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

Mar 25
One of the most beautiful cities in the world was founded 1604 years ago today - thread🧵

1. Venice at sunset Image
2. According to the Chronicon Altinate, one of the oldest sources on Venice's history, today marks the city's 1604th birthday.

Tradition links its founding to the dedication of San Giacomo church, said to have occurred at noon on 25 March 421.

3. The iconic capital of Italy's Veneto region is a unique city built on 127 islands connected by 472 bridges and a network of iconic canals, earning it the nickname "City of Bridges."

The name is derived from the Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. Image
Read 26 tweets
Mar 25
The most beautiful ceilings on Earth 🧵

1. Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (13th century) Image
2. The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

Michelangelo painted this magnificent ceiling between 1508 and 1512.

As Goethe put it, "without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."

3. A real picture of the ceiling of the Sagrada Família

Designed by Antoni Gaudí, it is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world.

Art critic Rainer Zerbst said "it's probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art." Image
Read 26 tweets
Mar 23
Life in the 1980s 🧵

1. McDonald's in the 80s compared to today Image
2. People in the 80s react to new laws against drinking and driving

3. A grocery store in the early 1980s.

All glass bottles, no plastic in sight. Image
Read 28 tweets
Mar 22
Switzerland doesn't look real – a thread 🧵

1. Many scholars believe that Tolkien's 1911 hike through Lauterbrunnen directly inspired the valley of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. Image
2. Grindelwald and its unreal Alpine landscape

3. Canton of Obwalden

Emerald hills, homes straight from a fairytale, and the turquoise waters of Lake Lungern, all set against a backdrop of forested mountains.

The first documented reference to the village of Lungern appears in an 800-year-old tax register from Germany. Image
Read 23 tweets
Mar 21
Cherry blossoms in Japan 🧵

1. A tunnel of sakura-shaped bulbs in Mie An illuminated tunnel with thousands of sakura-shaped bulbs in Mie, Japan. 📸 godive2000
2. Kawagoe, Saitama

Sakura typically refers to the flowers of ornamental cherry trees, rather than those cultivated for their fruit.

It is Japan's national flower and plays a key role in the tradition of hanami. 📸 Tadahisa Hagiwara
3. Hanami is a cherished Japanese tradition that celebrates the ephemeral beauty of cherry (sakura) and plum (ume) blossoms, typically from late March to early May.

In modern-day Japan, it mostly consists of having an outdoor party beneath the sakura during daytime or at night. Image
Read 20 tweets
Mar 20
Italy's most stunning fountains - a thread 🧵

1. This fountain in L'Aquila was designed to look like it's pouring lava for a brief time each day when the sun hits it at just the right angle. Image
2. Trevi Fountain

The Aqua Virgo, built by Agrippa in 19 BC, still supplies water to the fountain more than two millennia later.

Designed by Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762, this Baroque marvel is one of the most iconic fountains in the world. Image
3. The Praetorian Fountain, Palermo

Originally built in 1544 in Florence by Francesco Camilliani, it was sold, relocated, and reassembled in Sicily in 1574.

Giorgio Vasari described it as "a magnificent fountain without equal in Florence, or perhaps even in all of Italy." Image
Read 22 tweets

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