Today most of the class gave presentations about da Vinci’s inventions at the Leonardo Museum. As an engineer, I enjoyed hearing the presentations and learning some of the science behind his ideas. It’s amazing that he was able to come up with so many valid designs. In his notebooks, da Vinci wrote, “The senses are of the earth; reason stands apart from them in contemplation” (Da Vinci, p. 7). This is the approach da Vinci took to science; he tried to separate his emotions from his work, which helped him become a great scientist and inventor.
Da Vinci lived in a time where there were frequent wars between city states, so it was necessary for him to invent more effective tools for waging war. He understood that “without the violence of speed, that of weapons would not be so fearsome” (Virilio, p. 153). Da Vinci designed weapons that were faster, like his preliminary design for the modern machine gun, which allows more rounds to be fired in a short amount of time. He also designed an arched bridge that could quickly be assembled using surrounding materials, which would allow armies to cross rivers much more quickly.
In addition to his designs for war, Leonardo designed many flying machines, including preliminary designs for the helicopter and parachute. Some of his designs are too impractical to work at all, such as his ornithopter. Some of his flying machines almost work, but their flaws are too significant to be overlooked. For example, the helicopter prototype was in the air for a very short amount of time before the man pedaling got tired, and the parachute prototype was too heavy to be worn all the way to the ground.
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| Madonna with Child, Saints, and Doge by Paolo Veneziano |
After the Leonardo Museum, the class visited Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The art in this church is interesting because it shows the progression from Byzantine art to Renaissance art, which we learned about in class. Three paintings from the church clearly show the transition from Byzantine to Renaissance art.
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| The Assumption by Tiziano Vecellio |
Madonna with Child, Saints, and Doge by Paolo Veneziano is an example of Byzantine art, which focused on symbolism instead of realism. Gold backgrounds and halos were commonly used to communicate to viewers that the figures in the painting are of religious significance. The figures in Byzantine paintings are two dimensional and don’t look realistic. Renaissance paintings focused on realism. Artists made figures look three dimensional instead of flat and gave their subjects realistic facial expressions, which can be seen in The Assumption by Tiziano Vecellio. Vecellio’s painting is so realistic that some of the figures even look like they are moving. This painting is more advanced than the Byzantine painting, but Vecellio gives a nod to the previous style by adding a gold background behind Mary to create anagogic space.
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| Madonna with Child and Saints by Giovanni Bellini |
Madonna with Child and Saints by Giovanni Bellini shows the transition period between Byzantine and Renaissance. Bellini’s figures have more realistic facial expressions, but the painting looks two dimensional. He tries to curve the wall behind Mary, but the wall still looks flat. He also tries to make Mary look three dimensional; her knee looks like it comes out of the painting, but the other figures are two dimensional. Bellini experimented with dimension and perspective in an attempt at realism, but he didn’t quite accomplish it in this painting.
Sources
Bellini, Giovanni. “Madonna with Child and Saints.” Basilica Dei Frari, www.basilicadeifrari.it/en/opere/madonna-con-bambino-e-santi/
Da Vinci, Leonardo. Leonardo da Vinci Notebooks. Oxford University Press, 1952.
Vecellio, Tiziano. “The Assumption.” Basilica Dei Frari, www.basilicadeifrari.it/en/opere/assunta/
Veneziano, Paolo. “Madonna with Child, Saints, and Doge.” Basilica Dei Frari, www.basilicadeifrari.it/en/opere/madonna-con-bambino-san-francesco-e-santa-elisabetta-presentano-il-doge-e-la-dogaressa/
Virilio, Paul. Speed and Politics. Semiotext, 1977.
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