Technical inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci: where he was born, what he became famous for, interesting facts “Water, you have no taste, no color, no smell, You cannot be described, they enjoy you without knowing what you are. Can't say you need

Brief biography of Leonardo da Vinci April 15, 1452 - Leonardo was born in the village of Anchiano near Vinci. His mother, about whom almost nothing is known, was supposedly called Katerina. His father is Ser Piero da Vinci, 25 years old, a notary, from a dynasty of notaries. Leonardo -

Chapter 2 Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci) - Italian painter, sculptor, encyclopedic scientist, engineer, inventor, one of the most prominent representatives of the culture of the High Renaissance, was born on April 15, 1452 in the city of Vinci near Florence (Italy).

Chapter II. Leonardo da Vinci. Faust Verancio In the fifteenth century in Italy there lived a wonderful man named Leonardo da Vinci. He was a painter, a sculptor, a musician-composer, an engineer, a mechanic, and a scientist. His beautiful paintings and drawings are proud of in

The study of the section of cytology in the course “Biology. General patterns” presents a definition
divided difficulty for students. The content of the section is distinguished by many concepts, "dry" and difficult to assimilate factual material. In the lesson on the topic: "Cell Theory" we summarize the theoretical material, conduct testing on mandatory issues of theory and practical skills.

The final lesson on this topic includes the following tasks.

1. To systematize students' knowledge about the composition, structure of cells, metabolic processes in representatives of different kingdoms of wildlife.
2. Check the level of formed cytological knowledge, the ability to apply knowledge to explain the processes occurring in the cell.
3. To form interest in the history of biological science, methods of scientific knowledge.

The general lesson is conducted in an unconventional form. The content of the tasks includes questions that are not sufficiently disclosed in textbooks, namely: methods for studying the structure and processes of cell vital activity; history of scientific discoveries and achievements of science; application of knowledge in the practical activities of people. The questions are composed mainly at the heuristic and creative levels and can be used at the profile and non-core levels of education. The questions are divided into three blocks: the chemical composition of the cell, metabolic processes, and the structure of the cell.

We can offer the following options for organizing work.

1. Teams choose a section, a question by number.
2. On the field with a top, questions are laid out in blocks (they differ in the color of the cards). The teacher determines the number of answers each team must give, earning points. If the team finds it difficult to answer, then the right to answer is given to the fans, and then to the opponents.
3. Teams take turns choosing questions based on keywords written on the board.

As an example, we will give questions divided into blocks for working on the first option. Depending on the goals set, the teacher can use questions as a variant of intermediate control, to create problem situations in the classroom, in other didactic situations.

Block "Substances"

1. What substance did Leonardo da Vinci call "the juice of life"? ( water.)

2. What vital substance was once a substitute for money? ( Salt.)

3. Due to what properties of the keratin protein do archaeologists find the remains of horns and hooves? ( Keratin does not dissolve in water, does not coagulate, does not break down in the ground for a very long time.)

4. At what time of the year and why does the concentration of glucose in the blood of a frog increase 60 times? ( In winter and early spring, because as the concentration of glucose rises, the freezing point of the blood decreases.)

5. Every 10 kg of fat yields 11 kg of metabolic water when broken down. What animals use this feature of fat metabolism? ( Animals forced to be without available water for a long time: bears during hibernation, camels in the desert, etc..)

6. In 1881, the biologist Lunin obtained organically balanced synthetic milk, which he fed to laboratory mice. The mice died. What was missing from the milk? ( Vitamins, the necessary complex of which is contained in natural milk.)

7. French pharmacists Peltier and Cavantou poured alcohol on green leaves and then isolated a green substance from the resulting solution. What they called it. ( Chlorophyll.)

8. In 1965, the American chemist Woodward was awarded the Nobel Prize for the synthesis of chlorophyll. Why is this work so highly rated? ( At that time, there were great hopes for the implementation of artificial photosynthesis on an industrial scale. Newspapers wrote: "An end to hunger and poverty!")

9. In 1827, the English physician Prout divided all the organic substances of the cell into three groups. What do we call them? ( Proteins fats carbohydrates.)

10. Proteins were first called albumins, then proteins. Explain these names. ( Albumin - chicken egg protein, protein - from proteus - primary, main.)

11. In 1844 Bussingault determined the relative value of various foods according to their protein content. How is it defined? ( The presence of essential amino acids.)

12. In 1897, the German chemist Buchner obtained yeast juice free from yeast cells and added it to a sugar solution. The sugar has been fermented. How did the scientist explain the result of the experiment? ( The solution contained fermentation enzymes.)

13. Why were sailors in the British Navy given lemon juice? ( Juice is a source of vitamin C, which prevents scurvy.)

14. It took Sanger eight years to establish the structure of a protein of 50 amino acids, and in 1953 to synthesize it. This synthetic cheap protein has saved millions of lives. What is it called? ( Insulin.)

15. In 1963, washing powders appeared in Holland, which removed dirt well, but acted at a temperature not exceeding 40 ° C; linen with such a powder was not recommended to be boiled. What is the active principle of the powder, what substance limited the temperature regime? ( Enzymes. They denature at high temperatures and lose their properties..)

16. A legend is told in the East. Before traveling through the desert, an Arab merchant filled waterskins from fresh sheep stomachs with milk. At the end of the journey, he had not drink, but food (cheese). Where did cheese come from? ( A sheep's stomach contained the enzyme chymosin, or renin, which turned milk into cheese..)

