Celine
Beydoun 7-1
Mrs. Chalhoub
Thurs. May 22,2014
BB4
Leonardo Da Vinci
Summary:
In 1452 Leonardo had entered the world. His mother,
Caterina was not present at his baptism, his father Ser Piero liked Caterina
but did not marry her since she was a peasant and he was a wealthy and
important man. A few months later he
married a girl wealthy and important as him she was 16 so she was a lot younger
than Ser Piero, her name was Albiera di Giovanni Amadori. Leonardo stayed with
his mother for a couple of years until she married a man of her kind, so he
moved with his father. By the time he was five he lived with his grandfather.
His father didn’t show any affection for him he only cared about his wife, which
died childless young. She got replaced a year later by someone close to
Leonardo’s age and she would die eight years later also childless. But he liked
his uncle Francesco, who ran a farm he was gentle and independent man. So
Leonardo had a country childhood and education. His education wasn’t that great
that he couldn’t be a doctor if he wanted to, or lawyer or attend a university
because his father thought education would be wasted on the boy. Later, his
father got him an apprenticeship at a famous artiest Andrea del Verrocchio. At
first he would run errands and sweep the workshop while other apprentices
painted. After a while Leonardo started to paint with them, there was even a
story that he helped with the painting ST. John baptizing Jesus he helped by
completing the background and painting one of the angles, it said that when
Verrocchio saw Leonardo’s angel he thought it was the best thing about the
painted and was the best painting he ever saw that he never picked a paintbrush
ever again. When his career first started it was slow and usually everything he
started would never finish; it was as if he was bored of painting, so he headed
north for Milan at the age of 30. Leonardo was known by a nickname, it was
music not art that first brought Leonardo to the moor; he had a great voice and
was great at playing the lira and an instrument like the violin. He even designed instruments but wrote a
letter to the moor that he had more than music to offer like new machines for
war like improvements and ideas he also added that he was a master at
architect. The moor didn’t give him work right away, but then the church gave
him work to paint “ Our lady and her
son with angels” but there was no throne or golden leaf or Mary’s robe, the
baby Jesus sat on grass wearing nothing at all.
None of the usual things were in the picture but that’s how the monks
wanted him to paint it. It was the talk of Milan and then the moor was amazed
so that’s when he gave him work. Then he painted something for the marriage of
the granddaughter of king of Naples. It had something to do with astronomy and
it was so spectacular that is went into the history as the “ Feast of
Paradise.” Leonardo had a book were he would write everything in it like ideas,
inventions his life and if they were secret it would be written in code. Then
Leonardo focused on astronomy as a scientist he dissected frogs, corpses, dead
bodies and he use to draw pictures of them and the organs that doctors today
still. He studied the movement of water, arrangement of leaves and the flight
of a bird. He did a lot of experiment also some people thought that the shells
and pebbles from the sea floated to the mountains but Leonardo knew that the
rocks of the mountain were once the bottom of the sea. Today, people say he was
correct and ahead of his time. Many of his invention were a underwater diving
apparatus, an automatic paper feeder for a printing press, a machine to make
metal screws, one of the world’s first air-cooling systems, an automatic door,
posthole digger, ski-like shoes for walking on water, a submarine and a self
closing toilet lid. One of his inventions was to be the first human to ever
fly, and he worked on it for a long time but no matter how much he tried, he
failed; so he just gave up. Moreover, the Moor asked him to make a sculpture
that was supposed to have a horse with a rider on it, which was meant to
represent the war. The sculpture was supposed to be the biggest one in the
world; however, he wasn’t provided with enough material so he was only able to
finish the horse. The horse was destroyed when the French took over. Another
piece of art that he was asked to do was a painting of when Jesus was telling
disciples that one of them will betray him; he drew the table resembling the
real table of the monks so it seems like the monks are having dinner with
Jesus. After that, the French took over Milan. He kept moving from place to
place for 16 years until he returned to Milan where he served the pope and
designed the great bridge of the Sultan of Turkey. During that time, he wrote
the book “The Prince”. However, the pope didn’t like it because it was neither
traditional nor moralized. On the other hand, Napoleon called it the only thing
worth reading. After his father died, the his oldest sibling went to the court
and claimed that Leonardo shouldn’t get part od his father’s wealth so all his
12 siblings inherited except for him. However Leonardo was loved by is uncle
who gave him everything after he died and his siblings couldn’t do anything
about it. After that, Leonardo stopped painting until the king of France who
appreciated Leonardo’s talent, asked him to be his painter because Leonardo’s
reputation was on a decline among all the other rising artists. Leonardo got
two apprentices whom he treated like his own sons. In fact, one of them would
stay next to Leonardo until the rest of his life and would act as his
protector. During the time when Leonardo was the king of France’s painter, he
drew the Mona Lisa. The king thought that the Mona Lisa shows everything that
is important in painting; the Mona Lisa got great recognition and is still
considered an achievement in the history of art. In his last years, he was very
comfortable around his friends and loved ones, and in 1519 he declared that he
had made his peace with God. At an age of 67, he died in the arms of the King
of France. Leonardo’s journal that contained all of his inventions and secrets
was lost due to Leonardo’s apprentice’s son who was given the journal but
wasn’t interested in the works of Leonardo. Up to this date, 6000 pages of the
journal are missing and people are still trying to find them.
History:
It takes place during the 15th-16th
century. On page 1 it says that he was born in 1452. On page 22 it says he died
in 1519. Their were lots of wars which affected his art because he was asked to
paint war pictures and sculptures. His book “The prince” was condemned by the
pope which shows that his works were sometimes not well received because
others’ power and authority. However, the most important thing that affected
Leonardo and his work was the fact that he lived during the Renaissance where
arts and sciences were on the rise after the long years of the Middle Ages.
This era that he lived in, affected the content of his works. On the other hand,
Leonardo was ahead of his time, so his creations influenced the people of his
time and pushed science and art forward. In fact, some of his works are still
used today like the Helicopter, the opening of the toilet lid, and the drawings
of the organs, which the doctors still use.
Vocabulary:
|
Page
numbers
|
Words
|
Definition
|
|
P. 15
|
Condemned
|
Disapproved
of something.
|
|
P. 16
|
Contrapposto
|
Body parts
that fail arrangement.
|
|
P. 17
|
Chancellor
|
A senior state or legal
official.
|
|
P. 22
|
Tantalizing
|
Tease
someone with the sight or promise of something that will not happen.
|
|
P. 21
|
Philosopher
|
a person engaged or learned
in philosophy.
|
Reflection:
I think the book is amazing
because I learned that Leonardo wasn’t only a artist and he invented things we
use today. Also the fact that he was ahead of his time was marvelous. I think
people who like to learn and like history should read this book and not only is
the book educational but it is also entertaining at the same time. I would rate
this book a 10/10 because I enjoyed it along the way and got fascinated by all
the new things I learned. I actually hope that the world would see Leonardo
more than just an artist because a lot of his inventions is what we use today
but not a lot of people know that. Also Leonardo is important to know about
because of all of his inventions and the amazing painting he drew especially
the Mono Lisa. Overall, I really enjoyed
the book and I hope other people will read it to see how amazing it was to read
it.
Bibme:
Stanley, Diana. Leonardo Da Vinci. New
York: William and Morrow company , 1996. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 1. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 22. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 9. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 11. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 15. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 15. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 16. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 17. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 22. Print.
Stanley, Diana. "Leonardo Da Vinci." Leonardo
Da Vinci. New York: William and Morrow Company, 1996. 21. Print.
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