Notice Board
Wednesday 31 December 2014
Tuesday 30 December 2014
Bharat Ratna Award
India has produced a legacy of brave hearts since times immemorial.
Probably there is not enough space to measure their sacrifices. However,
we cannot close our eyes to those people who have made our country
proud by excelling in their own fields and bringing us international
recognition. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour (File referring to external site opens in a new window) ,
given for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature
and Science, and in recognition of Public Service of the highest order.
It is also not mandatory that Bharat Ratna be awarded every year.
The original specifications for the award called for a circular gold
medal, 35 mm in diameter, with the sun and the Hindi legend "Bharat
Ratna" above and a floral wreath below. The reverse was to carry the
state emblem and motto. It was to be worn around the neck from a white
ribbon. This design was altered after a year.
Bharat Ratna Award
Bharat Ratna Award
(Reverse Side)
The provision of Bharat Ratna was introduced in 1954. The first ever
Indian to receive this award was the famous scientist, Chandrasekhara
Venkata Raman. Since then, many dignitaries, each a whiz in varied
aspects of their career has received this coveted award.
In fact, our former President, Shri A. P. J Abdul Kalam is also a
recipient of this esteemed honour (1997). There is no written provision
that Bharat Ratna should be awarded to Indian citizens only. The award
has been awarded to a naturalized Indian citizen, Agnes Gonxha
Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa (1980) and to two non-Indians -
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela (1990). In 2009, the award
was conferred on famous Indian vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi.
Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof. C.N.R.
Rao have received the Bharat Ratna from President of India Shri Pranab
Mukherjee on February 4, 2014, in New Delhi.
Interesting facts and information about Bharat Ratna award
Bharat Ratna is the most prestigious award given by Indian
government. Anyone with a great performance in any field is eligible for this
honor.
- The medal looks like a peepul leaf with “Bharat Ratna” written on it in Devanagari script. An image of sun is also printed on it. The back side of the award carries the state emblem and motto.
- The award was started by formal President of India Rajendra Prasad on 2nd January, 1954. At that time only the alive people were eligible for their national service. Later these criteria were changed.
- The first person to receive Bharat Ratna was scientist C.V. Raman and the first person to receive Bharat Ratna after death is Lal Bahadur Shashtri.
- Rajiv Gandhi is the youngest receiver (after death, at age 47) of the award and Indira Gandhi is the youngest alive receiver (at age 54) of the award.
- Vallabhbhai Patel is the eldest to receive (after death, at age 116) the award and Gulzarilal Nanda is the eldest alive person to receive (at age 99) the award.
- Among 41 awards given so far only 2 awards were given to foreign citizen-Nelson Mandela (1990), Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987).
- Subhas Chandra Bose was awarded with Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1992. But due to controversy (as there is no evidence of Subhas Chandra Bose’s death) the award was withdrawn. It is the only incident in the history of Bharat Ratna that an award was withdrawn.
The perks associated with Bharat Ratna are
- Free first class flight journey anywhere in India.
- Free first class train journey.
- Pension equal to or 50% of Prime Minister of India’s salary.
- Can attend the Parliament meetings and sessions.
- Precedence at par with Cabinet Rank.
- Eligible for Z category protection, if needed.
- Special Guest in Republic Day and Independence Day.
- Status equal to VVIP.
Holders of the Bharat Ratna decoration comes in seventh position
jointly with former Prime Ministers, Cabinet Ministers of the Union,
Leaders of Chief Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Deputy
Chairman of Planning Commission of India and the respective Chief
Ministers of States.
Friday 26 December 2014
Wednesday 24 December 2014
Tuesday 23 December 2014
Kisan Diwas (Farmers Day)
Chaudhary Charan Singh Jayanti 2014 or the birth anniversary of Ch. Charan Singh is on December 23, Tuesday. It is observed as Kisan Divas or Farmers day. Since, farmers are the backbone of an economy therefore our nation celebrates Farmers Day in the memory of late Ch. Charan Singh, the ex-Prime Minister of India.
He was primarily a farmer himself and his personal life-style was
extremely simple. He was a son of the soil and his efforts towards the
improvement of an Indian farmer are unparalleled .He is credited for a
slew of agrarian reforms and new policies being introduced in India. His
peasantry background helped him understand real problems of the
farmers.
Chaudhary Charan Singh also framed and implemented the famous Zamindari Abolition Act. His sincere appeal and magnetic persona garnered all the farmers against the moneylenders and landlords. He also introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill for the welfare of the farmers.
He was a prolific writer and penned his thoughts on farmers, their problems and solutions.Ch. Charan Singh passed away on 29 May 1987. Kisan Divas is an acknowledgement of his vision of a strong and independent Indian farmer. The entire country celebrates this day. Members of the rural community and farmers organize agricultural shows and pay tribute to their beloved leader. Moreover, new policies concerned with farming, agriculture, seeds etc are announced by the government in order to reciprocate the hard labour of the Indian Kisan. - See more at: http://www.festivalsofindia.in/Kisan-Diwas/Index.aspx#sthash.nZzGIv67.dpuf
Chaudhary Charan Singh also framed and implemented the famous Zamindari Abolition Act. His sincere appeal and magnetic persona garnered all the farmers against the moneylenders and landlords. He also introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill for the welfare of the farmers.
He was a prolific writer and penned his thoughts on farmers, their problems and solutions.Ch. Charan Singh passed away on 29 May 1987. Kisan Divas is an acknowledgement of his vision of a strong and independent Indian farmer. The entire country celebrates this day. Members of the rural community and farmers organize agricultural shows and pay tribute to their beloved leader. Moreover, new policies concerned with farming, agriculture, seeds etc are announced by the government in order to reciprocate the hard labour of the Indian Kisan. - See more at: http://www.festivalsofindia.in/Kisan-Diwas/Index.aspx#sthash.nZzGIv67.dpuf
Chaudhary Charan Singh Jayanti 2014 or the birth anniversary of Ch. Charan Singh is on December 23, Tuesday. It is observed as Kisan Divas or Farmers day. Since, farmers are the backbone of an economy therefore our nation celebrates Farmers Day in the memory of late Ch. Charan Singh, the ex-Prime Minister of India.
He was primarily a farmer himself and his personal life-style was
extremely simple. He was a son of the soil and his efforts towards the
improvement of an Indian farmer are unparalleled .He is credited for a
slew of agrarian reforms and new policies being introduced in India. His
peasantry background helped him understand real problems of the
farmers.
Chaudhary Charan Singh also framed and implemented the famous Zamindari Abolition Act. His sincere appeal and magnetic persona garnered all the farmers against the moneylenders and landlords. He also introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill for the welfare of the farmers.
He was a prolific writer and penned his thoughts on farmers, their problems and solutions.Ch. Charan Singh passed away on 29 May 1987. Kisan Divas is an acknowledgement of his vision of a strong and independent Indian farmer. The entire country celebrates this day. Members of the rural community and farmers organize agricultural shows and pay tribute to their beloved leader. Moreover, new policies concerned with farming, agriculture, seeds etc are announced by the government in order to reciprocate the hard labour of the Indian Kisan. - See more at: http://www.festivalsofindia.in/Kisan-Diwas/Index.aspx#sthash.nZzGIv67.dpuf
Chaudhary Charan Singh also framed and implemented the famous Zamindari Abolition Act. His sincere appeal and magnetic persona garnered all the farmers against the moneylenders and landlords. He also introduced an Agricultural Produce Market Bill for the welfare of the farmers.
