Flapping Wing

CODEX ATLANTICUS

Leonardo occupied much of his time improving upon how gears can be used to transmit motion and force. In this device, a caged lantern and gear are lined up so that the cage’s pegs mesh with the moving gears. With each turn of the gear, the caged lantern makes one full rotation. Energy is transferred through the parts working together as a system, in which the lantern rotates by the motion of the gear.

Lantern Gear Mechanism

Tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic | 181 x 346 inches | c. 1492

Leonardo worked tirelessly for three years on his masterpiece, The Last Supper, on a large 460 cm x 880 cm (roughly 15 ft x 30 ft) wall in the dining hall of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The tempera painted mural, set during the last meal of Jesus before his crucifixion, depicts the various reactions of Jesus’s Apostles as they learn that one of them will betray Jesus.

Light entering the room through the windows in the background highlights the importance of the figure of Jesus and solidifies his place as the painting’s main subject. Furthermore, the figures featured in the work are organized into four additional groups of Apostles:

• The first group includes the Apostles Bartholomew, James the Lesser, and Andrew.
• The second group depicts three more Apostles including Judas Iscariot holding a bag of coins (suggesting the 30 pieces of silver he received for betraying Jesus), Peter inclining toward Christ holding a dagger behind his back (the meaning of this is under debate), and John, to the immediate left of Christ.
• The third group of Apostles includes Thomas lifting his finger (indicating his disbelief that Jesus will be resurrected), James the Greater, and Phillip.
• The fourth group of Apostles includes Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot pointing and discussing the situation.

Leonardo’s method of working on The Last Supper was unprecedented. The Last Supper is not a fresco. Instead, Leonardo used a tempera painting technique on the stone of the wall. Unfortunately, this technique caused the painting’s pigments to break loose from the wall prematurely, beginning a process of decay during Leonardo’s lifetime.

In addition, a combination of effects, including Leonardo’s non-traditional painting methods and materials, damage inflicted on the wall during wartimes, and the stresses of time including dirt, pollution, and improper 18th- and 19th-century restoration attempts, left the masterpiece in a poor state. As a result, the painting was deteriorated by 75% by the mid 19th century. Finally, between 1978 and 1999, the painting was fully restored and permanently stabilized against the effects of deterioration and harm.

The Last Supper

La Gioconda (Mona Lisa) has left its permanent exhibition space in the Louvre Museum in Paris on only three occasions:

In 1911, La Gioconda was stolen and taken to Italy by an Italian patriot who felt it belonged in its home country. Upon recovery of the painting, it was toured on exhibition throughout Italy and returned to the Louvre in 1913.

In 1962 / 1963 a convention between the Minister of Culture of France, André Malraux, and Jacqueline Kennedy, first lady of the United States brought La Gioconda to America. The piece was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the National Gallery in Washington. Two million people visited the painting during its 52-day stay in America.

In 1974, the painting left the Louvre for a third time to be exhibited in the National Museum of Tokyo as well as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Mona Lisa The Lady On Tour

Oil on popular | 30 x 21 inches | Ca. 1503-1506

This painting’s original name was La Gioconda, after the piece’s subject, Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco di Bartolomeo Del Giocondo. The painting’s popular name, Mona Lisa was derived from the Italian word “Monna” meaning Madonna, or Lady and the pictured woman’s first name, Lisa.

Along with Lisa’s mysterious smile, viewers often marvel over the curious landscape behind her. Analyzing the 77 x 53 cm (about 30 x 21 in) oil painting, da Vinci’s excellent use of realism in the landscape behind Lisa provides a feeling that it would be possible to walk along the winding road that extends from her right shoulder.

In addition to the piece’s intriguing artistic mastery, many interpretations and theories exist about the portrait. Some doubt the sex of the subject, claiming that the painting is of a young man dressed as a woman. However, the underdrawing has revealed that Mona Lisa is a woman through and through. Others believe that the woman’s posture and clothing suggest that she is pregnant. 

Additionally, some see a facial resemblance to the artist himself, arguing that the painting is actually a self-portrait of Leonardo. The only undisputed fact about the piece is that Leonardo never relinquished the painting, keeping
it in his possession until his death in France in 1519.

All theories aside, it is certain that the Mona Lisa is the best known and most photographed painting in the world. It is currently on exhibition behind bulletproof glass in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Mona Lisa

Fresco wall painting | 21 x 54 feet | Ca. 1503

Leonardo began this piece as a monumental wall painting for the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The work was never completed. Battle of Anghiari tells the story of the Florentine military victory over the Milanese in 1440. While Leonardo worked, Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the Battle of Cascina simultaneously on another wall in the Hall of the Five Hundred. Michelangelo’s scene depicts the 1363 Florentine victory over the Pisanos.