17. In Jules Verne's novel, a funny incident is described. The travelers gathered to dine on guanaco llama meat, but it turned out that the meat was inedible. “Perhaps it has been lying too long?” one of the travelers asked. “No, it ran too long,” replied the scientist Paganel. Indeed, guanaco meat is edible if the animal is caught while resting. Why? ( During a long run, lactic acid accumulates in the muscles..)

18. Gulliver, the hero of Jonathan Swift, found himself without salt, said: “At first I very painfully felt the absence of salt, but soon I got used to doing without it, and I am convinced that the widespread use of this substance is the result of intemperance. After all, we do not know a single animal that would love salt. What is Gulliver's mistake? ( Salt is an absolutely necessary substance for life, animals also experience salt hunger..)

19. Man and most animals cannot eat cellulose. However, termites and herbivores are able to digest it. What helps them? ( Protozoa and the bacteria that live in their intestines.)

20. Julius Caesar left in the army only those soldiers who, at the sight of the enemy, blushed, not turned pale. Explain his choice. ( With the release of adrenaline, the hormone of aggression, a person turns red, and with the release of norepinephrine, the hormone of fear, a person turns pale.)

21. What substance can be called the energy currency of the cell? ( ATP.)

22. In each kilogram of the liver of a polar bear, so much of this vitamin accumulates that it will last a person for 40 years. It is believed that it was this substance that poisoned the polar explorers of Andre's expedition. However, the lack of this vitamin causes "night blindness". What is it called? ( Vitamin A.)

23. Sometimes the medical preparation acedin-pepsin is used to disinfect drinking water ( gastric enzyme analogue). Explain the mechanism of action of this substance. ( The enzyme hydrolyzes the proteins of microbes, and they die.)

24. The collagen protein molecule denatures at a temperature of 37 ° C, but a person does not die even at a higher temperature. How can this be explained? ( This is due to the mechanism of thermoregulation..)

25. Scientists isolated the gene from cancer cells. It turned out that it differs from the normal one by only one nucleotide. Suggest what could have caused the failure. ( Oncoviruses, mutagenic substances, radiation exposure, etc..)

Block "Building"

1. What can be called the "library" of the cell, and what is the "assembly shop"? ( Core; ribosomes.)

2. Peter the Great himself came from Russia to see the miracles discovered thanks to ordinary lenses. What kind of discovery are you talking about? Who did the Russian tsar visit? ( Discovery of the microcosm with the help of a constructed microscope; scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek.)

3. What organelle was discovered in 1865 by Sachs, who stained different parts of the cell with iodine? ( Chloroplast.)

4. In the cell membrane of these organisms, scientists have found a pigment identical to the visual one - rhodopsin. The pigment helped these organisms to synthesize organic substances. What group do they belong to? ( halobacteria.)

5. In 1831, the botanist R. Brown suggested that this cell structure is characteristic of all plant and animal cells. What is it called? ( Core.)

Block "Processes"

1. In 1625, Helmont laid the foundation for an experiment. He weighed the pot of earth and the willow planted in the pot. For 5 years, the scientist watered the willow. At the end of the experiment, the weight of the tree increased by 74 kg, and the weight of the earth decreased by 57 g. Helmont thought that the plant received food from the water with which he watered it. What process did the scientist study, what mistake did he make in his reasoning? ( Photosynthesis; he did not know that plants absorb carbon dioxide.)

2. Orthodoxy has established about 200 fasting days when you can not eat animal products. Evaluate this tradition in terms of knowledge of cellular structure and cellular metabolism. ( To maintain the vital activity of the body, it is necessary to renew cellular structures, for example, membranes consist of lipids and proteins, which are found mainly in food of animal origin.)

3. Who Should Eat More Protein: Teacher or Student? ( A student, he has a more intensive plastic exchange.)

4. Until 1883, it was believed that the assimilation of carbon dioxide is a specific feature of photosynthesis. In 1883 T.V. Engelman discovered that photosynthesis can take place without the release of oxygen. In 1887 S.N. Vinogradsky discovered chlorophyll-free organisms capable of synthesizing organic substances from inorganic ones. what are these organisms and what is the name of the process? ( bacteria; chemosynthesis.)

5. Dr. Oh from the University of California placed luciferin and luciferase, magnesium compounds and ATP in a test tube. The contents of the tube began to glow. What phenomenon was the scientist imitating? ( glow of fireflies,or luminescence.)

6. In 1856, French winemakers invited Pasteur for a consultation. Wine for a long time
storage turned sour, or rancid, causing great losses. Pasteur found that two types of bacteria live in wine, causing two different fermentations. Name them. ( Acetic acid and butyric acid.)

7. Explain the words of the French poet Sully-Prude: "Let all our ancestors die out - immortal living cells carefully preserve the inheritance." ( The statement is connected with the mechanism of transmission of hereditary information from both parents to children. Parents, in turn, got these genes from their moms and dads..)

8. This event took place in 1771. Priestley was looking for a way to purify the "spoiled" air. In one of the experiments, he found that a mint branch cleared the air and saved the life of a mouse. What kind of discovery are you talking about? ( On the release of oxygen during photosynthesis.)

9. What phases of mitosis are described by V. Dudintsev in the novel “White Clothes”: “Chromosomes moved like a ball of gray worms, then suddenly lined up in a strict vertical order. Suddenly doubled - now they were pairs. Immediately, some force dragged these pairs apart, the chromosomes obeyed, went limp, and something led them to different poles. What mistake did the author make? ( Metaphase, anaphase; chromosomes double in interphase.)