He was a prolific writer and penned his thoughts on farmers, their problems and solutions.Ch. Charan Singh passed away on 29 May 1987. Kisan Divas is an acknowledgement of his vision of a strong and independent Indian farmer. The entire country celebrates this day. Members of the rural community and farmers organize agricultural shows and pay tribute to their beloved leader. Moreover, new policies concerned with farming, agriculture, seeds etc are announced by the government in order to reciprocate the hard labour of the Indian Kisan. - See more at: http://www.festivalsofindia.in/Kisan-Diwas/Index.aspx#sthash.nZzGIv67.dpuf
Friday 19 December 2014
Wednesday 17 December 2014
Heart Broken Incident
In Pakistan school attack, Taliban terrorists kill 145, mostly children
Islamabad, Pakistan -- "'God is great,'" the Taliban militants shouted as they roared through the hallways of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Then, 14-year-old student Ahmed Faraz recalled, one of them took a harsher tone.
" 'A lot of the children are under the benches,' " a Pakistani Taliban said, according to Ahmed. " 'Kill them.' "
By the time the
hours-long siege at Army Public School and Degree College ended early
Tuesday evening, at least 145 people -- 132 children, 10 school staff
members and three soldiers -- were dead, military spokesman Gen. Asim
Bajwa said. More than 100 were injured, many with gunshot wounds,
according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Information Minister Mushtaq
Ghani.
The death toll does not
include the terrorists who attacked the school, bursting into an
auditorium where a large number of students were taking an exam and
gunning down many of them within minutes, Bajwa said.
"They started shooting indiscriminately," Bajwa said, "and that's where maximum damage was caused."
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurrassani said the militants scaled the school's walls around 10 a.m. (midnight ET), intent on killing older students there.
The Taliban had "300 to
400 people ... under their custody" at one point, said Khurrassani,
whose group is called Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. But Bajwa said
there was no hostage situation, as the attackers' focus was shooting to
kill rather than taking captives.
They were eventually met
by Pakistani troops who pushed through the complex building by building,
room by room. By 4 p.m., they'd confined the attackers to four
buildings. A few hours later, all the militants -- seven of them,
according to Bajwa -- were dead.
World leaders condemn Pakistan attack
Pakistani authorities
spent Tuesday night inside the school in Peshawar, a city about 120
kilometers (75 miles) from the country's capital, Islamabad, looking for
survivors, victims and improvised explosive devices planted to worsen
the carnage.
As they searched, they discovered that the school's principal was among the terrorists' victims.
The attack drew sharp
condemnation from top Pakistani officials, who vowed that the country
wouldn't stop its war against the Taliban.
"We are undeterred. ... We will not back off," Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told CNN.
But he said the ambush
at the school is another example of how great his nation's sacrifices
have been in fighting that's raged for more than a decade.
"Even the children are
dying on the frontline in the war against terror," he said. "The smaller
the coffin, the heavier it is to carry. ... It's a very, very tragic
day."
Minister: Most of the dead were 12 to 16 years old
On a typical day, the
Army Public School and Degree College is home to about 1,100 students
and staff, most of them sons and daughters of army personnel from around
Peshawar, though others attend as well.
Their nightmare began in
late morning, when a car exploded behind the school. Pakistani
education minister Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman explained to CNN that the
blast was a ruse, meant to divert the attention of the school's security
guards.
It worked.
Gunmen got over the
walls and walked through where students in grades 8, 9 and 10 have
classes and fired randomly, said Dr. Aamir Bilal of Peshawar's Lady
Reading Hospital, citing students. They came in with enough ammunition
and other supplies to last for days and were not expecting to come out
alive, according to a Pakistani military official.
Seventh-grader Mohammad
Bilal said he was sitting outside his classroom taking a math test when
the gunfire erupted. He fell into bushes before running to the school's
gates to safety.
Malala: Taliban school attack 'senseless'
Pakistan takes on Taliban militants
Pakistan terror attack: What's next?
Ahmed, the 14-year-old
student, remembered being in the school's auditorium when four or five
people burst in through a back door "and started rapidly firing." After
getting shot in his left shoulder, the ninth-grader lay under a bench.
"My shoulder was peeking
out of the bench, and somebody was following," Ahmed recalled. "They
went into another room, (and when) I ran to the exit, I fell."
Bajwa told reporters that Pakistani security forces reached the school 15 minutes after the attack began.
They found, he said, "the children ... drenched in blood, with their bodies on top of each other."
Most of those killed
were between the ages of 12 and 16, said Pervez Khattak, chief minister
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, of which Peshawar is the capital. But
some adults in the school also were targets, like a 28-year-old office
assistant who was shot and then burned alive, police official Faisal
Shehzad said.
Violent past
Pakistan has seen plenty
of violence, much of it involving militants based in provinces such as
South Waziristan, North Waziristan and the Khyber Agency -- all restive
regions in northwest Pakistan near Peshawar along its border with
Afghanistan.
It is the home base of
the TTP, an organization that has sought to force its conservative
version of Islam in Pakistan. The group has battled Pakistani troops
and, on a number of occasions, attacked civilians as well.
Peshawar, an ancient
city of more than 3 million people tucked right up against the Khyber
Pass, has often found itself in the center of it all. Militants
repeatedly targeted the city in response to Pakistani military
offensives, like a 2009 truck bombing of a popular marketplace frequented by women and children that killed more than 100 people.
And the Taliban hasn't
hesitated to go after schoolchildren. Their most notable target is
Malala Yousafzai, who was singled out and shot on October 9, 2012 as she
rode to school in a van with other girls. The teenage girl survived
and, last week, became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
for her efforts to promote education and girls' rights in Pakistan and
beyond.
Yousafzai was
"heartbroken by this (latest) senseless and cold blooded act of terror
in Peshawar," saying Tuesday that "innocent children in their school
have no place in horror such as this."
"I call upon the
international community, leaders in Pakistan, all political parties --
everyone -- (to) stand up together and fight against terrorism," the
16-year-old added in another statement. "And we should make sure that
every child gets a safe and quality education."
Taliban: Revenge for killing of tribesmen
Still, even by Pakistan and the Taliban's gruesome standards, Tuesday's attack may be the most abominable yet.
This is the deadliest
incident inside Pakistan since October 2007, when about 139 Pakistanis
died and more than 250 others were wounded in an attack near a
procession for exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,
according to the University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database.
Even the Taliban in
Afghanistan, with which the TTP is closely affiliated, criticized the
"deliberate killing of innocent people, women and children (as being)
against Islamic principles" and expressed condolences to the attack's
victims, according to spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.
It comes after peace
talks between the Pakistan Taliban and Pakistan's government as recently
as last spring. The government released 19 Taliban noncombatants in a
goodwill gesture, in fact.
But talks broke down under a wave of attacks by the Taliban and mounting political pressure to bring the violence under control.
