Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci spent his lifetime thinking of new ways to improve daily life. He specifically studied and benefited the fields of science and art. He invented many things, created multiple art masterpieces, and made countless advances in science. Da Vinci took a stand for new ideas in these fields.
Ⅰ. Background
The Black Death or Bubonic Plague and the Hundred Years’ War in Europe had just ended. The plague was a disease transmitted by fleas and rats that killed between twenty and twenty-five million people just in Western Europe. After the disease and its effects stopped killing people by the hundreds, cities began to grow and the people that had survived wanted to celebrate life through a new age of art and learning.
…show more content…
His Life Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy. He received little formal education but was an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio who taught da Vinci metalwork, carpentry, drawing, and sculpting. This would be Leonardo’s foundation of knowledge for his own further work in these fields ("Leonardo da Vinci"). At the age of twenty, da Vinci established his own workshop and employed students and apprentices ("Leonardo da Vinci", Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich). Throughout Leonardo’s life, he kept a notebook for new observations and ideas ("Leonardo da Vinci"). In his notebook, he wrote in what is called “mirror writing.” This is writing from the right side of the paper to the left side. The letters were also backward. When the paper is held up to a mirror, the letters and words can be read normally. Leonardo did this because he was left handed and did not want the ink to spread all over as he wrote. When he did have to write for others to see, he wrote normally or left to right (Osborne, Mary Pope 17, …show more content…
It depicts Jesus having his last meal with his disciples (“Leonardo da Vinci” Renaissance and Reformation). It was painted on a monastery wall and took about three years to complete ("Leonardo da Vinci"). Unfortunately, the oil-based paint that he used did not stick to the wall as well as water-based paint would have. Leonardo used the perspective of clarity which is when “distant objects gradually lose their separateness and hence are not drawn with outlines” and the perspective of color which is when “distant objects gradually take on gray tones” (“Leonardo da Vinci” Renaissance and