10. Translated from Greek miles- a thread. From this word came the name of the process of cell division - mitosis. Why did Fleming call him that? ( After spiralization during cell division, the chromosomes become visible.)

In the section on the question of what Leonardo da Vinci called the juice of life, asked by the author Andrey the best answer is Leonardo da Vinci called water the "Juice of Life on Earth".

Answer from Vasilisa[guru]
Water is widely distributed in nature. Hydrosphere - the water shell of the Earth, including oceans, seas, lakes, reservoirs, groundwater, soil moisture, is about 1.4 - 1.5 billion cubic meters. km. Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is covered with a continuous veil of water - oceans, seas, and only a little more than one-fourth remains on land. More accurate measurements showed that the land surface is 148.8 million square meters. km, water surface - 361.1 million square meters. km. Thus, we see that land occupies approximately 29% of the territory of our planet, and water - 71%. The human body is permeated with millions of blood vessels. Our planet has the same circulatory system. The blood of the Earth is water, and the blood vessels are rivers, streams, streams, lakes. Water on Earth plays the same role as blood in the human body. "The charioteer of nature" - this is how the great Leonardo da Vinci called the water. It is she who, passing from the soil to the plant, from the plant to the atmosphere, flowing down the rivers from the continents to the oceans and returning back with air currents, connects the various components of nature with each other, turning them into a single geographical system. Water is not just a transition from one natural component to another. Like blood, it carries a huge amount of chemicals with it. All plants can consume the nutrients contained in the soil only with water. Water also removes waste products generated by various geographic systems. Water also influences climate conditions. It is on Earth in a constant cycle. The driving force behind the water cycle is solar energy and gravity.

I confess that I regard the existence of Leonardo da Vinci as the existence of gods or mythical heroes. Zeus, Apollo, Hercules, Daedalus, Leonardo - for me these are figures of the same order. But, according to the books, he really lived. Here are the dates. Born April 15, 1452 in the village of Vinci at the foot of the Albanian mountains between Florence and Pisa. He died on May 2, 1519 in the castle of Cloux in the French city of Amboise.

Between these two sentences is life. Strange, incomprehensible, unanalyzable. The life of a man about whom more than three thousand books have been written. But even if we read all these books, Leonardo will remain distant and strange, because he is not at all like us, people living in the 21st century. But thanks to him, we can think about what universality is, what creativity, art, beauty and destiny are - puzzles that humanity has been struggling with for thousands of years. Secrets like Leonardo's.

Let's take a look at his life.

He was born... No, it's better to start from the end. Vasari, the author of the first and most popular "Biography" of Leonardo da Vinci, written in the 16th century, tells how the "great Florentine painter and sculptor" died. The king of France himself, Francis I, “in order to alleviate the suffering of the dying and show him mercy, supported him by the head, and Leonardo, divine in spirit, realizing that he could not receive a greater honor, rested in the arms of the king ...”

Later, scientists and researchers of the life of Leonardo da Vinci proved that this is a legend. Documents were found in the royal archives, according to which, on the day when the great Florentine died, Francis I was not in Amboise.

But the legend does not want to die. And the reason for this is Leonardo himself. Already for his contemporaries, his figure was intriguingly mysterious. Little, negligible little was known about him during his lifetime, for he never went to meet people's curiosity.

We are more or less familiar with his great contemporaries - from Verrocchio to Botticelli. We know what Perugino and Raphael were like. Michelangelo left a story about himself in his frescoes, paintings and marble sculptures. The character of Leonardo is not clear. He hid his essence, with extraordinary energy indulging in activities that Vasari called "whims and whims." Having a reputation as a magician, sorcerer and wizard, he multiplied legends around him during his lifetime. They were born and never died.

And after the death of Leonardo remained true to himself. He was buried, according to his will, in one of the Amboise churches, in the chapel. This church was destroyed in 1808. Admirers of the great artist and scientist, using old descriptions, found his grave. What had once been a body took on an unusual posture: an arm propped up its head. Now the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci in Amboise is marked symbolically. The original grave was destroyed at the end of the 19th century by a collapse of the mountain.

Almost nothing is known about Leonardo's childhood. Only once in his notes did he touch upon the beginning of life: “My first childhood memory was this: I dreamed that a kite flew up to my cradle, opened my mouth and hit my lips with its tail several times in a row.” This amazing dream, full of prophetic meaning, left a deep imprint not only in the memory of Leonardo, but also in his soul. He recognized the harbinger of fate in the kite.

We know what little Leonardo was like thanks to his teacher, Verrocchio. The boy served as a model for the artist when he created a bronze sculpture of the young David. Even then, Leonardo da Vinci was strikingly handsome. He remained so “divinely beautiful” until the very last minutes.

The conscious life of Leonardo began in Florence. Father exchanged the peace and quiet of Vinci's fields and oak forests for the noise of the city. He brought with him his son, who was then ten years old.

Florence, 15th century. Heart and soul of the Italian Renaissance. Then everyone to whom this era owes its splendor worked here: Donatello, Brunelleschi, Fra Filippo Lippi, Rossellino, Michelozzo, Paolo Uccello, the Pollaiolo brothers, Luca della Robbia, Mino da Fiesole ...

