonardo's influences were Brunelleschi and Alberti. B was also son of a notary, trained as goldsmith and became architect, building the cathedral dome that's still the largest masonry dome 500+ years later. He was also a master of visual POV, influencing optics & geometry
Alberti was also a linear POV theorist. Also illegitimate son. He studied law, was ordained as a priest and wrote for the Pope. He wrote a book analyzing paintings, and was a prolific collaborator, organizing communities of intellectuals. Leonardo conscientiously emulated him
It was basically a content farm - the workers lived and are in close quarters, and they mass produced collaborative, unsigned works. The goal was to produce a constant flow of marketable art and artifacts, rather than nurture creative geniuses. Reminds me of art shops in Krabi 🤔