Page 33 - All About History 58 - 2017 UK

Da Vinci: Was he Really a Genius?

Da Vinci’s Two Drawings
of the Heart from
c.1480, detailing his
observations on the heart

Da Vinci’s anatomical drawings
were extremely detailed, as
seen with his study on embryos

He also explored the bone
structure of the arm, as seen in
these illustrations from 1510

At the time there was no real form of preservation
in place for dead bodies and so they would have “If there is anything that demonstrates da Vinci’s
been in a revolting state of decay, with a strong, devotion to his pursuit of knowledge, then it is
pungent smell. The fact that da Vinci was willing
to go through such a gruesome experience shows certainly his anatomical drawings”
how important he considered his research.
However, it is also a reflection of a man whose
attention could be easily diverted. His original The largest one, the Codex Atlanticus, contains greatest strength was also the cause of his greatest
purpose had been to improve the accuracy of his over 1,000 of da Vinci’s papers, musing on a wide weakness — a mind that could conceive infinite
drawings and yet he became preoccupied with range of areas from hydraulics to mathematics to possibilities but also prevented him from fully
understanding biology instead. It was a pattern astronomy and botany. “Describe,” he instructs achieving them. His desire to pursue knowledge
that would repeat itself throughout his life, himself in one notebook, “what sneezing is, and perfection superseded everything in his life.
dooming to leave so many projects unfinished. what yawning is, the falling sickness, spasm, His work ethic was unusual, spending entire
Even his most famous artworks, the Mona Lisa paralysis, shivering with cold, sweating, fatigue, days devoted to his work with no food and little
and The Last Supper, two of the most celebrated hunger, sleep, thirst, lust.” The codices provide sleep before taking for breaks for days at a time to
masterpieces of all time, took him years to finish. an intriguing insight into the mind of a man who intensely analyse his work.
It is possible to see how da Vinci’s interests could conceive unique and extraordinary ideas on Although da Vinci’s interest in anatomy proved
changed throughout his life by studying his many one page and write his shopping list on the next. to be life-long, he left Verrocchio’s workshop after
codices that still exist today. Comprising his Interestingly, da Vinci was not oblivious to his just over a decade in 1478. Two years previously,
loose papers and drawings, they were eventually procrastination, once lamenting to God, “Tell da Vinci was charged with sodomy with a
r
ntice alongside three other men.d
gathered and bound centuries after his death. me if anything was ever done.” Undoubtedly, his goldsmith’s apprentice alongside three other men.
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