According to legend, da Vinci never completed this piece due to problems with his unusual method of mixing oil paint and fresco. Leonardo was also called away by the King of France to return to Milan during the painting’s construction, adding to his difficulties. Artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) later painted one of the Palazzo’s walls with his own mural, leading some to believe that Leonardo’s original incomplete fresco now lies hidden beneath Vasari’s work.

Battle Of Anghiari

Oil on panel | 69.7 x 45.3 inches | Ca. 1510–1515

Bacchus, formerly Saint John the Baptist, is a painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris based on a drawing by artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is presumed to have been created by an unknown follower of da Vinci’s, perhaps in Leonardo’s workshop.

It has also been suggested that the piece was painted by one of Leonardo’s students such as Cesare da Sesto, Marco d’Oggiono or Francesco Melzi. The painting shows a male figure with a garland around his head and leopard skin clothing, seated in an idyllic landscape.

Bacchus

Oil on wood | 97x 96 inches | c. 1481

In this piece, the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus are seated in the center as the Magi, as described in the traditional story of Jesus’s birth, kneel in adoration to their left and right. 

Behind them, a group of individuals attempt to repair the ruins of a pagan building, referencing the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to Medieval Roman legend, would stand until a virgin gave birth. Leonardo was given the commission for this piece while in Florence, but departed for Milan the following year, leaving the painting unfinished. 

Adoration of the Magi is currently housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Adoration Of The Magi

Anatomy

Leonardo’s study of the natural world often informed his painting, and much of the realism depicted in his art stemmed from his study of the anatomical structures that make up the human form. It is unknown precisely when Leonardo’s work with dissection began, but at the time, the city of Milan was a center for medical discovery, and he was known to work with experts at the dissection table.

This is but a small sample of Leonardo’s anatomical sketch work. If the writing accompanying the images looks odd, it is because he wrote in Italian backwards, from right to left, requiring a mirror to read it!

Paintings

Da Vinci is one of the most famous and recognizable names in the history of art. The recreations you see here of his famous pieces demonstrate the true mastery of his painting, and convey the power of the stories he told with pencil and brush.

Though at first glance appearing to be natural and effortless, many of these paintings have an underlying geometric symmetry to them. To Da Vinci no detail was random, and the purposeful nature in which he constructed these forms is so effective that they are hidden amongst the characters. The viewer first notices only the beauty of the painting, and not the effort by the painter.

Da Vinci Paintings

Da VInci Anatomy

CODES AND MANUSCRIPTS

Leonardo wrote many codices, or hand-written books, which detail his life’s work. When Leonardo died,
he left all of his belongings and property to his
trusted pupil and heir, Francisco Melzi. 

Unfortunately, after Melzi’s death, his descendants sold or gave
away Leonardo’s belongings, allowing the codices, manuscripts, and notes to suffer losses and mutations. Individual pages were cheaply sold to collectors, folios were rearranged and separated, and pages of the collection were simply lost due to carelessness.

Incredibly, some of these documents were not recovered until 1966 when two bound manuscripts were found in Madrid. Presently, approximately 7,000 pages of Leonardo’s drawings and inventions are accounted for, the majority of which are held in various museums and libraries across the world.

The most well-known codices of Leonardo include the following:

• Codice Arundel: Located in the National Library of the United Kingdom. This is primarily about mathematics.

• Codice Atlanticus: Now in the Ambrosia Library in Milan. It refers to the studies of mathematics, music, botany, astronomy, chemistry, and weapon design.

It also contains information on painting, sculpture, perspective, optics, architecture, and urban planning.

• Codice Manuscript of France: Located at the Institute of France. The main feature of this codice is that it is written in Leonardo’s unique style— backwards, from left to right.

• Madrid Codices I and II: Located in the National Library of Madrid. These hold important information on mechanics and geometry.

Da Vinci Codes And Manuscripts

Da Vinci Introduction

Da Vinci Conclusion

Oil and tempera on wood | 24.4 x 18.7 inches | c.1475-1478

This representation of Madonna and Child (The Virgin Mary and infant Jesus Christ) features the two figures centered between two sets of double windows that open to a majestic, dramatic landscape. Neither the Madonna nor the child is focused on the viewer, but the two instead appear to be having a private moment between them. The child is reaching for a red carnation that the mother holds in her left hand, interpreted as a symbol of the passion he will fulfill later in life. Madonna of the Carnation has been on display at the Alte Pinakothek Gallery in Munich, Germany since 1889.

Madonna Of The Carnation

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Welcome to the Saint Louis Science Center. To all the worlds inside it, big and small. To atoms and oceans, sand and stardust, dinosaurs and dark matter.

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