1.
Leonardo da Vinci
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He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the Universal Genius or Renaissance Man, an individual of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. Much of his working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I of France, Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait, Leonardos drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated power, an adding machine. Some of his inventions, however, such as an automated bobbin winder. A number of Leonardos most practical inventions are nowadays displayed as working models at the Museum of Vinci. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology, optics, and hydrodynamics, today, Leonardo is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 at the hour of the night in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense – da Vinci simply meaning of Vinci, his birth name was Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning Leonardo. The inclusion of the title ser indicated that Leonardos father was a gentleman, little is known about Leonardos early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano in the home of his mother and his father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who loved Leonardo but died young in 1465 without children. When Leonardo was sixteen, his father married again to twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini, pieros legitimate heirs were born from his third wife Margherita di Guglielmo and his fourth and final wife, Lucrezia Cortigiani. Leonardo received an education in Latin, geometry and mathematics. In later life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood incidents, one, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face
2.
Gallerie dell'Accademia
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The Gallerie dellAccademia is a museum gallery of pre-19th-century art in Venice, northern Italy. It is housed in the Scuola della Carità on the bank of the Grand Canal. The two institutions remained in the building until 2004, when the art school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili. The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded on 24 September 1750, the first director was Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Gianbattista Tiepolo became the first president after his return from Würzburg. It was one of the first institutions to study art restoration starting in 1777 with Pietro Edwards, in 1807 the academy was re-founded by Napoleonic decree. The collections of the Accademia were first opened to the public on 10 August 1817, the Gallerie dellAccademia became independent from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in 1879. Like other state museums in Italy, it falls under the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Napoleonic administration had disbanded many institutions in Venice including some churches, convents and Scuole. The Scuola della Carità, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi and the church of Santa Maria della Carità thus became the home of the Accademia. The Scuola della Carità was the oldest of the six Scuole Grandi, the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi was started in 1561 by Andrea Palladio, though it was never fully completed. The facade of Santa Maria della Carità was completed in 1441 by Bartolomeo Bon, the Gallerie dell’Accademia contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic displays are evident. Media related to Gallerie dellAccademia at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Venice
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Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and these are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, the lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site. In 2014,264,579 people resided in Comune di Venezia, together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, with a total population of 2.6 million. PATREVE is a metropolitan area without any degree of autonomy. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC, the city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals. The City State of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century and this made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period, Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Venice has been ranked the most beautiful city in the world as of 2016, the name Venetia, however, derives from the Roman name for the people known as the Veneti, and called by the Greeks Eneti. The meaning of the word is uncertain, although there are other Indo-European tribes with similar-sounding names, such as the Celtic Veneti, Baltic Veneti, and the Slavic Wends. Linguists suggest that the name is based on an Indo-European root *wen, so that *wenetoi would mean beloved, lovable, a connection with the Latin word venetus, meaning the color sea-blue, is also possible. The alternative obsolete form is Vinegia, some late Roman sources reveal the existence of fishermen on the islands in the original marshy lagoons. They were referred to as incolae lacunae, the traditional founding is identified with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo on the islet of Rialto — said to have taken place at the stroke of noon on 25 March 421. Beginning as early as AD166 to 168, the Quadi and Marcomanni destroyed the center in the area. The Roman defences were again overthrown in the early 5th century by the Visigoths and, some 50 years later, New ports were built, including those at Malamocco and Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. The tribuni maiores, the earliest central standing governing committee of the islands in the Lagoon, the traditional first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was actually Exarch Paul, and his successor, Marcello Tegalliano, was Pauls magister militum. In 726 the soldiers and citizens of the Exarchate rose in a rebellion over the controversy at the urging of Pope Gregory II
4.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
5.
Drawing
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Drawing is a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing instruments to mark paper or another two-dimensional medium. A drawing instrument releases small amount of material onto a surface, the most common support for drawing is paper, although other materials, such as cardboard, plastic, leather, canvas, and board, may be used. Temporary drawings may be made on a blackboard or whiteboard or indeed almost anything, the medium has been a popular and fundamental means of public expression throughout human history. It is one of the simplest and most efficient means of communicating visual ideas, the wide availability of drawing instruments makes drawing one of the most common artistic activities. In addition to its artistic forms, drawing is frequently used in commercial illustration, animation, architecture, engineering. A quick, freehand drawing, usually not intended as a work, is sometimes called a sketch. An artist who practices or works in technical drawing may be called a drafter, Drawing is one of the major forms of expression within the visual arts. It is generally concerned with the marking of lines and areas of tone onto paper/other material, traditional drawings were monochrome, or at least had little colour, while modern colored-pencil drawings may approach or cross a boundary between drawing and painting. In Western terminology, drawing is distinct from painting, even though similar media often are employed in both tasks, dry media, normally associated with drawing, such as chalk, may be used in pastel paintings. Drawing may be done with a medium, applied with brushes or pens. Drawing is often exploratory, with emphasis on observation, problem-solving. Drawing is also used in preparation for a painting, further obfuscating their distinction. Drawings created for these purposes are called studies, there are several categories of drawing, including figure drawing, cartooning, doodling, free hand and shading. There are also many drawing methods, such as drawing, stippling, shading, the surrealist method of entopic graphomania. A quick, unrefined drawing may be called a sketch, in fields outside art, technical drawings or plans of buildings, machinery, circuitry and other things are often called drawings even when they have been transferred to another medium by printing. Drawing as a Form of Communication Drawing is one of the oldest forms of human expression and these drawings, known as pictograms, depicted objects and abstract concepts. The sketches and paintings produced in prehistoric times were eventually stylised and simplified, Drawing in the Arts Drawing is used to express ones creativity, and therefore has been prominent in the world of art. Throughout much of history, drawing was regarded as the foundation for artistic practise, initially, artists used and reused wooden tablets for the production of their drawings
6.