In September 2013, choir
members and children attending Sunday school were among 81 people
killed in a suicide bombing at the Protestant All Saints Church of
Pakistan. A splinter group of the Pakistan Taliban claimed
responsibility, blaming the U.S. program of drone strikes in tribal
areas of the country.
And for the past few
months, the Pakistani military has been conducting a ground offensive to
clear out militants, spurring violence that's displaced tens of
thousands of people and sparked deadly retaliations.
Khurrassani, the
Pakistan Taliban spokesman, told CNN that the latest attack was revenge
for the killing of hundreds of innocent tribesmen during repeated army
operations in provinces including South Waziristan, North Waziristan and
the Khyber Agency.
The TTP spokesman
challenged that ordinary citizens were targeted, saying that five army
vehicles are routinely stationed at the school.
"We are facing such
heavy nights in routine," Khurrassani said, rationalizing the siege
shortly before it ended. "Today, you must face the heavy night."
Tuesday 16 December 2014
Vijay Diwas
Vijay Diwas (Victory Day) is also commemorated every 16 December in India as it marks its military victory over Pakistan in 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, who were alliance of Bangladesh Mukti Bahini . The end of the war also resulted in the unilateral and unconditional surrender of the Pakistan Army and subsequent secession of East Pakistan into Bangladesh. On this day in 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the allied forces consists of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by General Jagjit Singh Aurora, of India in the Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, in Dhaka after their defeat in the war.[1]
The anniversary of Vijay Divas is observed across India by paying
tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation. In the
nation's capital New Delhi, the Indian Minister of Defence and heads of all three wings of the Indian armed forces pay homage at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in New Delhi as well as in the National Military Memorial, Bangalore.[citation needed]
On December 16 every year, Citizens, senior officials, students &
war veterans lay wreaths and remember the sacrifices of the soldiers.
Member of Parliament Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who has continued to
support the ex servicemen and the armed forces and pursued One Rank One
Pension, says, "Don't let down our heroes, as we commemorate Vijay Diwas
Sunday 14 December 2014
National Energy Conservation Day in India
National energy conservation day is celebrated every year by the people all over the India on 14th of December. The Energy Conservation Act in India was executed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in the year 2001. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is a constitutional body which comes under Government of India and helps in the development of policies and strategies in order to reduce the energy use.
The Energy Conservation Act in India act aims to employ the professional, qualified and energetic managers as well as auditors who are with expertise in managing the energy, projects, policy analysis, finance or implementing the energy efficiency projects.
National Energy Conservation Day 2014
National energy conservation day 2014 would be celebrated on Sunday, at 14th of December.
What is the Energy Conservation?
National energy conservation day in India is celebrated to aware people about the importance of energy as well as saving or conserving the more energy by using less energy. The exact means of energy conservation is using less energy by avoiding the unnecessary uses of energy. Using energy efficiently is very necessary to save it for the future usage. Energy conservation should be rooted in the behavior of every human being to get more effect towards the plan of energy conservation.
One can save the energy by deeply taking care of it such as turning off the unnecessarily running fans, lights, submersible, heater, combining car trips or other electric things of daily usage. These are the more easier and efficient way to save extra uses of energy thus playing the great role towards the campaign of national energy conservation.
Fossil fuels, Crude oil, Coal, natural gas and etc generate sufficient energy for the use in daily life but increasing the demands of it day by day creates the fear of reducing or diminishing the natural resources. Energy conservation is the only way which helps in replacing the non-renewable resources of energy with the renewable energy.
In order to aware the energy users for less energy consumption as well as to make efficient energy conservation, energy or carbon taxes has been employed by the government in different countries. Tax on high energy consumption reduces the energy use by the users as well as promotes limited energy use among users.
People must aware that bright lighting at their work places leads to the variety of problems like stress, headache, blood pressure, fatigue and reduces work efficiency of workers. Whereas, natural day lighting enhances the productivity level of workers and reduces the energy consumption.
Petroleum Conservation Research Association was established by the Indian government in India in the year 1977 to promote energy efficiency and conservation among Indian people in their every walk of life. This is a big step taken by the government of India for energy conservation to a great level. Another government organization in India, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, has also been set up in 2001 for better energy efficiency and conservation.
What are the Energy Conservation Measures
- Windows are the big energy conservation contributing factors other than thermal curtains, Smart windows or films.
- A big amount of energy can be saved by the natural lightings and compact fluorescent lamp or CFL (15W and consumes only 1/4th of the energy consumed by other means), Fluorescent bulbs, Linear fluorescent retrofit, Solar charged flashlight, Sky lights, Smart windows, LED lighting and Solar lights.
- Water conservation also leads to the better energy conservation. There is wastage of around thousands of gallons water per year by the people which can be prevented through various means of water saving solutions like 1.6 GPM or less low flow showerheads, Ultra low flush toilet, Faucet aerator, Composting toilets and etc.
- Insulation also plays big role in energy conservation by decreasing the thermal losses in winter seasons as well as thermal gains in summer seasons. For example; natural wool insulation, house insulation, cotton insulation, VOCs in fiberglass insulation, thermal insulation, cellulose insulation and etc.
How National Energy Conservation Day is Celebrated
To make the campaign of national energy conservation more effective and special all over the India, variety of energy conservation competitions are organized by the government or other organizations around the living areas of normal people as they are the main target of the campaign. At many places the various painting competitions on energy conservation day is held by the student or member of the organizations at school, state, regional or national level.
The campaign of the national energy conservation is the national awareness campaign launched by the Ministry of Power to facilitate the process of energy conservation in India. Painting competitions organized for the students at many levels is one of the main activities of this campaign which helps in increasing the awareness of children about the importance of conserving energy as well as educating and involving their parents in the campaign. This competition helps the people of domestic sectors to be aware.
Every participant is provided a theme Topic such as the “More stars, more savings”, “Today’s energy wastage is tomorrow’s energy shortage”, “Energy saved is future save” and many more. Participants can make their painting more effective by using the Pencil Color, Crayons, Water Color and etc.
Students, who take part in the competition and win, get participation certificate, merit certificate or cash prizes which worth Rs 33,000 per State. This amount is distributed among all the winners of a state and awarded by the Ministry of Power at 14th of December at the celebration event of National Energy Conservation day.
Objectives of National Energy Conservation Day
National energy conservation day is celebrated every year using particular theme of the year by keeping in mind some goals and objectives to make more effective all over the country among people. Some of the important goals are:
- It is celebrated to send the message of importance of conserving energy in the every walk of life among people.
- Promoting the way of process of energy conservation by organizing a lot of events such as discussions, conferences, debates, workshops, competitions and etc all through the country.
- Promote people for less energy usage by neglecting the excessive and wasteful uses.
- Encourage people for efficient energy use in order to decrease the energy consumption and prevent the energy loss.
Significant Roles of Indian Citizens in Energy Security
Each and every citizens of the India must aware about how to use efficient energy, how to save the energy for their own future safety and many more ways. They should follow all the rules, regulations and policies implemented by the Government of India in order to support the energy efficiency. Citizens of India can pay their direct contribution to the campaign of reduce energy use throughout the 11th Five Year Plan period. Children are the big expectation and hope for the country to bring positive changes as well as to enhance the economic condition of the country.
