Leonardo Da Vinci, the iconic artist behind masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, was not merely a painter but an ingenious engineer and scientist, asserts Walter Isaacson in his monumental biography.
Published recently in Spain, this biography delves into the life of a man whose insatiable curiosity and innovative spirit made him the epitome of a Renaissance polymath. Isaacson, known for his biographies of other great minds like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Ada Lovelace, and Benjamin Franklin, sees Da Vinci as the culmination of his work.
The biography explores Da Vinci's ability to seamlessly blend art and science, emphasizing his role as the archetypal Renaissance man. His famous Vitruvian Man, a drawing of a fully proportioned figure within a circle and a square, symbolizes the fusion of art and science that made Da Vinci history's most innovative genius.
Da Vinci's life, as recounted by Isaacson, was a tapestry woven with unsurpassed anatomy drawings, projects to divert rivers, musings on the reflection of Earth's light on the Moon, and even the opening of a pig's heart to demonstrate ventricle function. His creative endeavors spanned across multiple disciplines, including musical instruments, choreographies, and the use of fossils to challenge biblical narratives.
Isaacson emphasizes Da Vinci's uniqueness – peculiar, obsessive, playful, easily distracted, a bastard, homosexual, left-handed, and a vegetarian. Yet, these characteristics, in today's terms, would categorize him as modern. Isaacson credits the tolerant atmosphere of 15th-century Florence, where Da Vinci flourished, for nurturing creativity, noting that similar environments today include cities like Barcelona and Madrid.
Da Vinci's curiosity extended beyond conventional boundaries, with his notebooks filled with lists showcasing an insatiable hunger for knowledge. Isaacson places particular importance on the 7,200 pages of Da Vinci's notebooks, where lists of topics he found curious provide a window into his ever-active mind. From geometric studies to pondering the length of a woodpecker's tongue, Da Vinci's notebooks reveal a dance through nature, capturing his diverse interests and unrelenting curiosity.
The biography dismisses the notion that Da Vinci's diverse interests detracted from his art. Isaacson argues that without Da Vinci's studies in anatomy or flight, he might have painted more, but he wouldn't have been the most creative artist in history. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, rooted in anatomical studies of facial muscles and research on human eye perception, exemplifies how Da Vinci's varied pursuits enriched his artistic endeavors.
In the end, Isaacson positions Da Vinci not as the most intelligent person of the Renaissance but as the most imaginative and creative—a genius whose ability to connect different fields and ideas continues to inspire generations.
