Thread by @JamesLucasIT

The genius of Leonardo Da Vinci, born 573 years ago on April 15, 1452 - a thread 🧵

1. This is his map of Imola, with a modern Google Earth image of the city shown below.

2. Château de La Rochefoucauld's staircase

This remarkable spiral staircase was built in 1520 by Anne de La Rochefoucauld.

Its design was based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, which were gifted to her by the King of France.

3. The Vitruvian Man illustrates his vision of perfect human proportions.

It is based on principles outlined by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.

According to art historian Carmen Bambach, it is "justly ranked among the all-time iconic images of Western civilization".

4. The Last Supper (1495–1498)

There’s no way to truly describe what it feels like to stand in front of this masterpiece...

5. This is one of many sketches Leonardo made before bringing his iconic mural painting to life.

Leading up to The Last Supper, he created several preparatory drawings, exploring the apostles' poses.

In many depictions, Judas sits on the opposite side of the table.

6. The Mona Lisa is arguably the most famous painting in the world today.

In contrast to typical Renaissance depictions of women, which often showed them looking downward and without a smile, Da Vinci portrayed her with an enigmatic smile and a bold, direct stare.

7. Leonardo is also regarded as one of the most exceptional anatomists in history.

This image contrasts his illustration of a hand with a contemporary medical scan.

Scholars believe his studies "greatly anticipated modern methods like MRI imaging and 3D computer modeling."

8. Throughout his life, he examined over 30 bodies of all ages, creating precise anatomical drawings.

His detailed studies of organs, bones, vessels, and muscles are still widely used in medical textbooks.

He was also the first to define atherosclerosis and liver cirrhosis.

9. Over 500 years ago, Da Vinci perfectly portrayed the human fetus, accurately depicting its position within a dissected uterus.

The image contrasts a CT scan of a pregnant woman with a full-term fetus (on the right) and da Vinci's sketch of a baby in the womb (on the left).

10. Leonardo's physiological sketch of the human brain and skull

Through his extensive studies, he sought to understand the origins of emotions and how they are expressed.

11. He also meticulously studied and documented the impact of age and human emotions on the body, with a particular focus on how anger influenced physical appearance.

He often depicted individuals with noticeable facial distortions or signs of illness in his drawings.

12. The Skull

This magnificent drawing is universally admired for its accuracy and proportion.

13. During his lifetime, Leonardo was also recognized for his engineering talents.

In the late 1480s, he designed an "aerial screw," a precursor to the modern helicopter.

He imagined various other flying inventions, including a parachute (pictured below) and a hang glider.

14. The Italian polymath also designed the self-propelled cart, which today is considered the ancestor of the modern automobile.

A replica of the self-propelled cart is kept at the museum Clos Lucé, near Château d'Amboise, in France.

15. Da Vinci's tank (1482)

Yes, you read that correctly...

In a letter to Ludovico Sforza, he wrote: "I will make impregnable protected wagons which, piercing the enemy's ranks with the fire of their artillery, will destroy him, no matter how great the number of his soldiers."

16. Adoration of the Magi

This lesser-known, unfinished painting was intended to showcase his mastery in composition and perspective.

As Leonardo himself said: "The art of perspective can make the flat appear three-dimensional and the three-dimensional appear flat."

17. The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–1486)

Leonardo's expertise in botany is vividly apparent in the Louvre version of this piece.

The plants are rendered with remarkable accuracy — so much so that a trained botanist could readily identify each species.

18. Head of a girl

Bernard Berenson, a renowned art critic, referred to this sketch as "the most beautiful drawing in the world."

19. This is another lesser-known unfinished painting called La Scapigliata (Italian for "The Lady with Disheveled Hair").

Pietro C. Marani observed: "Leonardo does not merely depict an ideal of feminine beauty here; he manages to summarize the divine complexity of reality."

20. Let’s conclude with a presumed self-portrait of the Master himself (c. 1510), housed in the Royal Library of Turin, Italy.

Quoting Freud's famous statement on Da Vinci:

"He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep."

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