Saturday 13 December 2014
Scientist of the day
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Today women have occupied a greater name in the field of science,
proving that they are capable of equating men in their abilities to
conduct scientific research. They have taken significant positions in
the scientific field as compared to the more traditional roles: mother,
wife, and homemaker that existed in the past centuries.
Italian Neurophysiologist, Rita Levi-Montalcini is one exceptional
woman, who through her pioneering contribution and hard work has set an
amazing example for other women to follow her footsteps. She won the
1986 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine which she shared with the
biochemist Stanley Cohen, for their discovery of nerve growth factor
(NGF), a protein that causes developing cells to grow by stimulating
surrounding nerve tissue. At 101 years, she has the stamina that many
younger people might envy. On her workdays Rita gives equal time to her
namesake brain research laboratory and her foundation to support
African women with potential for scientific accomplishment.
Early Life, Education and Career Achievements:
Rita Levi-Montalcini was born on April 22, 1909 in Turin to a
Sephardic Jewish family. She was the youngest child of her parents,
Adamo Levi, an electrical engineer and talented mathematician, and Adele
Montalcini, a painter. She enrolled in the University of Turin in 1930
to study medicine, despite her father’s belief that women should not
pursue careers. After completing her graduation in 1936, she went to
work as Giuseppe Levi’s assistant, but her academic career was cut short
by Benito Mussolini’s 1938 Manifesto of Race and following the
introduction of laws barring Jews from intellectual and professional
careers.
“This led me to the joy of working, no longer, unfortunately, in university institutes, but in a bedroom.”
Dr. Levi-Montalcini simply constructed a laboratory in her own home
and conducted research in secrecy. For the next few years conducted
experiments on chicken embryos, she would cook and eat the remaining
yolks. While acting as a doctor in Italian refugee camps, she took out
time to publish her research on the sources of nerve constructs.
Subsequent to the Germans invasion of Italy, she left for Florence
and lived underground with her family. When the war ended, she accepted a
one-year residency at Washington University in St Louis, but stayed
more than three decades. She worked together with zoologist Viktor
Hamburger and after sometime with biochemist Stanley Cohen, pioneering
nerve-growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF).
Levi-Montalcini and Cohen won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1986.
Indeed, the latter part of Levi-Montalcini’s life consists of a long
list of scientific prizes and honors. In addition to her continuing
research, she is an FAO Goodwill Ambassador (1999) and an Italian
Senator For life (2001).
Friday 12 December 2014
Scientist of the day
Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian: [leoˈnardo da vˈvintʃi] ( listen); 15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist,
and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters
of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have
lived.[1] His genius,
perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance
humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of
the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination".[2] According to art historian Helen Gardner,
the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his
mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious
and remote".[2]
Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo,
his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious,
and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time.[3]
Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded him by Francis I.
Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait[4] and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.[2] Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon,[5]
being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and
T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, the small
number because of his constant, and frequently disastrous,
experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination.[nb 1]
Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which
contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of
painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists
rivalled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, an armoured vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine,[6] and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime,[nb 2] but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded.[nb 3] He made important discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics, but he did not publish his findings and they had no direct influence on later science.[7]
Childhood, 1452–1466
Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 (Old Style), "at the third hour of the night"[nb 4] in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the lower valley of the Arno River in the territory of the Medici-ruled Republic of Florence.[9] He was the out-of-wedlock son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina, a peasant.[8][10][nb 5]
Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning
"of Vinci": his full birth name was "Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci",
meaning "Leonardo, (son) of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci".[9] The inclusion of the title "ser" indicated that Leonardo's father was a gentleman.
Little is known about Leonardo's early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano
in the home of his mother, then from 1457 he lived in the household of
his father, grandparents and uncle, Francesco, in the small town of
Vinci. His father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera, who
loved Leonardo but died young.[11]
When Leonardo was sixteen his father married again, to twenty-year-old
Francesca Lanfredini. It was not until his third and fourth marriages
that Ser Piero produced legitimate heirs.[12]
Leonardo received an informal education in Latin, geometry and
mathematics. In later life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood
incidents. One, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face.[13]
The second occurred while he was exploring in the mountains: he
discovered a cave and was both terrified that some great monster might
lurk there and driven by curiosity to find out what was inside.[11]
Leonardo's early life has been the subject of historical conjecture.[14] Vasari,
the 16th-century biographer of Renaissance painters, tells of how a
local peasant made himself a round shield and requested that Ser Piero
have it painted for him. Leonardo responded with a painting of a monster
spitting fire which was so terrifying that Ser Piero sold it to a
Florentine art dealer, who sold it to the Duke of Milan.
Meanwhile, having made a profit, Ser Piero bought a shield decorated
with a heart pierced by an arrow, which he gave to the peasant.[15]
Verrocchio's workshop, 1466–76
In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to the artist Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio, whose workshop was "one of the finest in Florence".[16] Other famous painters apprenticed or associated with the workshop include Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi.[11][17] Leonardo would have been exposed to both theoretical training and a vast range of technical skills[18]
including drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster
casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry as well as the
artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting and modelling.[19][nb 6]
Much of the painted production of Verrocchio's workshop was done by
his employees. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with
Verrocchio on his The Baptism of Christ,
painting the young angel holding Jesus' robe in a manner that was so
far superior to his master's that Verrocchio put down his brush and
never painted again.[20] On close examination, the painting reveals much that has been painted or touched-up over the tempera using the new technique of oil paint,
with the landscape, the rocks that can be seen through the brown
mountain stream and much of the figure of Jesus bearing witness to the
hand of Leonardo.[21] Leonardo may have been the model for two works by Verrocchio: the bronze statue of David in the Bargello and the Archangel Raphael in Tobias and the Angel.[10]
By 1472, at the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine,[nb 7]
but even after his father set him up in his own workshop, his
attachment to Verrocchio was such that he continued to collaborate with
him.[11] Leonardo's earliest known dated work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno valley, drawn on August 5, 1473.[nb 8][17]
Professional life, 1476–1513
Florentine court records of 1476 show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy but acquitted.[10][nb 9] From that date until 1478 there is no record of his work or even of his whereabouts.[22]
In 1478 he left Verrocchio's studio and was no longer resident at his
father's house. One writer, the "Anonimo" Gaddiano claims that in 1480
Leonardo was living with the Medici and working in the Garden of the
Piazza San Marco in Florence, a Neo-Platonic academy of artists, poets and philosophers which the Medici had established.[10]
In January 1478, he received his first of two independent commissions:
to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of St. Bernard in the Palazzo Vecchio and, in March 1481, The Adoration of the Magi for the monks of San Donato a Scopeto.[23] Neither commission was completed, the second being interrupted when Leonardo went to Milan.
