Read Online Fritjof Capra by The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance - Free Book Online
Tags: General, science, History, Biography & Autobiography, Biography, Renaissance, Art, Italy, Artists; Architects; Photographers, Science & Technology, To 1500, Leonardo, 16th Century, Individual Artists, Scientists, Science; Renaissance, Scientists - Italy - History - to 1500, Scientists - Italy - History - 16th Century
15
It was a complex project, involving securing the lantern to withstand strong winds; precisely casting, shearing, and welding the copper ball’s many sections; and finally, hoisting the heavy ball and cross to the top of the lantern by using special hoisting devices, designed by Brunelleschi himself. The welding alone was a major feat of science and engineering, because there were no welding torches in the fifteenth century. Small welds could be executed at the forge, but the copper ball was so big that the only way to weld it with a hot flame at precise points was to use concave mirrors to “burn” a weld (a technique that had been known since antiquity). Manufacturing such concave mirrors required considerable knowledge of geometrical optics and very precise grinding equipment. This explains Leonardo’s frequent studies of the geometry of “fire mirrors,” as he called them, in his early drawings. 16 They later led him to formulate sophisticated theories of optics and perspective.
The project was finally completed in 1471. Contemporary chroniclers recorded that on May 27 of that year a large crowd gathered in front of the Duomo to watch the hoisting of the great gilded ball, perfectly smooth and shining, to the top of the marble lantern, where, after a fanfare of trumpets, it was secured to the plinth to the sounds of the “Te Deum.” It was a spectacle that Leonardo never forgot. Forty-five years later, when he was over sixty and working on the design of a large parabolic mirror in Rome, he wrote in his Notebook as a reminder to himself, “Remember how we welded together the ball of Santa Maria del Fiore!” 17
Toward the end of Leonardo’s apprenticeship, Verrocchio was working on a picture of the
Baptism of Christ
(Fig. 3-2). Since the youth had shown great promise, the master let him paint parts of the background and one of the two angels. These portions of the painting, the first record we have of Leonardo as a painter, already show features of his distinctive style. In the background, we see wide, romantic hills, rocky cliffs, and water flowing from a pool in the far distance all the way to the foreground, where it forms small waves rippling around the legs of Christ. Close inspection of this flow of water in the original painting, now in the Uffizi Gallery, reveals several tiny waterfalls and turbulences of the kind that fascinated Leonardo throughout his life.
Figure 3-2: Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci,
Baptism of Christ,
c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Equally striking is the originality of Leonardo’s angel. Its grace and beauty are far superior to those of Verrocchio’s, which the master could not fail to notice. “This was the reason,” reports Vasari, “why Andrea would never touch colors again; he was so ashamed that a boy understood their use better than he did.” Indeed, it seems that from that time on, Verrocchio concentrated on sculpture, and left the execution of paintings to his senior assistants. 18
YOUNG MASTER PAINTER AND INVENTOR
At the age of twenty, Leonardo was recognized as a master painter, and in 1472 he was admitted to the guild of painters known as Compagnia di San Luca. Curiously, the company was included in the guild of physicians and apothecaries, which was based at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. For Leonardo, this was the beginning of a long association with the hospital. For many years he used the guild as a bank for his savings, and it was at Santa Maria Nuova that he found his first opportunities to perform anatomical dissections.
The young Leonardo was already familiar with the dissection of muscles; close to Verrocchio’s workshop was the
bottega
of the brothers Pollaiolo, whose paintings were known for their vivid rendering of muscular bodies. They had derived their knowledge of muscles from frequent dissections, which Leonardo must have watched closely during his apprenticeship. A few years later, he used his acute knowledge of the
It was a complex project, involving securing the lantern to withstand strong winds; precisely casting, shearing, and welding the copper ball’s many sections; and finally, hoisting the heavy ball and cross to the top of the lantern by using special hoisting devices, designed by Brunelleschi himself. The welding alone was a major feat of science and engineering, because there were no welding torches in the fifteenth century. Small welds could be executed at the forge, but the copper ball was so big that the only way to weld it with a hot flame at precise points was to use concave mirrors to “burn” a weld (a technique that had been known since antiquity). Manufacturing such concave mirrors required considerable knowledge of geometrical optics and very precise grinding equipment. This explains Leonardo’s frequent studies of the geometry of “fire mirrors,” as he called them, in his early drawings. 16 They later led him to formulate sophisticated theories of optics and perspective.
The project was finally completed in 1471. Contemporary chroniclers recorded that on May 27 of that year a large crowd gathered in front of the Duomo to watch the hoisting of the great gilded ball, perfectly smooth and shining, to the top of the marble lantern, where, after a fanfare of trumpets, it was secured to the plinth to the sounds of the “Te Deum.” It was a spectacle that Leonardo never forgot. Forty-five years later, when he was over sixty and working on the design of a large parabolic mirror in Rome, he wrote in his Notebook as a reminder to himself, “Remember how we welded together the ball of Santa Maria del Fiore!” 17
Toward the end of Leonardo’s apprenticeship, Verrocchio was working on a picture of the
Baptism of Christ
(Fig. 3-2). Since the youth had shown great promise, the master let him paint parts of the background and one of the two angels. These portions of the painting, the first record we have of Leonardo as a painter, already show features of his distinctive style. In the background, we see wide, romantic hills, rocky cliffs, and water flowing from a pool in the far distance all the way to the foreground, where it forms small waves rippling around the legs of Christ. Close inspection of this flow of water in the original painting, now in the Uffizi Gallery, reveals several tiny waterfalls and turbulences of the kind that fascinated Leonardo throughout his life.
Figure 3-2: Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci,
Baptism of Christ,
c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Equally striking is the originality of Leonardo’s angel. Its grace and beauty are far superior to those of Verrocchio’s, which the master could not fail to notice. “This was the reason,” reports Vasari, “why Andrea would never touch colors again; he was so ashamed that a boy understood their use better than he did.” Indeed, it seems that from that time on, Verrocchio concentrated on sculpture, and left the execution of paintings to his senior assistants. 18
YOUNG MASTER PAINTER AND INVENTOR
At the age of twenty, Leonardo was recognized as a master painter, and in 1472 he was admitted to the guild of painters known as Compagnia di San Luca. Curiously, the company was included in the guild of physicians and apothecaries, which was based at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova. For Leonardo, this was the beginning of a long association with the hospital. For many years he used the guild as a bank for his savings, and it was at Santa Maria Nuova that he found his first opportunities to perform anatomical dissections.
The young Leonardo was already familiar with the dissection of muscles; close to Verrocchio’s workshop was the
bottega
of the brothers Pollaiolo, whose paintings were known for their vivid rendering of muscular bodies. They had derived their knowledge of muscles from frequent dissections, which Leonardo must have watched closely during his apprenticeship. A few years later, he used his acute knowledge of the
Similar Books
A Choir of Ill Children
Tom Piccirilli
The Lost Years
Mary Higgins Clark
The Murders of Richard III
Elizabeth Peters
The Clue in the Recycling Bin
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Rule of Thirds, The
Chantel Guertin
Thomas M. Disch
The Priest
Master of Wolves
Angela Knight
Saving Billie
Peter Corris
Troll-y Yours
Sheri Fredricks
The Hidden Queen
Alma Alexander