Florence embraced a passion for antiquity and the humanities. Giorgio Gemisto Pletone founded the Academy in the city following the example of Platonic, Athenian. Learned men flocked to Florence from everywhere to teach the Greek language. At this time, the worldview of Marsilio Ficino was formed, who sought to reconcile Christian doctrine with the teachings of Plato, Cristoforo Landino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Leon Battista Alberti, nicknamed "Florentine Vitruvius" for his scholarship and love for classical architecture.

Leonardo's childhood passed in an atmosphere of creativity; here, in Florence, he first met people of high culture. This finally determined the choice of his life path.

Leonardo was drawn to Art. In 1469, he ended up in the workshop of the famous Verrocchio.

The Renaissance artist's workshop was not at all like a modern workshop. Those who worked in it were often painters and sculptors, blacksmiths and builders, carpenters and architects at the same time. The students lived as one family with the maestro, ate together, slept under the same roof. They were a single partnership, a brotherhood, in which, nevertheless, rights and obligations were strictly regulated. The general rule was trust, openness and mutual assistance. The money was kept in a bag tied with a rope to the ceiling beam, and anyone took from there as much as he needed.

The same was done in the workshop of Andrea di Cione, nicknamed Verrocchio. The students themselves distributed duties among themselves - from the most modest (cleaning the workshop and shopping) to more complex and honorable ones, for example, preparing plaster and paints and even painting some figure, always in strict accordance with the drawing on the cardboard of the maestro himself.

There were several rooms in Verrocchio's workshop. One - with a very high ceiling; here, on one side, there was a forge, bellows and an anvil for hammering metal, and on the other, huge scaffolds for sculpting majestic statues. In other, even more spacious rooms, there were furnaces for melting, carpentry tables. There was also a warehouse of chalk, wax, and other materials.

Leonardo's teacher was a sculptor and goldsmith, carver, painter and musician. In his youth, he was engaged in the exact sciences, especially deeply - geometry, geology and astronomy.

Many young artists worked in his workshop, but two especially stood out for their talent: Pietro Vannucci da Perugia, nicknamed Perugino, and Alessandro Filipepi, nicknamed Botticelli.

Students of all ages are alike. And those taught by Verrocchio are no exception. They were young people, full of life, cheerful, quick-handed, sharp-tongued. And all of them were united by a crazy, crazy love for art.

Each knew exactly his duties, and each worked, respecting the other and not interfering with him. Evaluated each other without arrogance. They performed or completed many works with the whole group, and in this case it was not Andrea Verrocchio's signature, but his school-workshop.

Seventeen-year-old Leonardo da Vinci ended up in such a place. Here he went from apprentice to apprentice. It went amazingly fast.

One of Leonardo's first works has survived. This is a minor figure in Verrocchio's painting depicting the baptism of Christ by Saint John. In the left corner of the canvas are kneeling, two angels. One of them was written by a teacher, Verrocchio, the other by a student, Leonardo. One angel - healthy, full-faced; somewhat acting, he pretends to be filled with awe. The other is a creature with delicate features, graceful movements; he looks like a man, but you can see that he is something more than a man. A dreamy look, lips closed in thought: “What am I looking for on this earth? and if I'm already here, why can't I stay, being immortal, forever? This questioning face, radiating an inexpressibly important and therefore inexpressible question, will later appear in the female images of the artist. The inseparable intertwining of smile and pain, joy and sadness, attachment to life and meek farewell to it are reflected on these faces with such a touching charm that Leonardo's works are immediately recognizable; they cannot be confused with the works of other masters.

Biographers say that the maestro, seeing the excellent work of the student, took his brush and broke it in two. As a sign that he forever breaks with painting. Since then, Verrocchio has not touched paint or canvas. Although, perhaps, this is another legend ...

Leonardo's life has always been intense, but the time in question is special. These are the years of Leonardo's formation as a universal person, absorbing the spirit of the Renaissance with its single, integral culture. He embraces, conquers, masters more and more new areas of knowledge. He melts them into a single whole, absorbing and comprehending all the richness of the culture of the past and present. This is another side of his genius. Knowledge became living experience. Leonardo da Vinci, despite all his versatility, is an integral, indivisible figure; maybe that's why he was able to get ahead of humanity by centuries, millennia.

The young Leonardo is interested in everything and admires everything. None of the sciences leaves him indifferent. His curiosity is caused by astronomy and geology, mineralogy and zoology, botany and astrology. He looks like Jason seeking the golden fleece of knowledge.

Leonardo gets acquainted with the works of Origen of Alexandria, the dialogues of Plato, the revelations of Plotinus' Enneads, visits a circle of Jewish scientists, where he studies the secrets of Kabbalah and alchemy. He is faithful to geometry, mathematics, mechanics, hydraulics, anatomy and music. He is no longer just an artist, but a philosopher who, in the amazing and mysterious structure of the Universe, is looking for traces and features of its Creator. With all the scientific accuracy of his mind, with all the profound interest in reality, Leonardo's desire to create something that does not exist in reality is striking.

There is a story in biographies that has become canonical. It was taken from Vasari. A peasant turned to the father of Leonardo Piero da Vinci, who made a round shield with his own hands from a cut down fig tree. He asked the owner to find an artist ready to paint this shield. Pierrot entrusted the work to his son.

Leonardo decided to depict something unusual, impressive, capable of impressing and frightening everyone on the shield.

Vasari says: “For this purpose, he brought to his room, in which he was alone, a lot of all kinds of lizards, crickets, snakes, butterflies, grasshoppers, bats and other similar strange-looking creatures, from which, combining them in different ways, he created a very terrible and disgusting monster, poisoning everything around with its fetid breath and igniting the air. Piero da Vinci looked at the shield and recoiled in horror. It seemed to him that before him was not an image, but a living being.