In 1482 Leonardo, who according to Vasari was a most talented musician,[24] created a silver lyre in the shape of a horse's head. Lorenzo de' Medici sent Leonardo to Milan, bearing the lyre as a gift, to secure peace with Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.[25]
At this time Leonardo wrote an often-quoted letter describing the many
marvellous and diverse things that he could achieve in the field of
engineering and informing Ludovico that he could also paint.[17][26]
Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.[27] In the spring of 1485, Leonardo travelled to Hungary on behalf of Ludovico to meet Matthias Corvinus, for whom he is believed to have painted a Holy Family.[28][not in citation given]
Between 1493 and 1495 Leonardo listed a woman called Caterina among his
dependents in his taxation documents. When she died in 1495, the list
of funeral expenditures suggests that she was his mother.[29]
Leonardo was employed on many different projects for Ludovico,
including the preparation of floats and pageants for special occasions,
designs for a dome for Milan Cathedral and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, Ludovico's predecessor. Seventy tons of bronze
were set aside for casting it. The monument remained unfinished for
several years, which was not unusual for Leonardo. In 1492 the clay
model of the horse was completed. It surpassed in size the only two
large equestrian statues of the Renaissance, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, and became known as the "Gran Cavallo".[17][nb 10] Leonardo began making detailed plans for its casting;[17] however, Michelangelo insulted Leonardo by implying that he was unable to cast it.[11] In November 1494 Ludovico gave the bronze to be used for cannon to defend the city from invasion by Charles VIII.[17]
At the start of the Second Italian War
in 1499, the invading French troops used the life-size clay model for
the "Gran Cavallo" for target practice. With Ludovico Sforza overthrown,
Leonardo, with his assistant Salai and friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli, fled Milan for Venice[30] where he was employed as a military architect and engineer, devising methods to defend the city from naval attack.[11] On his return to Florence in 1500, he and his household were guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and were provided with a workshop where, according to Vasari, Leonardo created the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist,
a work that won such admiration that "men and women, young and old"
flocked to see it "as if they were attending a great festival".[31][nb 11]
In Cesena, in 1502 Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer and travelling throughout Italy with his patron.[30] Leonardo created a map of Cesare Borgia's stronghold, a town plan of Imola
in order to win his patronage. Maps were extremely rare at the time and
it would have seemed like a new concept. Upon seeing it, Cesare hired
Leonardo as his chief military engineer and architect. Later in the year, Leonardo produced another map for his patron, one of Chiana Valley,
Tuscany, so as to give his patron a better overlay of the land and
greater strategic position. He created this map in conjunction with his
other project of constructing a dam from the sea to Florence, in order
to allow a supply of water to sustain the canal during all seasons.
Leonardo returned to Florence where he rejoined the Guild of St Luke
on October 18, 1503, and spent two years designing and painting a mural
of The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria,[30] with Michelangelo designing its companion piece, The Battle of Cascina.[nb 12] In Florence in 1504, he was part of a committee formed to relocate, against the artist's will, Michelangelo's statue of David.[35]
In 1506 Leonardo returned to Milan. Many of his most prominent pupils
or followers in painting either knew or worked with him in Milan,[11] including Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco d'Oggione.[nb 13]
However, he did not stay in Milan for long because his father had died
in 1504, and in 1507 he was back in Florence trying to sort out problems
with his brothers over his father's estate. By 1508 Leonardo was back
in Milan, living in his own house in Porta Orientale in the parish of
Santa Babila.[36]
Old age, 1513–1519
From September 1513 to 1516, under Pope Leo X, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere in the Vatican in Rome, where Raphael and Michelangelo were both active at the time.[36] In October 1515, Francis I of France recaptured Milan.[23] On December 19, Leonardo was present at the meeting of Francis I and Pope Leo X, which took place in Bologna.[11][37][38]
Leonardo was commissioned to make for Francis a mechanical lion which
could walk forward, then open its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies.[39][nb 14] In 1516, he entered François' service, being given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé[nb 15] near the king's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise. It was here that he spent the last three years of his life, accompanied by his friend and apprentice, Count Francesco Melzi, and supported by a pension totalling
Leonardo died at Clos Lucé,
on 2 May 1519. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari records that
the king held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this
story, beloved by the French and portrayed in romantic paintings by Ingres, Ménageot and other French artists, as well as by Angelica Kauffman, may be legend rather than fact.[nb 16] Vasari states that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament.[41] In accordance with his will, sixty beggars followed his casket.[nb 17]
Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving as well as money,
Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo also
remembered his other long-time pupil and companion, Salai and his
servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards, his brothers who received land, and his serving woman who received a black cloak "of good stuff" with a fur edge.[nb 18][42] Leonardo da Vinci was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in Château d'Amboise, in France.
Some 20 years after Leonardo's death, Francis was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benevenuto Cellini
as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew
as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and
architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."[43]
Florence: Leonardo's artistic and social background
Florence, at the time of Leonardo's youth, was the centre of Christian Humanist thought and culture.[16] Leonardo commenced his apprenticeship with Verrocchio in 1466, the year that Verrocchio's master, the great sculptor Donatello, died. The painter Uccello,
whose early experiments with perspective were to influence the
development of landscape painting, was a very old man. The painters Piero della Francesca and Fra Filippo Lippi, sculptor Luca della Robbia, and architect and writer Leon Battista Alberti were in their sixties. The successful artists of the next generation were Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio, Antonio Pollaiuolo and the portrait sculptor, Mino da Fiesole whose lifelike busts give the most reliable likenesses of Lorenzo Medici's father Piero and uncle Giovanni.[44][45][46][47]
Leonardo's youth was spent in a Florence that was ornamented by the works of these artists and by Donatello's contemporaries, Masaccio, whose figurative frescoes were imbued with realism and emotion and Ghiberti whose Gates of Paradise, gleaming with gold leaf,
displayed the art of combining complex figure compositions with
detailed architectural backgrounds. Piero della Francesca had made a
detailed study of perspective,[48] and was the first painter to make a scientific study of light. These studies and Alberti's Treatise[49] were to have a profound effect on younger artists and in particular on Leonardo's own observations and artworks.[44][46][47]
Massaccio's "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" depicting the naked and distraught Adam and Eve created a powerfully expressive image of the human form, cast into three dimensions by the use of light and shade,
which was to be developed in the works of Leonardo in a way that was to
be influential in the course of painting. The humanist influence of
Donatello's "David" can be seen in Leonardo's late paintings,
particularly John the Baptist.[44][45]
A prevalent tradition in Florence was the small altarpiece of the Virgin and Child. Many of these were created in tempera or glazed terracotta by the workshops of Filippo Lippi, Verrocchio and the prolific della Robbia family.[44] Leonardo's early Madonnas such as The Madonna with a carnation and The Benois Madonna
followed this tradition while showing idiosyncratic departures,
particularly in the case of the Benois Madonna in which the Virgin is
set at an oblique angle to the picture space with the Christ Child at
the opposite angle. This compositional theme was to emerge in Leonardo's
later paintings such as The Virgin and Child with St. Anne.[11]
Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Perugino, who were all slightly older than he was.[45] He would have met them at the workshop of Verrocchio, with whom they had associations, and at the Academy of the Medici.[11]
Botticelli was a particular favourite of the Medici family, and thus
his success as a painter was assured. Ghirlandaio and Perugino were both
