Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

313

architecture

Buildings and town planning

fascinated Leonardo. he designed

an “ideal city” that was never

built. the streets of the city were

arranged in a grid pattern, like a

modern american town. he also

designed bathhouses, together with

drainage networks, and systems for

garbage collecting, which were

unknown at the time.

renaissance man

in Leonardo’s time, it was

still possible for a person

to become skilled in many

different branches of

learning—such a person was

called a “renaissance man.”

Leonardo produced new

ideas in practically every area

he studied. he wrote down

many of these ideas in a

series of beautifully

illustrated notebooks.

a hiGhLY taLenteD artist and scientist, Leonardo

da Vinci was years ahead of his time. he was one of the

greatest figures in the movement called the renaissance,

the revival of art and learning that began in italy in the

15th century. today, many people remember Leonardo

for painting some of the most famous pictures of his time,

but he achieved a great deal more than this. he designed

castles and weaponry, invented machines, studied physics

and mathematics, and made accurate scientific drawings

of plants, animals, and the human body. he was probably

one of the world’s greatest all-around geniuses.

Leonardo da Vinci

mona lisa

Leonardo’s best-known

portrait is of mona Lisa, the

wife of a rich Florentine.

the painting is famous for

mona Lisa’s haunting smile,

and for the softly blended

colors, an effect known as

sfumato. the painting is in

the Louvre Gallery in Paris.

machinerY

Leonardo’s notebooks are

crammed with designs for

ingenious machines. some

of these devices, such as a

pump, an armored car, and a

machine for grinding lenses,

could actually have been

built and used. Others, like

his famous “ornithopter”

flying machine with its

flapping wings, would never

have worked, but they were

still ahead of their time.

anatOmY

in the 16th century, people knew

little about anatomy (the study

of the human body and how it

works). Leonardo was one of the

first to dissect, or cut up, dead

bodies and draw them,

sketching every muscle and

bone in detail. if his drawings

had been published, they would

have proved helpful to doctors

and other scientists.

1452 Born near the

village of Vinci, in italy.

1466 moves to Florence;

works in studio of the

artist Verrochio.

1482 Works as architect,

engineer, and painter in

milan, in northern italy.

1503 Begins mona lisa.

1503 Designs famous

flying machine.

1513 makes pioneering

study of lenses and optics.

1515 studies anatomy.

1516 Dies in France.

helicopters

Painting

rensaissance

Find out more

Tank design

Flying machine

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