Leonardo got his way. He created a monster, borrowing forms from various creatures, with which he filled the workshop, where they died; there was a stench in the room, but when Leonardo worked, he did not notice anything.

A great artist has been doing tricks and tricks of this kind all his life. The same Vasari tells another story about the already mature Leonardo: “To a lizard of a very outlandish appearance, which the gardener found, Leonardo attached wings made of skin scales that he had torn off from other lizards with a mercury mixture. And when this lizard crawled, its wings fluttered. He also attached eyes, horns and a beard to her, tamed her and kept her in a box, and when he showed his friends, they ran away in fear.

In these tricks - all Leonardo. Writer of witticisms, author of funny jokes. Despite all the hardships of fate, he never lost his sense of humor. It may seem that Leonardo wasted himself on nonsense, nonsense. But there was no nonsense in his life. He was not at all up to trifles, no matter what he did. In his amusements there is the same passion for knowing the world, for new forms, as in great experiments in science and art. This is creativity that resounds in everything: in his aircraft, anatomical experiments, architectural solutions, scientific research - and in practical jokes.

Many contemporaries did not understand and condemned Leonardo. It was difficult for him. And although from our “far away” he is seen as a legend and myth, Leonardo was a living person. He loved, suffered and rejoiced, suffered defeats, suffered and dreamed. And he was lonely, terribly lonely. In his searches and revelations, he reached the top and stood at the very edge of the world: the sky is near, below is humanity with its history, ahead is the abyss of the future. Leonardo lived in the present because he was fully aware of his existence as human. And it's not easy. Perhaps that is why he was so lonely and caused most doubts and suspicions. It was the same in the time of Socrates and Jesus.

Maybe he came into the world on some secret mission?

Leonardo did not reveal secrets to anyone, although he probably knew about her, as well as about many other things. It is no coincidence that he was called a magician, this great wanderer, who throughout his life questioned life itself about life. In essence, he was trying to find the "philosopher's stone" and was a true alchemist in his search for the absolute of man and the Human.

Leonardo is like Faust. But despite this similarity, it is unlikely that what happened to the poor doctor could happen to him. “I put an end to knowledge,” says Faust. And this is the beginning of agreement with the devil. Leonardo's passion for knowledge never cooled down.

God, what did he do!

Anatomy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, botany, geology, geography, hydraulics, fluid mechanics, optics, anthropology, cosmography, pure mechanics.

Plus all kinds of technology, mechanical engineering and flight business. He was the first to formulate the law of conservation of energy, before Galileo he explained the fall of bodies, calculated the magnitude of the friction force.

Then he developed the wave theory, studied the flight of birds and the structure of the eye to the smallest detail, designed the most complex devices that were rediscovered in the 20th century, invented many different tools, spinning wheels, mills, turbines, blocks, winches, machine tools. And in addition - a steam gun, a digger, a one-wheeled wheelbarrow, a parachute, a diving suit ...

He also painted pictures. "Annunciation", "Adoration of the Magi", "Madonna Benois" and "Madonna Litta", "Madonna del Garofano" and "Madonna in the Rocks", "Portrait of Isabella d'Este" and "Portrait of Ginevra Benci", "Saint Anna with Mary and the Christ Child”, “The Last Supper”, “John the Baptist”. "La Gioconda"...

Leonardo worked slowly. He was always urged on, hurried, angry, threatened with a finger and stamped with his feet, but he still hesitated. Perhaps, in an effort to bridge the gap between art and reality, he wanted to fit all of life, all its fullness, into one picture? Or maybe he was trying to embody the Absolute. As it was, for example, in The Last Supper.

A huge fresco on the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Nine meters wide, four meters high. Leonardo captured the dramatic moment of the supper when Christ said, "One of you will betray me." On the faces of the apostles confusion, amazement, confusion, indignation, horror. And the calm and sad Christ, who uttered the fatal words, is no longer just a man, but a divine being, doomed to endless loneliness.

Leonardo worked tirelessly. He worked from early morning until late at night, forgetting to eat and drink. He rested for an hour or two, but even at that time he considered whether he had succeeded in the pieces. And there were days when he stood by the fresco for half a day doing nothing, looking at one point. He thought about Christ and about Judas. These two images were not given to Leonardo. How to portray absolute goodness? And absolute evil?

Vasari narrates: “The abbot of the monastery importunately molested Leonardo so that he would finish the painting as soon as possible ... The abbot wanted the artist not to let go of his brushes and to work as tirelessly as those who cultivate the monastery garden.” The abbot complained to Duke Moreau, Leonardo's then patron. Tom had to call the artist and politely hurry. “Leonardo explained to the duke that people of high talent sometimes, although they work less than others, achieve more. After all, they first think about their plan and perfect ideas, and only then turn them into reality with their hands. He added that he only had to write the head of Christ, the prototype of which he was not going to look for on earth ... And yet he did not write the head of Judas, and here he again had doubts, because he was not sure that he would be able to convey in the right form the face of the one who who, after all the good deeds, turned out to be so proudly cruel in his soul that he dared to betray his master. Still, for the head of Judas, he will look for a sample and, in the end, for lack of a better one, he will always be able to use the head of the abbot, so importunate and immodest.

