Davinci - The Man Before His Time.

Leonardo da Vinci Ð'- The Man Before His Time

"Leonardo Da Vinci was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while others were all still asleep" (Freud 72). When the name Leonardo da Vinci comes to mind, society tends to quickly think of The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper or the Baptism of Christ. In actuality, Leonardo da Vinci was not only an artist; he has been accredited as being known as the ultimate Renaissance man. This Italian philosopher, engineer, mathematician, draftsman, architect, sculptor and anatomist was a man far beyond his era. His intellect, conceivably more than that of any other contemporary personality, characterized the revitalization of humanist ideals. Leonardo's personal writings uncovered a character of logical inquiry and mechanized creativity that was well advanced for his period of time (Richter 12). His world-renowned paintings and scientific manuscripts are known to be truly inspirational. Leonardo da Vinci's life was enhanced with numerous influential people that led to his development and success in becoming an artist as well as a scientist.

Leonardo de Vinci, the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, was born April 15, 1452, near Vinci, Italy. His mother, Caterina, a farmer's daughter, lived by the Ser Piero farm. Not much is known about Caterina except based off of tax roll documents; it is possible that she raised Leonardo for approximately 5 years (Nuland 13). According to tax rolls, she married Accattabriga di Piero in 1457. Shortly after Leonardo's birth, his father, Ser Piero, married Albiera di Giovanni Amadori. Without success, Ser Piero and Albiera tried furiously to conceive a child. It is the contention of several biographers that after trying to have children for five years, the couple brought Leonardo to live with them in Vinci (Nuland 14). The most formative years of Leonardo's personality development was the over devoted love of his mother, Caterina. Trusting the documentation is correct; this would mean that Leonardo essentially was without a father during that five-year time span.

Believing the past regarding his early development certainly suited Freud's theory about the roots of homosexuality allegations regarding Leonardo. This is how Freud explains his theory in the monograph, Leonardo da Vinci: A Study in Psychosexuality:

In all our male homosexuals, there was a very intense erotic attachment to a feminine person, as a rule to the mother, which was manifest in the very first

period of childhood and later entirely forgotten by the individual. This

attachment was favored by too much love from the mother herself, but was

also furthered by the retirement or absence of the father during the childhood

periodÐ'....(Freud 16)

Freud believed that his alleged homosexuality is what helped contribute to Leonardo's genius and the extraordinary range of his accomplishments (Nuland 15). Nuland stated, " Biographers who touch on the subject rarely express doubt that Leonardo was homosexual. This was the opinion famously stated by Kenneth Clark in the Ryerson Lectures, delivered at the School of Fine Arts at Yale in 1936" (16).

Leonardo's education until the age of approximately fifteen, probably consisted of Donna Albiera and her mother in-law, Monna Lucia. Private teachers of mathematics and Latin seem to have been involved (Nuland 21). He never appeared to master the classical language of Latin, and most of his notes were in Italian (Vasari 38). With respect to classical and later writings, he was, as some contemporaries called him, "an unlettered man" (Nuland 22).

Somewhere around the age of fifteen, Leonardo and his father moved to Florence where he studied with Andrea del Verrocchio. He was known as one of the most bestowed and diverse artists of Florence. Verrocchio was more of a sculptor than a painter. This diversity allowed Leonardo to thrive during his apprenticeship with Verrocchio. He matured into a man of formidable talents, gracious temperament and considerable self-confidence. And yet, there were still notations in some of Leonardo's notebooks of disquiet and even fear (Nuland 24). His fears were related to the unknown. His notebooks revealed an intense obsession of the unknown and documented several years of research into the land, astronomy, anatomy, aerodynamics, and more. From 1466 to approximately 1472, Leonardo did not produce any paintings. He utilized this time to become skilled in oil renderings. In June of 1472, Leonardo became a member of the Florence Painters Guild. This ended his tenure as an apprentice with Verrocchio (Editori 3).

The Renaissance Era was about to embark into Leonardo's life. This is the time when he emerged as a known master of art. His first known work of art was in August 1473, and was known as the Picture of the Arnovalley. This artwork was illustrated in pen and ink (Editori 6).

In 1476, Leonardo along with Verrocchio, painted the Baptism of Christ. The dissimilarity in the painting was obvious form the differences in the two angels. Verrocchio was quoted in stating that, "Leonardo was so much better than I, that I am resolved never to paint again" (Renaissance Man 1). Leonardo stayed in Florence for five years and opened his own studio.

In search of new heights and challenges, he moved to Milan in 1482, where he was commissioned to work for the Duke of Milan. The Duke kept him busy painting, sculpting and designing elaborate court festivals. He also put him to work designing weapons, buildings and machinery. He continued his scientific work and research for the seventeen years that he spent in Milan. This is when he developed such meticulously illustrated notebooks on his scientific observations. Much of Leonardo's notebooks covered four main themes: painting, architecture, the elements of mechanics, and human anatomy. Leonardo's interests were so broad, that he usually failed to finish what he started. This lack of "stick-to-it-ness" resulted in his completing only about six works in these seventeen years (Renaissance Man 2).

In 1499, Milan was invaded by the French, which resulted in the Dukes loss of power. Leonardo was forced to leave Milan, and spent the next 16 years traveling throughout Italy. Several employers throughout this time span commissioned him. During this time he traveled for a year with Borgia's army as a military engineer (Renaissance Man 3).

Being the perfectionist that he was, he continued his research in the sciences to perfect his artwork. His study of nature and anatomy enabled his paintings to