prolific and ran large workshops. They competently delivered
commissions to well-satisfied patrons who appreciated Ghirlandaio's
ability to portray the wealthy citizens of Florence within large
religious frescoes, and Perugino's ability to deliver a multitude of
saints and angels of unfailing sweetness and innocence.[44]
These three were among those commissioned to paint the walls of the Sistine Chapel,
the work commencing with Perugino's employment in 1479. Leonardo was
not part of this prestigious commission. His first significant
commission, The Adoration of the Magi for the Monks of Scopeto, was never completed.[11]
In 1476, during the time of Leonardo's association with Verrocchio's workshop, the Portinari Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes arrived in Florence, bringing new painterly techniques from Northern Europe which were to profoundly affect Leonardo, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and others.[45] In 1479, the Sicilian painter Antonello da Messina, who worked exclusively in oils, traveled north on his way to Venice, where the leading painter Giovanni Bellini adopted the technique of oil painting, quickly making it the preferred method in Venice. Leonardo was also later to visit Venice.[45][47]
Like the two contemporary architects Bramante and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder
Leonardo experimented with designs for centrally planned churches, a
number of which appear in his journals, as both plans and views,
although none was ever realised.[45][50]
Leonardo's political contemporaries were Lorenzo Medici (il Magnifico), who was three years older, and his younger brother Giuliano who was slain in the Pazzi Conspiracy in 1478. Ludovico il Moro who ruled Milan between 1479 and 1499 and to whom Leonardo was sent as ambassador from the Medici court, was also of Leonardo's age.[45]
With Alberti, Leonardo visited the home of the Medici and through them came to know the older Humanist philosophers of whom Marsiglio Ficino, proponent of Neo Platonism; Cristoforo Landino, writer of commentaries on Classical writings, and John Argyropoulos, teacher of Greek and translator of Aristotle
were the foremost. Also associated with the Academy of the Medici was
Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola.[45][47][51]
Leonardo later wrote in the margin of a journal "The Medici made me and
the Medici destroyed me." While it was through the action of Lorenzo
that Leonardo received his employment at the court of Milan, it is not
known exactly what Leonardo meant by this cryptic comment.[11]
Although usually named together as the three giants of the High Renaissance,
Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were not of the same generation.
Leonardo was twenty-three when Michelangelo was born and thirty-one when
Raphael was born.[45]
Raphael only lived until the age of 37 and died in 1520, the year after
Leonardo, but Michelangelo went on creating for another 45 years.[46][47]
Personal life
Main article: Leonardo da Vinci's personal life
Within Leonardo's lifetime, his extraordinary powers of invention,
his "outstanding physical beauty", "infinite grace", "great strength and
generosity", "regal spirit and tremendous breadth of mind" as described
by Vasari,[52]
as well as all other aspects of his life, attracted the curiosity of
others. One such aspect is his respect for life evidenced by his
vegetarianism and his habit, according to Vasari, of purchasing caged
birds and releasing them.[53][54]
Leonardo had many friends who are now renowned either in their fields
or for their historical significance. They included the mathematician Luca Pacioli,[55] with whom he collaborated on the book De Divina Proportione in the 1490s. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with Cecilia Gallerani and the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella.[56] He drew a portrait of Isabella while on a journey which took him through Mantua, and which appears to have been used to create a painted portrait, now lost.[11]
Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret. His
sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation.
This trend began in the mid-16th century and was revived in the 19th and
20th centuries, most notably by Sigmund Freud.[57]
Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils
Salai and Melzi. Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his
death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and
passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these
relationships were of a sexual or erotic nature. Court records of 1476,
when he was aged twenty-four, show that Leonardo and three other young
men were charged with sodomy
in an incident involving a well-known male prostitute. The charges were
dismissed for lack of evidence, and there is speculation that since one
of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was related to Lorenzo de' Medici, the family exerted its influence to secure the dismissal.[58]
Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality
and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism
manifested in John the Baptist and Bacchus and more explicitly in a number of erotic drawings.[59]
Assistants and pupils
Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, nicknamed Salai or Il Salaino
("The Little Unclean One" i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's
household in 1490. After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his
misdemeanours, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton",
after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five
occasions and spent a fortune on clothes.[61] Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence, and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years.[62]
Salai executed a number of paintings under the name of Andrea Salai,
but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him a great deal about
painting",[39] his work is generally considered to be of less artistic merit than others among Leonardo's pupils, such as Marco d'Oggione and Boltraffio. In 1515, he painted a nude version of the Mona Lisa, known as Monna Vanna.[63] Salai owned the Mona Lisa
at the time of his death in 1525, and in his will it was assessed at
505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.[64]
In 1506, Leonardo took on another pupil, Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Lombard
aristocrat, who is considered to have been his favourite student. He
travelled to France with Leonardo and remained with him until Leonardo's
death.[11] Melzi inherited the artistic and scientific works, manuscripts, and collections of Leonardo and administered the estate.
Painting
Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a
scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his
fame rested on his achievements as a painter and on a handful of works,
either authenticated or attributed to him that have been regarded as
among the masterpieces.[65]
These paintings are famous for a variety of qualities which have been
much imitated by students and discussed at great length by connoisseurs
and critics. Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are
the innovative techniques which he used in laying on the paint, his
detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, his interest
in physiognomy
and the way in which humans register emotion in expression and gesture,
his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition, and his
use of the subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together
in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the of
Early works
Leonardo's early works begin with the Baptism of Christ painted in conjunction with Verrocchio. Two other paintings appear to date from his time at the workshop, both of which are Annunciations. One is small, 59 centimetres (23 in) long and 14 centimetres (5.5 in) high. It is a "predella" to go at the base of a larger composition, in this case a painting by Lorenzo di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, 217 centimetres (85 in) long.[67]
In both these Annunciations, Leonardo used a formal arrangement, such
as in Fra Angelico's two well-known pictures of the same subject, of the
Virgin Mary
sitting or kneeling to the right of the picture, approached from the
left by an angel in profile, with a rich flowing garment, raised wings
and bearing a lily. Although previously attributed to Ghirlandaio, the
larger work is now generally attributed to Leonardo.[68]
In the smaller picture Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a
gesture that symbolised submission to God's will. In the larger picture,
however, Mary is not submissive. The girl, interrupted in her reading
by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the
place and raises her hand in a formal gesture of greeting or surprise.[44] This calm young woman appears to accept her role as the Mother of God,
not with resignation but with confidence. In this painting the young
Leonardo presents the humanist face of the Virgin Mary, recognising
humanity's role in God's incarnation.[nb 19]
Paintings of the 1480s
In the 1480s Leonardo received two very important commissions and
commenced another work which was also of ground-breaking importance in
terms of composition. Two of the three were never finished, and the
third took so long that it was subject to lengthy negotiations over
completion and payment. One of these paintings is that of St. Jerome in the Wilderness.
