Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as one of the greatest polymath geniuses in human history.
Born in Tuscany (Central Italy), Leonardo da Vinci’s full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, which means “Leonardo, son of Ser Piero, from Vinci”.
During his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci was a voracious learner, always questioning everything around him and striving to find answers to his inquiries. Not only did he leave behind captivating masterpieces of painting such as “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”, but he was also an exceptional talent, constantly generating ideas and inventions that were ahead of his time.
To understand the remarkable research and contributions of the “Renaissance genius”, a collective of foreign researchers has published an article titled “Four Ways Leonardo Da Vinci Was Well Ahead of His Time.”
The talent and contributions of Leonardo da Vinci are like treasures in the collective knowledge and art of humanity. (Source: Sciencealert).
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the great figures of the Renaissance (from the 15th to the 17th century) and is considered one of the greatest polymath geniuses in human history.
As the world commemorates the 500th anniversary of his death, it is crucial for future generations to understand that Leonardo da Vinci was not just a great painter, a master sculptor, or a brilliant engineer; he was also a great mind ahead of his time.
1. Optical Illusions – “The Great Deception” in Da Vinci’s Portrait Art
Leonardo da Vinci was a pioneer in the study of physiology. He introduced the concept of “moti mentali” in the “Codex Urbinae” (written from 1452 to 1519).
Moti mentali can be understood as the transient mental state, thoughts, and emotions of a person. For Da Vinci, the talent of a portrait artist lies in not only depicting a perfect likeness but also “sculpting” the inner emotions and soul of the subject within the painting.
For this reason, Leonardo da Vinci created a “vague” expression in each of his portraits. He developed the “sfumato” technique (from Italian meaning “to fade like smoke”) for this purpose. In sfumato, the transition from light to dark, or from one color to another, was executed with incredible subtlety to soften or obscure sharp edges.
This painting technique, while not invented by Da Vinci, was uniquely “modified” by him, resulting in one-of-a-kind artworks. Andrea del Verrocchio, Da Vinci’s teacher, acknowledged that Da Vinci’s use of sfumato was entirely different from that of all other artists.
In particular, in the portraits he painted, one cannot determine where one color ends and another begins. His use of color is delicate, meticulous, and astonishingly laborious.
In the painting “La Bella Principessa” (The Beautiful Princess), the French Museum Research and Restoration Center and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility collaborated to study and reveal that Leonardo da Vinci used up to 30 layers of varnish to achieve the subtle shadow around the mouth of La Bella Principessa.
Notably, each of these layers is only half the thickness of a human hair. Similar results were found on the lips of the Mona Lisa in the painting of the same name.
The painting “Mona Lisa” (painted from 1503 to 1506) by Da Vinci. (Source: Internet).
What sets Leonardo da Vinci apart is his integration of science into art to create optical illusions in his paintings.
This is why generations have been “puzzled” trying to decode the mysterious smile of the Mona Lisa. People still question whether the Mona Lisa is truly smiling: When one gazes deeply into her eyes, it appears she is smiling. But when one shifts their gaze to her lips, that smile vanishes!
The way he “played with” visual perception and the viewer’s brain before his paintings was accomplished in an era where it took centuries for scientists to understand the scientific mechanisms behind it.
2. Mathematics – “If you are not a mathematician, no one will understand me”
Although famous as a great painter with high-caliber artworks, Leonardo da Vinci always considered himself more of a scientist than a painter.
Mathematics – particularly perspective, symmetry, proportion, and geometry – significantly influenced his drawings and paintings, and he was undoubtedly ahead of his time in using it.
Leonardo da Vinci employed the principles of linear perspective – parallel lines, the horizon, and a vanishing point – to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface.
The painting “The Last Supper” by Da Vinci. (Source: Internet).
His painting “The Last Supper” is a prime example of using mathematics in artistic perspective. The architecture within the room where Jesus and the 12 apostles enjoyed their dinner, as well as the lines on the floor, creates a “vanishing point”, giving viewers a sense of depth in the room.
In mathematics, there exists a concept known as the “Golden Ratio”. The Golden Ratio was first recognized by mathematician Luca Pacioli (1445-1517), a friend of Da Vinci, in 1509, when he claimed that the Golden Ratio enhances the aesthetic and artistic quality of paintings.
For Da Vinci, the Golden Ratio was critical in providing precise proportions and reinforcing the structure of the Mona Lisa painting.
Unfortunately, the importance of mathematics was not properly recognized in Da Vinci’s later works at that time, which haunted him incessantly.
It is said that while painting the “Mona Lisa”, Da Vinci stated: “If you are not a mathematician, no one will understand me.”
3. Techniques – Revolutionary Inventions of the “Renaissance Genius”
As famous as his artworks, Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical sketches, structural studies, and other works include revolutionary inventions that were ahead of his time.
During the Renaissance era of the 15th and 16th centuries, concepts such as gliders, helicopters, parachutes, diving suits, and war weapons were first introduced by Da Vinci, and of course, not everyone understood what he was trying to convey, as it took hundreds of years for future generations to catch up with his genius mind.
So why did Da Vinci’s mind surpass his era? The answer lies in his insatiable curiosity combined with scientific principles and an imagination that was ahead of his time. As Einstein once said: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
Da Vinci produced exceptional sketches of levers, gears, pulleys, bearings, and springs. Additionally, he designed a giant crossbow (27 meters), a 33-barrel gun, ammunition resembling modern “cluster bombs”, an “aerial screw” (1486-1490) predicting the idea of the helicopter, and ornithopters – human-powered flying machines.
Prototype “tank” from the late 15th or 16th century by Da Vinci. (Source: Sciencealert).
In 1485, he created a sketch of a prototype “tank”, equipped with armored plating and capable of firing in all directions.
Although Da Vinci’s “tank” was unlikely to be realized due to design flaws and its weight making it impossible to maneuver, his inventions were so ahead of their time that it took four centuries for tank concepts to become practical through the development of lightweight, strong materials such as steel and aluminum, along with new energy sources in the form of fossil fuel engines.
4. Water: “As Important as the Warm Blood of Humans”
Leonardo da Vinci described water as “the vehicle of nature” (vetturale di natura), asserting that water in the natural world is as essential as warm blood in the human body.
For this reason, from Da Vinci’s earliest landscape drawings of a river (1473) to the famous Mona Lisa (1503) and his final sketches (1517-1518)… water is always present.
Landscape painting of Santa Maria della Neve by Da Vinci. (Source: Sciencealert).
However, Da Vinci was not captivated by the artistic nature of water; what he sought to understand was the dynamics of water: the vortices and whirlpools above and below the water’s surface.
As a versatile genius with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Leonardo da Vinci skillfully blended his expertise in art, design, science, philosophy, and engineering to create innovative ideas, sketches, and tools to test his hypotheses. He is recognized as the first hydrologist to formulate theories based on empirical evidence.
In his comprehensive scientific studies titled Codex Leicester (1510), Leonardo da Vinci presented 730 conclusions about water. Through this work, he made significant contributions to modern water science and engineering, including an accurate description of the hydrological cycle and an understanding of how flow velocity impacts pressure…
Five hundred years after Leonardo da Vinci’s passing, his talents and contributions remain a treasure trove in the collective knowledge and art of humanity, inspiring awe and respect from future generations!
