Leonardo da Vinci (1452 -1519)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 -1519)

Da Vinci was one of the great creative minds of the Italian Renaissance, hugely influential as an artist and sculptor but also immensely talented as an engineer, scientist and inventor.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15^th of April 1452 near the Tuscan town of Vinci, the illegitimate son of a local lawyer. He was apprenticed to the sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence and in 1478 became an independent master. In about 1483, he moved to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza family as an engineer, sculptor, painter and architect. From 1495 to 1497 he produced a mural of 'The Last Supper' in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Da Vinci was in Milan until the city was invaded by the French in 1499 and the Sforza family forced to flee. He may have visited Venice before returning to Florence. During his time in Florence, he painted several portraits, but the only one that survives is the famous 'Mona Lisa' (1503-1506).

In 1506, da Vinci returned to Milan, remaining there until 1513. This was followed by three years based in Rome. In 1517, at the invitation of the French king Francis I, Leonardo moved to the Château of Cloux, near Amboise in France, where he died on 2^nd of May, 1519.

The fame of Da Vinci's surviving paintings has meant that he has been regarded primarily as an artist, but the thousands of surviving pages of his notebooks reveal the most eclectic and brilliant of minds. He wrote and drew on subjects including geology, anatomy (which he studied in order to paint the human form more accurately), flight, gravity and optics, often flitting from subject to subject on a single page, and writing in left-handed mirror script. He 'invented' the bicycle, airplane, helicopter, and parachute some 500 years ahead of their time.

If all this work had been published in an intelligible form, da Vinci's place as a pioneering scientist would have been beyond dispute. Yet his true genius was not as a scientist or an artist, but as a combination of the two: an 'artist-engineer'. His painting was scientific, based on a deep understanding of the workings of the human body and the physics of light and shade. His science was expressed through art, and his drawings and diagrams show what he meant, and how he understood the world to work.

PART A) TRUE – FALSE – NO INFORMATION:

1) LEONARDO’S PAINTINGS WERE FOUNDED ON A DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN BODY AND THE PHYSICS OF LIGHT AND SHADE.

2) SOME OF HIS WORK CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD.

3) LEONARDO’S MOTHER DIED IN CHILDBIRTH, AGED ONLY NINETEEN.

4) HIS FATHER WAS A LAWYER AND A POWERFUL POLITICIAN.

5) HIS DRAWINGS AND WRITINGS SHOW THAT HE ”INVENTED” THE BICYCLE, AIRPLANE, HELICOPTER AND PARACHUTE, HUNDREDS OF YEARS AHEAD OF THEIR TIME.

6) LEONARDO DIED IN SOUTH-WEST ITALY ON 2^nd OF MAY, 1519.

7) LEONARDO WAS BORN OUTSIDE OF WEDLOCK IN 1452.

8) ONLY ONE OF HIS FAMOUS PORTRAITS STILL EXISTS TODAY.

9) THE MONA LISA IS A VERY LARGE PORTRAIT OF A BALD MAN.

10) HIS MURAL OF THE LAST SUPPER TOOK OVER THREE YEARS TO PRODUCE.

11) LEONARDO RETURNED TO MILAN AND STAYED THERE 8 YEARS.

12) HIS TRUE GENIUS IS DESCRIBED AS AN “ARTIST-ENGINEER”

13) THE SFORZA FAMILY FLED MILAN, WHEN IT WAS INVADED BY THE FRENCH IN 1499.

14) LEONARDO MOVED FROM MILAN TO ROME, WHERE HE STAYED FOR 2 YEARS.

15) THE MONA LISA HAS BEEN ON DISPLAY IN PARIS, SINCE 1969.

16) LEONARDO LIVED IN THE CHATEAU OF CLOUX UNTIL HIS DEATH.

17) ALTHOUGH HE WAS A VERY TALENTED ARTIST, HE WAS ONLY ABLE TO WRITE WITH HIS LEFT HAND.

PART B) GENERAL QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION - YOU MAY USE A DICTIONARY OR SEARCH ENGINE TO HELP YOU FIND THE CORRECT INFORMATION -

1) HOW LARGE IS THE MONA LIZA PORTRAIT & WHERE IS IT NOW DISPLAYED?

2) WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TEXT DESCRIPTION IN PARAGRAPH FIVE – “REVEAL THE MOST ECLECTIC & BRILLIANT OF MINDS”?

3) NAME THE SKILLS THAT LEONARDO HAD?

4) WHY DID LEONARDO STUDY ANATOMY?

5) WHERE DID HE PRODUCE “THE LAST SUPPER” AND WHO WERE THE PEOPLE DEPICTED IN THE MURAL?

6) WHAT IS MIRROR SCRIPT?

7) WHY DO YOU THINK LEONARDO WAS SO HUGELY INFLUENTIAL?

8) WHAT IS THE ROLE AND PURPOSE OF AN APPRENTICE?

9) WHAT WAS THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE?

10) WHAT WAS SO SPECIAL ABOUT LEONARDO DA VINCI AND WHY DOES HE STILL INSPIRE PEOPLE TODAY?

11) DO YOU HAVE A VERY FAMOUS AND TALENTED PAINTER IN YOUR COUNTRY AND HOW DOES HE OR SHE COMPARE WITH LEONARDO?

12) WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE AS TALENTED AS LEONARDO WAS?

13) WHAT IS A CHATEAU?

PART C) NOW FIND THE SYNONYMS IN THE TEXT:

REFLECT – MAINLY – ILLUSTRATIONS – UNDERSTANDABLE – FUNCTIONS – DOWNWARD FORCE – HEATED ARGUMENT – TAKE OVER – PARTS OF THE BODY – ESTABLISHED ON – GIFTED – PRINTED – REMAINS – PRECISE – ENORMOUSLY – RESEARCH – INTENDED MEANING – DESIGNER – WALL PAINTING – PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND SUBSTANCE – FREE OR SELF GOVERNING –

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