James Lucas Profile picture
Mar 28, 2024 31 tweets 10 min read Read on X
Leonardo da Vinci's drawings - a thread 🧵

1. Vitruvian Man Image
2. Study of an Angel

The soul of this young girl seems almost visible in her eyes.

Even if da Vinci only produced about 20 paintings in his lifetime, we have over 13,000 pages of his notes and drawings. Image
3. Fetus in the Womb

More than 500 years ago, Leonardo correctly depicted the human fetus in its proper position inside a dissected uterus. Image
4. Anatomical Studies of the Shoulder

Leonardo dissected more than 30 bodies of both genders and all ages in his lifetime, leaving behind many stunning - and incredibly accurate - anatomical drawings. Image
5. Anatomical Studies

His sketches were so precise that many are still used to illustrate medical textbooks.

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6. Head of a Young Woman (La Scapigliata) Image
7. Profile of an Old Man Image
8. Studies of Crabs Image
9. Study of a Child Image
10. Study of Horses Image
11. Study of Hands Image
12. Ornithopter

Leonardo studied the flight of birds for years, and then he famously made designs for his "ornithopter", a flying machine.

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13. Helicopter

In the late 1480s, he even drew his design for an "aerial screw", a flying machine which is incredibly similar to a modern helicopter. Image
14. Dragon Striking Down Lion Image
15. The Skull

This iconic drawing is universally admired for its accuracy and proportion. Image
16. Leonardo's self-propelled cart, considered the ancestor of the modern automobile. Image
17. Study of Five Grotesque Heads Image
18. Study of the graduations of light and shade on a sphere (chiaroscuro). Image
19. The organs of a woman's body Image
20. Comparison of the leg of a man and a dog Image
21. Walking on water

A peculiar method of walking on water using skis made of cork and paddle-like poles. Image
22. Landscape drawing for Santa Maria Della Neve & botanical drawings

"The painter’s mind is a copy of the divine mind, since it operates freely in creating the many kinds of animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe-inspiring places."

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23. Cat drawings Image
24. Leonardo also produced several extremely accurate maps, such as the town plan of Imola. Image
25. Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk

This iconic drawing is widely regarded as a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci at the age of 60. Image
26. Studies of Water Passing Obstacles Image
27. Female Head Image
28. Study for the Last Supper

Before painting his timeless masterpiece, Leonardo drew a few preparatory sketches that depict many different variations of the apostles' poses and gestures. Image
29. Heads of an old man and a youth Image
30. Muscles of the Torso and Back

These drawings give a clear picture of how the musculature lies over the ribcage and around the abdomen. In the notes, Leonardo also indicates exactly how the muscles are connected to the skeleton and to each other. Image
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More from @JamesLucasIT

May 8
Colorized historical footage - a thread 🧵

1. Pope Leo XIII was the earliest-born person recorded on film. Born in 1810, he was 86 years old when this was captured in 1896. For reference, the Pope was born the year after Lincoln and Darwin and the same year as Chopin.
2. D-Day, 6th June 1944

3. This footage was recorded in Gateshead, England, on May 8th, 1945, following Churchill's declaration of Victory in Europe.

Read 15 tweets
May 7
Papal conclave aesthetics 🧵

1. The Sistine Chapel Image
2. Before entering the Sistine Chapel, the "Pro eligendo Romano Pontefice" mass is celebrated by the Cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica. Image
3. The Cardinals make their way into the Sistine Chapel to begin the first vote of the Conclave

Read 15 tweets
May 5
In 1962, three men escaped from Alcatraz.

They left lifelike dummy heads in their cells, and the guards didn’t notice until morning.

The official story? They drowned.
But a 2013 letter suggests otherwise… 🧵 Image
Alcatraz operated as a maximum-security prison in the San Francisco Bay from 1934 to 1963.

Heavily guarded and surrounded by freezing, shark-infested waters, it was considered escape-proof.

But on June 11, 1962, three inmates defied the odds and vanished into history...
The escape was led by Frank Morris, a bank robber with an I.Q. of 133, along with brothers John and Clarence Anglin.

A fourth conspirator, Allen West, failed to escape and was left behind.

Morris and the Anglins pulled off one of the most daring prison breaks in U.S. history: Image
Read 15 tweets
May 5
In 1962, three men escaped from Alcatraz.

They left lifelike dummy heads in their cells, and the guards didn’t notice until morning.

The official story? They drowned.
But a 2013 letter suggests otherwise…🧵 Image
Alcatraz operated as a maximum-security prison in the San Francisco Bay from 1934 to 1963.

Surrounded by freezing, shark-infested waters and heavily guarded, it was considered escape-proof.

But on June 11, 1962, three inmates defied the odds and vanished into history...
The escape was led by Frank Morris, a bank robber with an I.Q. of 133, along with brothers John and Clarence Anglin.

A fourth conspirator, Allen West, failed and was left behind.

Morris and the Anglins pulled off one of the most daring prison breaks in U.S. history. Image
Read 14 tweets
May 4
The art of David Ambarzumjan - a thread🧵

1. "Recover" Image
2. "Breathe" Image
Image
3. "This Was Water" Image
Read 17 tweets
May 3
Thread of historical photos you've (probably) never seen before 🧵

1. A Protestant husband and his Catholic wife were not allowed to be buried together. These are their headstones, reaching across the two cemeteries in 1888. Image
2. Jenny Joseph posing for Columbia Pictures Logo, 1992 Image
3. Dresden viewed from the Rathaus (city hall) in 1945

Between 13 and 15 February, over 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiaries were dropped on Dresden.

The resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres of the city centre and killed up to 25,000 people. Image
Read 21 tweets

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