Bortolon associates this picture with a difficult period of Leonardo's
life, as evidenced in his diary: "I thought I was learning to live; I
was only learning to die."[11]
Although the painting is barely begun, the composition can be seen and it is very unusual.[nb 20] Jerome, as a penitent,
occupies the middle of the picture, set on a slight diagonal and viewed
somewhat from above. His kneeling form takes on a trapezoid shape, with
one arm stretched to the outer edge of the painting and his gaze
looking in the opposite direction. J. Wasserman points out the link
between this painting and Leonardo's anatomical studies.[70]
Across the foreground sprawls his symbol, a great lion whose body and
tail make a double spiral across the base of the picture space. The
other remarkable feature is the sketchy landscape of craggy rocks
against which the figure is silhouetted.
The daring display of figure composition, the landscape elements and
personal drama also appear in the great unfinished masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi,
a commission from the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. It is a complex
composition, of about 250 x 250 centimetres. Leonardo did numerous
drawings and preparatory studies, including a detailed one in linear
perspective of the ruined classical architecture which makes part of the backdrop to the scene. But in 1482 Leonardo went off to Milan at the behest of Lorenzo de' Medici in order to win favour with Ludovico il Moro, and the painting was abandoned.[10][68]
The third important work of this period is the Virgin of the Rocks
which was commissioned in Milan for the Confraternity of the Immaculate
Conception. The painting, to be done with the assistance of the de Predis brothers, was to fill a large complex altarpiece, already constructed.[71] Leonardo chose to paint an apocryphal moment of the infancy of Christ when the infant John the Baptist,
in protection of an angel, met the Holy Family on the road to Egypt. In
this scene, as painted by Leonardo, John recognizes and worships Jesus
as the Christ. The painting demonstrates an eerie beauty as the graceful
figures kneel in adoration around the infant Christ in a wild landscape
of tumbling rock and whirling water.[72] While the painting is quite large, about 200 × 120 centimetres,
it is not nearly as complex as the painting ordered by the monks of St
Donato, having only four figures rather than about fifty and a rocky
landscape rather than architectural details. The painting was eventually
finished; in fact, two versions of the painting were finished, one
which remained at the chapel of the Confraternity and the other which
Leonardo carried away to France. But the Brothers did not get their
painting, or the de Predis their payment, until the next century.[17][30]
Paintings of the 1490s
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last Supper,
painted for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in
Milan. The painting represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his
disciples before his capture and death. It shows specifically the moment
when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells
the story of the consternation that this statement caused to the twelve
followers of Jesus.[17]
The novelist Matteo Bandello
observed Leonardo at work and wrote that some days he would paint from
dawn till dusk without stopping to eat and then not paint for three or
four days at a time.[73] This was beyond the comprehension of the prior
of the convent, who hounded him until Leonardo asked Ludovico to
intervene. Vasari describes how Leonardo, troubled over his ability to
adequately depict the faces of Christ and the traitor Judas, told the
Duke that he might be obliged to use the prior as his model.[74]
When finished, the painting was acclaimed as a masterpiece of design and characterisation,[75] but it deteriorated rapidly, so that within a hundred years it was described by one viewer as "completely ruined".[76]
Leonardo, instead of using the reliable technique of fresco, had used
tempera over a ground that was mainly gesso, resulting in a surface
which was subject to mold and to flaking.[77]
Despite this, the painting has remained one of the most reproduced
works of art, countless copies being made in every medium from carpets
to cameos.
Paintings of the 1500s
Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa
or "la Gioconda", the laughing one. In the present era it is arguably
the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on
the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality brought
about perhaps by the fact that the artist has subtly shadowed the
corners of the mouth and eyes so that the exact nature of the smile
cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned
came to be called "sfumato"
or Leonardo's smoke. Vasari, who is generally thought to have known the
painting only by repute, said that "the smile was so pleasing that it
seemed divine rather than human; and those who saw it were amazed to
find that it was as alive as the original".[78][nb 21]
Other characteristics found in this work are the unadorned dress, in
which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details, the
dramatic landscape background in which the world seems to be in a state
of flux, the subdued colouring and the extremely smooth nature of the
painterly technique, employing oils, but laid on much like tempera and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable.[nb 22]
Vasari expressed the opinion that the manner of painting would make
even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart."[81]
The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of
repair or overpainting is rare in a panel painting of this date.[82]
In the painting Virgin and Child with St. Anne the composition again picks up the theme of figures in a landscape which Wasserman describes as "breathtakingly beautiful"[83]
and harkens back to the St Jerome picture with the figure set at an
oblique angle. What makes this painting unusual is that there are two
obliquely set figures superimposed. Mary is seated on the knee of her
mother, St Anne. She leans forward to restrain the Christ Child as he
plays roughly with a lamb, the sign of his own impending sacrifice.[17] This painting, which was copied many times, influenced Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto,[84] and through them Pontormo and Correggio. The trends in composition were adopted in particular by the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Veronese.
Drawings
Leonardo was not a prolific painter, but he was a most prolific
draftsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings
recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the
journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be
identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper.[85] His earliest dated drawing is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.[11][85]
Among his famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a study of the proportions of the human body, the Head of an Angel, for The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre, a botanical study of Star of Bethlehem and a large drawing (160×100 cm) in black chalk on coloured paper of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London.[85] This drawing employs the subtle sfumato technique of shading, in the manner of the Mona Lisa. It is thought that Leonardo never made a painting from it, the closest similarity being to The Virgin and Child with St. Anne in the Louvre.[86]
Other drawings of interest include numerous studies generally
referred to as "caricatures" because, although exaggerated, they appear
to be based upon observation of live models. Vasari relates that if
Leonardo saw a person with an interesting face he would follow them
around all day observing them.[87]
There are numerous studies of beautiful young men, often associated
with Salai, with the rare and much admired facial feature, the so-called
"Grecian profile".[nb 23] These faces are often contrasted with that of a warrior.[85]
Salai is often depicted in fancy-dress costume. Leonardo is known to
have designed sets for pageants with which these may be associated.
Other, often meticulous, drawings show studies of drapery. A marked
development in Leonardo's ability to draw drapery occurred in his early
works. Another often-reproduced drawing is a macabre sketch that was
done by Leonardo in Florence in 1479 showing the body of Bernardo
Baroncelli, hanged in connection with the murder of Giuliano, brother of
Lorenzo de' Medici, in the Pazzi Conspiracy.[85] With dispassionate integrity Leonardo has registered in neat mirror writing the colours of the robes that Baroncelli was wearing when he died.
Observation and invention
Journals and notes
Renaissance humanism
recognized no mutually exclusive polarities between the sciences and
the arts, and Leonardo's studies in science and engineering are as
impressive and innovative as his artistic work.[17] These studies were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and natural philosophy
(the forerunner of modern science), made and maintained daily
throughout Leonardo's life and travels, as he made continual
observations of the world around him.[17]
Leonardo's writings are mostly in mirror-image cursive. The reason
may have been more a practical expediency than for reasons of secrecy as
is often suggested. Since Leonardo wrote with his left hand, it is
probable that it was easier for him to write from right to left.[nb 24]
His notes and drawings display an enormous range of interests and
preoccupations, some as mundane as lists of groceries and people who
owed him money and some as intriguing as designs for wings and shoes for
walking on water. There are compositions for paintings, studies of
details and drapery, studies of faces and emotions, of animals, babies,
dissections, plant studies, rock formations, whirlpools, war machines,
flying machines and architecture.[17]
These notebooks—originally loose papers of different types and sizes,
distributed by friends after his death—have found their way into major
collections such as the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan which holds the twelve-volume Codex Atlanticus, and British Library in London which has put a selection from the Codex Arundel (BL Arundel MS 263) online.[88] The Codex Leicester is the only major scientific work of Leonardo's in private hands. It is owned by Bill Gates and is displayed once a year in different cities around the world.
