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Leonardo da Vinci Drawings
Taking into account the time period, Leonardo da Vinci drawings played an important role in the fields of art and science. While famous for his contributions to the art world, such as his masterpieces ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘The Last Supper’, the artist also made incredible contributions to other diverse domains such as hydrology, engineering, anatomy, astrology, solar power, shipbuilding, and the militia.
Scholars and experts in these fields had access to da Vinci’s ideas because he was a fanatic about writing and drawing everything that came to mind in his series of journals, from grocery lists to helicopter plans. Leonardo da Vinci drawings included his thoughts, plans, and ideas, each one shedding a little light into the mind of a genius.
Famous
Drawings
Possibly the most famous of the Leonardo da Vinci drawings is a piece
of work called ‘The Vitruvian Man’, which outlined the ideal
proportions of the human body in great detail. It is world-wide recognized
as the man holding his arms and legs outstretched, and appearing to have
two sets of each. His notes explain how each part of a man’s body
should relate, with regard to size, to other parts of his body, i.e. “a
palm is the width of four fingers” and “a foot is the length
of four palms.” This particular drawing is regarded as an exceptional
intersection of art and science, as the artist made use of his experience
as a painter and architect, as well as a student of anatomy to create
this tableau of human anatomy.
Another notable example of the Leonardo da Vinci drawings is his “gyrocopter”, which consisted of a rudimentary helicopter, displaying rotating, curving sail-like cloths that were supposed to spin and propel the craft into the air. While the machine would not have functioned as spelled out, the evidence of Leonardo’s early genius is evident in this drawing and cannot be understated.
Other Drawings
Leonardo da Vinci drawings are remarkable because they are meticulous.
He was given license to dissect the cadavers of over thirty men and women
in the name of science. In his examination of the human body, he compiled
some of the most accurate and anatomically correct data of early anatomy
and organ study. He also examined the anatomy of dead fetuses to discover
the differences between an adult corpse and an infant one in order to
arrive at conclusions on how humans grow and adapt. He drew the organ
layout of both subjects.
Da Vinci was a very accurate cartographer. Maps in the early Renaissance period were notoriously erroneous and mapmakers struggled with scale. Leonardo drew a map of Imola, a town in Italy, which was so precise that he was immediately hired by the local duke as a strategist and consultant.
Leonardo da Vinci drawings with regard to his study of water flow were numerous, and included complicated machines, most of which were never built. There were also illustrations of practical military hardware, and a complex hybrid musical instrument.
The drawings of this revolutionary man are concrete evidence of a genius at work.