Leonardo's words made the duke laugh very much ... The poor, disgraced abbot ... had to leave Leonardo alone, who brilliantly completed the head of Judas, which seems to be a living embodiment of betrayal and cruelty.

But the face of Jesus Christ was never completed. And this is a special wisdom and strength. Achieving absolute good is the goal of human history. During the Renaissance, this was far from it. Before the eyes of Leonardo, the world was collapsing, the spiritual values ​​of which disappeared under the pressure of rapidly changing events. In one era, Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Copernicus, Columbus, Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo existed almost side by side - and an orgy of death, cruelty, revelry of the most unimaginable passions. The time of decay, dying, oblivion of the spiritual nature of man. No, the Italian Renaissance was far from absolute goodness. Very far. Today?..

The face of Christ is in the making. Judas' face is frozen. Mask, grimace of evil. Good is stronger. It is stronger than what is petrified and does not change. It is in motion. So there is hope...

It is necessary to say at least a few words about the main events in the life of Leonardo. In 1482, the thirty-year-old artist leaves Florence and stops in Milan. For seventeen years. Machines that were never built, ideas that never came to fruition... It may seem that this time was wasted. However, it was during this period that Leonardo created The Last Supper, next to which the ordinary life of thousands of people seems empty and in vain. Here he painted "Madonna in the Rocks", here he worked on the colossal equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza.

In 1499, after the capture of Milan by the French, Leonardo returned to Florence. In 1502, he enters the service of the ruler of Romagna, Caesar Borgia, one of the most monstrous and controversial people in the history of the Renaissance. In an unthinkable way, he combined treachery and fearlessness, cruelty and subtle artistry, demonic charm and intelligence. A few centuries later, Victor Hugo and Friedrich Nietzsche described his image in bright colors, obviously expressing the longing of the people of the 19th century for strong pictorial characters. But this is nothing more than romance. Caesar Borgia was like a beast, cunning, agile and creepy, who kills his victims without remorse. What connected this tyrant of the Renaissance and Leonardo, whose soul was so noble and graceful? Mystery. Another mystery of Leonardo da Vinci.

He stayed in the palace of Caesar Borgia for a short time. Again Florence, Milan, then Rome. He died in a foreign land, in France ...

Fate did not particularly stand on ceremony with the great artist. People like him always challenge the world. The life of the universal man is tragic. There were many sad pages in Leonardo's life.

The Last Supper, the result of fifteen years of work, was dying almost before his eyes. The wall on which the fresco was painted was poorly primed. The three layers reacted differently to air and heat; the wall was damp and seemed to be afflicted with an incurable disease.

But if the "Last Supper" still survived, then nothing was left of another great work - the giant equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza. This "Horse" was Leonardo's dream. It was supposed to become not only a work of unprecedented beauty, but also the most daring and grandiose work in terms of design.

Leonardo managed to realize only a model of a horse, without a rider. In 1493, it was put on public display during the wedding celebrations of one of the members of the Sforza family. Leonardo immediately became famous, and soon his fame spread throughout Italy. Neither the "Adoration of the Magi" nor the "Madonna in the Rocks" brought him such fame as this model. We can judge the beauty and power of the statue from the surviving drawings. These are the most beautiful works of art that an artist can create.

Lodovico Sforza (Moro) began to collect bronze - at least 90 tons were required for casting. But in 1494 he had to send all the metal to his half-brother Ercole d'Este to cast the cannons. For several years, the model stood in Milan, considered one of the treasures of Italy. But in 1499, when the French captured the city, a detachment of Gascon archers, inspired by their victory and Lombard wine, used it as a target. A few years later, there was no trace of the great horse.

Here is another story. In 1504, the Florentines desired that the walls of the Signoria's meeting room be decorated with scenes from the military history of the city. Leonardo da Vinci, then already a recognized, aging master, and a young lonely artist, a rebel sculptor Michelangelo, whose bright star was just rising in the sky of art, were invited to work. Both realized that this was in some sense a competition, although the Grand Council did not intend to pit the artists. However, the spirit of competition hovered over them all the time.

Leonardo chose as the subject of his painting the Battle of Anghiari in 1440, in which the Florentines defeated the Milanese. One episode of this battle deeply touched the master: a fight between several horsemen at the battle banner. The central drawing depicts a ball of people and animals. Warriors with hatred rush at each other. Animals bite and kick. Leonardo considered his painting an indictment of the war, which he called "the most brutal madness."

Michelangelo chose the episode of the Battle of Cascina, where the Florentines fought the Pisans. He captured the moment when the Florentine warriors were bathing in the Arno and the alarm sounded suddenly.

Indeed, it was a duel! Not only two titan artists met, but two worldviews of the era of Humanism. Leonardo expressed in his work its golden age: everything is harmonious in it. Michelangelo, on the contrary, is a crisis: a confrontation between the demonic and the divine, a protest against wisdom, a struggle against any manifestation of tolerance.

Even outwardly they were complete opposites. The royal posture of Leonardo, beauty combined with great physical strength ... The biographer writes: “He wore a red cloak only knee-length, although long clothes were then in fashion. A beautiful beard fell down to the middle of the chest, curly and well combed. Leonardo condemned the addiction to frequent changes of clothes. He always wore the same robe, sewn by himself. The cut of clothes remained unchanged, only the fabric and the combination of tones changed.

Michelangelo is short, with a mane of black matted hair on a large head, with burning, excited eyes. He didn't dress well. He never had any friends or students.