Leonardo's notes appear to have been intended for publication because
many of the sheets have a form and order that would facilitate this. In
many cases a single topic, for example, the heart or the human fetus,
is covered in detail in both words and pictures on a single sheet.[89][nb 25] Why they were not published within Leonardo's lifetime is unknown.[17]
Scientific studies
Leonardo's approach to science was an observational one: he tried to
understand a phenomenon by describing and depicting it in utmost detail
and did not emphasize experiments or theoretical explanation. Since he lacked formal education in Latin and mathematics,
contemporary scholars mostly ignored Leonardo the scientist, although
he did teach himself Latin. In the 1490s he studied mathematics under Luca Pacioli and prepared a series of drawings of regular solids in a skeletal form to be engraved as plates for Pacioli's book De Divina Proportione, published in 1509.[17]
It appears that from the content of his journals he was planning a
series of treatises to be published on a variety of subjects. A coherent
treatise on anatomy was said to have been observed during a visit by Cardinal Louis 'D' Aragon's secretary in 1517.[90]
Aspects of his work on the studies of anatomy, light and the landscape
were assembled for publication by his pupil Francesco Melzi and
eventually published as Treatise on Painting by Leonardo da Vinci in France and Italy in 1651 and Germany in 1724,[91] with engravings based upon drawings by the Classical painter Nicolas Poussin.[92]
According to Arasse, the treatise, which in France went into 62
editions in fifty years, caused Leonardo to be seen as "the precursor of
French academic thought on art".[17]
While Leonardo's experimentation followed clear scientific methods, a
recent and exhaustive analysis of Leonardo as a scientist by Frtijof
Capra argues that Leonardo was a fundamentally different kind of
scientist from Galileo, Newton
and other scientists who followed him in that, as a Renaissance Man,
his theorising and hypothesising integrated the arts and particularly
painting.[93]
Anatomy
Leonardo's formal training in the anatomy of the human body began with his apprenticeship to Andrea del Verrocchio, who insisted that all his pupils learn anatomy. As an artist, he quickly became master of topographic anatomy, drawing many studies of muscles, tendons and other visible anatomical features.
As a successful artist, he was given permission to dissect human corpses at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and later at hospitals in Milan and Rome. From 1510 to 1511 he collaborated in his studies with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre. Leonardo made over 240 detailed drawings and wrote about 13,000 words towards a treatise on anatomy.[94]
These papers were left to his heir, Francesco Melzi, for publication, a
task of overwhelming difficulty because of its scope and Leonardo's
idiosyncratic writing.[95]
It was left incomplete at the time of Melzi's death more than fifty
years later, with only a small amount of the material on anatomy
included in Leonardo's Treatise on painting, published in France in 1632.[17][95]
During the time that Melzi was ordering the material into chapters for
publication, they were examined by a number of anatomists and artists,
including Vasari, Cellini and Albrecht Dürer who made a number of drawings from them.[95]
Leonardo's anatomical drawings include many studies of the human skeleton
and its parts, and studies muscles and sinews. He studied the
mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces that are
applied to it in a manner that prefigured the modern science of biomechanics.[96] He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex organs and other internal organs, making one of the first scientific drawings of a fetus in utero.[85]
The drawings and notation are far ahead of their time, and if
published, would undoubtedly have made a major contribution to medical
science.[94][97]
As an artist, Leonardo also closely observed and recorded the effects
of age and of human emotion on the physiology, studying in particular
the effects of rage. He also drew many figures who had significant
facial deformities or signs of illness.[17][85]
Leonardo also studied and drew the anatomy of many animals, dissecting
cows, birds, monkeys, bears, and frogs, and comparing in his drawings
their anatomical structure with that of humans. He also made a number of
studies of horses.[85]
Engineering and inventions
During his lifetime Leonardo was valued as an engineer. In a letter to Ludovico il Moro
he claimed to be able to create all sorts of machines both for the
protection of a city and for siege. When he fled to Venice in 1499 he
found employment as an engineer and devised a system of moveable
barricades to protect the city from attack. He also had a scheme for
diverting the flow of the Arno River, a project on which Niccolò Machiavelli also worked.[98][99] Leonardo's journals include a vast number of inventions, both practical and impractical. They include musical instruments, a mechanical knight, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, and a steam cannon.[11][17]
In 1502, Leonardo produced a drawing of a single span 720-foot (220 m) bridge as part of a civil engineering project for Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II of Constantinople. The bridge was intended to span an inlet at the mouth of the Bosporus known as the Golden Horn.
Beyazid did not pursue the project because he believed that such a
construction was impossible. Leonardo's vision was resurrected in 2001
when a smaller bridge based on his design was constructed in Norway.[100][101]
For much of his life, Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds, including his c. 1505 Codex on the Flight of Birds, as well as plan for several flying machines, including a flapping ornithopter and a machine with a helical rotor.[17] The British television station Channel Four commissioned a documentary Leonardo's Dream Machines, for broadcast in 2003. Leonardo's designs for machines such as a parachute, and giant crossbow were interpreted, constructed and tested.[102][103] Some of those designs proved a success, whilst others fared less well when practically tested.
Fame and reputation
Within Leonardo's own lifetime his fame was such that the King of
France carried him away like a trophy and was claimed to have supported
him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died. Interest in
Leonardo has never diminished. The crowds still queue to see his most
famous artworks, T-shirts
bear his most famous drawing, and writers continue to marvel at his
genius and speculate about his private life and, particularly, about
what one so intelligent actually believed in.[17]
Giorgio Vasari, in the enlarged edition of Lives of the Artists, 1568,[104] introduced his chapter on Leonardo da Vinci with the following words:
In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.
The continued admiration that Leonardo commanded from painters,
critics and historians is reflected in many other written tributes. Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortegiano
("The Courtier"), wrote in 1528: "... Another of the greatest painters
in this world looks down on this art in which he is unequalled ..."[105]
while the biographer known as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c. 1540: "His
genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a
miracle on his behalf ...".[106]
The 19th century brought a particular admiration for Leonardo's genius, causing Henry Fuseli
to write in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da
Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence:
made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius ..."[107]
This is echoed by A. E. Rio who wrote in 1861: "He towered above all
other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."[108]
By the 19th century, the scope of Leonardo's notebooks was known, as well as his paintings. Hippolyte Taine
wrote in 1866: "There may not be in the world an example of another
genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for
the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and
the following centuries."[109] Art historian Bernard Berenson
wrote in 1896: "Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with
perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of
eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the
structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for
line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into
life-communicating values."[110]
The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts
study and translate his writings, analyse his paintings using scientific
techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have
been recorded but never found.[111]
Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967, said: "Because of the multiplicity of
interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge ...
Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal
genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent
in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he
was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view
Leonardo with awe."
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