Information Renaissance-2
The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning in the 14th century was remarkable: Here are some facts on one of the most famous artist of the Renaissance period:
Leonardo Da Vinci
He was known as a man of "both" worlds: art and science. A painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, and scientist he laid down the basics of many scientific inventions and creations. Da Vinci was born in 1452 near the town of Vinci. His first art work that he finished in Milan was the “Madonna of the Rocks”.
He did many drawings of the human body. One of his most famous human anatomy drawings is the “Vitruvian Man” .There are also other detailed drawings of skeletons, muscle structures and organ-systems.
He, as a scientist also invented a large number of ingenious machines, many potentially useful, among them an underwater diving suit, Parachutes, Submarines, Underwater Rebreathing Devices, Self Floatation/Ocean Rescue Devices and many more.
He had amazing observational skills that enabled him to notice and recreate the effects he saw in nature, to a real life like special liveliness to his portraits. One of his famous paintings:
Mona Lisa:
I is the portrait of a the gentle woman who has become an aesthetic, philosophical and advertising symbol whose history though beenmuch discussed remains in part uncertain.
“The Mona Lisa, Leonardo's most famous work, is as well known for its mastery of technical innovations as for the mysteriousness of its legendary smiling subject. This work is a consummate example of two techniques—sfumato and chiaroscuro—of which Leonardo was one of the first great masters. Sfumato is characterized by subtle, almost infinitesimal transitions between color areas, creating a delicately atmospheric haze or smoky effect; it is especially evident in the delicate gauzy robes worn by the sitter and in her enigmatic smile. Chiaroscuro is the technique of modeling and defining forms through contrasts of light and shadow; the sensitive hands of the sitter are portrayed with a luminous modulation of light and shade, while color contrast is used only sparingly”.- Microsoft® Encarta'97
Leonardo himself loved the portrait, so much so that he always carried it with him until eventually in France it was sold to François I.