Leonardo started the work first. Exactly one year later, on February 28, 1505, he exhibited the painted cartons. All Florence was delighted. Leonardo proved to his fellow citizens that the Lord God himself put a brush in his hand, that he is not only a painter by God's grace, but also a fighter with lion's courage and an iron grip.

"The Battle of Anghiari" is a metaphor for a battle, a confrontation between strength, will and human passions.

Michelangelo also outdid himself. Instead of depicting the battle, he captured a minor episode. In the artist's reading, the sounds of the trumpet seem to be the voice of Heaven: someone is looking for clothes, someone is looking for weapons, someone rushed to the shore to get out of the water. Tense muscles, naked bodies - everything is conveyed with such force of life that it seems as if these people are about to leave the cardboard. But alas! Neither one nor the other did not bring their plan to the end.

This happened, most likely, at the end of 1505. According to the contract, the term for painting the fresco on the approved cardboard was coming to an end. Leonardo was in a hurry. He feverishly painted the wall of the Papal Hall, going from bottom to top. At the end of each day, he kindled a fire to dry the paint on the wall. The work progressed well.

But one evening, when he was painting the very top of the wall, the flames could no longer dry the paint. Worried, Leonardo ordered more firewood to be thrown into the fire. Suddenly, the paint flowed down, flooding and destroying what had already been written. Due to too strong a flame, the lower, finished part of the fresco swelled like a soap bubble, multi-colored layers of paint began to fall like volcanic lava, destroying everything that still survived. What did the artist feel, looking in flashes of fire at the end of the “Battle”? ..

Poor Leonardo da Vinci! Whatever he had to do! All his life he worked for one patron, then for another. On the road, he was often driven by need, but not only in daily bread. He was looking for answers to questions that we ask ourselves ...

Here he comes to Milan and enters the service of the militant Lodovico Moro. In his letter to him, he lists the secrets that he owns: “I can build portable bridges, extremely light and strong ... I also know a way to set fire to and destroy enemy bridges ... I can destroy any stronghold or fortress, if only it does not rest on a rock. I can also create bombards... that throw stones at the frequency of hail... I can create ships that are immune to... fire and smoke. I can also silently lead the army through digs and secret passages exactly to the intended place ... I can also make closed and completely invulnerable chariots. And right there - mortars, flamethrowers, catapults, ballistas, arrow throwers ...

“In peacetime, I hope to be worthy of comparison with anyone in architecture, in the construction of public and private buildings, in carrying water from one place to another. I also undertake in sculpture of marble, bronze and clay, as in painting, to perform any work no worse than anyone who wishes to compete with me.

When, where, with the help of what or whom did Leonardo master these secrets and skills?!

But at the court of the Duke of Milan, they were almost of no use to him. The tyrant liked to have fun more than to fight.

Have fun so have fun! Leonardo put on such fantastic performances and technically perfect revues that it takes our breath away to describe his unheard of attractions.

On January 13, 1490, a performance took place in the Milanese castle, the basis for which was Bellincioni's poem "Paradise".

A hemisphere with skillfully made holes was raised to the very ceiling, creating the illusion of the sky. Powerful iron fixtures with movable levers, says an eyewitness, rotated “a sphere with eight angels. Eight boys of about ten stood on almond-shaped platforms. On the largest platform, a young man periodically rose and fell, depicting the archangel Gabriel. "Paradise" Leonardo had the shape of an egg cut in half, lined with gold inside and glowing brightly, like the stars of heaven. In the seven holes, some above, others below, seven planets shone. And in this "Paradise" sweet music and the most tender songs constantly sounded ... "

But behind all these miracles, extravaganzas, apocalyptic revelry, another Leonardo peeps through. He is a little sad and sad. This can be judged from the fairy tales and fables that he composed at that time. Maybe for him it was a way to communicate with antiquity, paganism, myth? What is this? A game? Pranks? fun?

How much was planned in the Milan period! Leonardo was engaged in architecture, ranging from the projects of the "city of the future", which could still serve architects in good stead, and ending with an Egyptian-style mausoleum for members of the royal family. By the way, Leonardo had a special passion for the East. Letters have been preserved in which he tells about his travels in the eastern lands, in the mountains of Armenia. But it is absolutely certain that this was not the case in reality.

It is unlikely that Leonardo experienced great joy from the fact that he was born in his era.

He was the illegitimate son not only of Piero da Vinci, the Florentine notary, but of the entire Renaissance. The beauty of truth, which all his works breathe, was inaccessible even to the best of the artist's contemporaries.

One can understand Leonardo, who bursts into a stream of sarcasm, saying about people that “they can call themselves nothing more than food processors, manure producers, latrine fillers, because with their help nothing in the world happens; they have no prowess, and nothing remains of them but full dung-pits.” In fairness, it must be said that by the end of his life he became softer and more cordial. He forgave people and his time. He gave others the right to love him. There were not so many of them, real friends, students who idolized Leonardo and tried to understand him. But they were.

Here are the lines from the letter of Francesco Melzi, a close student of Leonardo, which was written after the death of the teacher. “For me, he was the best of fathers. It is impossible to express the grief that his death caused me. Until the very day when my body is buried, I will experience constant sorrow for him ... His death is grief for everyone, because it is not in the power of nature to create another such person.

Why was Leonardo unable to complete so many of his undertakings and plans? The answer is near. At the heart of all his exercises is an attempt to rise above frailty, to overcome the transient. Rejecting the old, proven methods and recipes, he went to experiments in order to understand and defeat Time and, following Faust, exclaim:

This task is immensely great and requires incredible efforts. But every moment of meaningful work consecrated by such a goal is worthy of exaltation. Past, present and future merge in Leonardo in a kind of higher unity, in truth. And he gives it to us in many different ways.

There is one portrait that the artist painted during his stay in Milan. "Portrait of a Musician". Not so long ago, the painting was restored, the painting was cleaned, and what was previously hidden by a thick layer of varnish became visible: the musician's hand is holding a piece of paper with several musical signs. Researchers have so far unsuccessfully tried to read this musical message. The artist has no paintings where there would be no secrets, encrypted signs.

Leonardo possessed a method, unsurpassed by anyone until now, thanks to which discoveries of the greatest importance were made. Unfortunately, they were buried in his papers for centuries. A huge number of pages written by his hand have not been found so far. They are unlikely to have been destroyed. Most likely they were just hidden.

Experience, knowledge, feelings, thoughts, suffering - everything that he experienced, understood and remembered, Leonardo put into the Gioconda. She was and remains his great secret. It is known for certain that Leonardo did not paint the Mona Lisa by order. After working on the painting for four years, he took the unfinished Gioconda with him, never to part with it.

So much has been written about this! Books, articles... A whole library. You can be sure that they will continue to write. Because "La Gioconda" is all of us. "La Gioconda" is a portrait of humanity of any era. "Gioconda" is almost absolutely universal - but only almost, because the picture is not finished, just as the act of God cannot be finished.

We can say that it is impossible to write such a thing. Nothing was impossible for Leonardo! He could do everything he planned, for he had freedom of spirit and will. This is universality: a spirit for which there are no barriers, a spirit that guides a person in his aspirations and makes possible the slow, step by step, rise of mankind along the steps of the great ladder. spirit and good will.

Universality is when the human soul reflects the whole world in itself: mountains, rivers, clouds... And the Sun. Universality is when great people of the past centuries live in a person with their search for answers to "eternal" questions: Pythagoras, Socrates, St. Francis, Andrey Rublev...

Universality can only be understood through one's own experience. This requires the work of the soul no less than the work of the hands and mind.

The landscape against which the Mona Lisa is depicted is amazing. Cool, damp, greenish-blue twilight is an indefinable time of day. It reminds me of the cave that Plato talks about. Leonardo knew how to make invisible ideas visible.

During the last session, before parting (they never met afterwards), Leonardo entertained Mona Lisa with stories. “I finally reached the cave and stopped at the entrance in bewilderment ... I entered and took a few steps. Furrowing my brows and closing my eyes, straining my eyes, I often changed my path and groped my way through the darkness, here and there, trying to see something. But the darkness was too deep. And when I stayed in it for some time, then two feelings woke up and began to fight in me - fear and curiosity: fear of exploring a dark cave and curiosity - is there any wonderful secret in it?

The cave was one of Leonardo's most beloved images. He was drawn to himself by all the mysteries of life. Gioconda, with an "unexpectedly flashing look," notices that curiosity alone is not enough to find out.

"What else do you need?" asks Leonardo.

In her brilliant, moist eyes, slightly swollen, as if she had just been crying, in her quiet folded hands, in her smile, in that incomprehensible smile, in her whole appearance and face, about which more than one generation of scientists and researchers break their heads - the answer that sounds in thousands of languages, in millions of meanings. When you look at the Gioconda for a long time, you feel uneasy - as if you fall under hypnosis. Try it. Dostoevsky said: “Beauty is a terrible and terrible thing! Here the devil is fighting with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people. God and the devil are good and evil. Their battlefield is the heart of the Mona Lisa. The reflection of their battle is her face.

It seems that this landscape is a curtain, an appearance, an illusion. It only needs to be moved to the side in order to give way to the light that is trying to get through to people. It is felt in the picture: a dim, dim, barely visible, engaged light. Open the curtain! And there? Gioconda knows... She knows everything, but she is silent and smiles. She cannot be told, because this is a mystery, a mystery, a mystery, which we can live only ourselves.

In Fiesole, an oral tradition is passed down from generation to generation about the "Cecchero" - an artificial swan that once flew up from the mountain and disappeared without a trace. They also know the name of the madman who decided to rise into the sky, like Icarus. His name was Tommaso Masini da Peretola, nicknamed Zarathustra. He was a famous mechanic and a close assistant to Leonardo.

The dream of flying into the sky was the most expensive for Leonardo. He never parted with her. Together with Peretola, he made artificial wings. Zarathustra, the bird-man, fled and from the bare peak of Mount Chechero soared into the air. He flew off and did not return. Did he die? Crashed? The legend does not speak. But from that moment on, Tommaso Masini, a faithful and devoted student of Leonardo, who worked with him for twenty-five years, is never mentioned again in the maestro's notebooks. For Leonardo, it was the loss of a best friend and another defeat, of which there were so many in his life. Another. But why?

The unchanging Vasari, as always, comes to the rescue, clarifying: “Wonderful and divine was Leonardo, the son of Piero of Vinci; and he would have achieved great results in science and writing, had he not been so many-sided and inconstant.”

Of course, you, as always, are right, dear Vasari. But if this versatility did not exist, if he did not teach us to see the world as a single being, we would be different today. If it were not for those of his victims then, it would be harder for us to go now. Go, relying on the experience of his defeats and victories. Go ahead. Forward and upward - there is simply no other way. "The one who looks at the star does not turn."

So said the disciple of Leonardo.

to the magazine "Man Without Borders"