Vitruvius
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His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body, led to the famous Renaissance drawing by Da Vinci of Vitruvian Man. By his own description Vitruvius served as an artilleryman, the class of arms in the military offices. He probably served as a officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum. Little is known about Vitruvius life, most inferences about him are extracted from his only surviving work De Architectura. Even his first name Marcus and his cognomen Pollio are uncertain. Cetius Faventinus writes of Vitruvius Polio aliique auctores, this can be read as Vitruvius Polio, and others or, less likely, as Vitruvius, Polio, Vitruvius was a military engineer, or a praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status group. He is mentioned in Pliny the Elders table of contents for Naturalis Historia, frontinus refers to Vitruvius the architect in his late 1st-century work De aquaeductu. Likely born a free Roman citizen, by his own account, Vitruvius served the Roman army under Caesar with the otherwise poorly identified Marcus Aurelius, Publius Minidius and these names vary depending on the edition of De architectura. Publius Minidius is also written as Publius Numidicus and Publius Numidius, as an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is speculated that Vitruvius served with Caesars chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the locations where he served can be reconstructed from, for example, descriptions of the building methods of various foreign tribes. Although he describes places throughout De Architectura, he not say he was present. His service likely included north Africa, Hispania, Gaul and Pontus, the position of the camp, the direction of the entrenchments, the inspection of the tents or huts of the soldiers and the baggage were comprehended in his province. His authority extended over the sick, and the physicians who had the care of them and he had the charge of providing carriages, bathhouses and the proper tools for sawing and cutting wood, digging trenches, raising parapets, sinking wells and bringing water into the camp. He likewise had the care of furnishing the troops with wood and straw, as well as the rams, onagri, balistae, at various locations described by Vitruvius, battles and sieges occurred. He is the source for the siege of Larignum in 56 BC. The broken siege at Gergovia in 52 BC, and the siege of Uxellodunum in 51 BC. These are all sieges of large Gallic oppida, a legion that fits the same sequence of locations is the Legio VI Ferrata, of which ballista would be an auxiliary unit. Mainly known for his writings, Vitruvius was himself an architect, frontinus mentions him in connection with the standard sizes of pipes
7.
Body proportions
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While there is significant variation in anatomical proportions between people, there are many references to body proportions that are intended to be canonical, either in art, measurement, or medicine. In measurement, body proportions are used to relate two or more measurements based on the body. A cubit, for instance, is supposed to be six palms, a span is taken to be 9 inches and was previously considered as half a cubit. While convenient, these ratios may not reflect the variation of the individuals using them. Similarly, in art, body proportions are the study of relation of human or animal parts to each other. These ratios are used in depictions of the figure. It is important in drawing to draw the human figure in proportion. In modern figure drawing, the unit of measurement is the head. This unit of measurement is reasonably standard, and has long used by artists to establish the proportions of the human figure. Ancient Egyptian art used a canon of proportion based on the fist, measured across the knuckles, with 18 fists from the ground to the hairline on the forehead. This was already established by the Narmer Palette from about the 31st century BC, the proportions used in figure drawing are, An average person, is generally 7-and-a-half heads tall. An ideal figure, used when aiming for an impression of nobility or grace, is drawn at 8 heads tall, a heroic figure, used in the heroic for the depiction of gods and superheroes, is eight-and-a-half heads tall. Most of the length comes from a bigger chest and longer legs. A study using Polish participants by Sorokowski found 5% longer legs than a used as a reference was considered most attractive. The study concluded this preference might stem from the influence of leggy runway models, the Sorokowski study was criticized for using a picture of the same person with digitally altered leg lengths which Marco Bertamini felt were unrealistic. Another study using British and American participants, found mid-ranging leg-to-body ratios to be most ideal, the Swami et al. study was criticized for using a picture of the same person with digitally altered leg lengths which Marco Bertamini felt were unrealistic. Bertamini also criticized the Swami study for only changing the leg length while keeping the arm length constant, bertaminis own study which used stick figures mirrored Swamis study, however, by finding a preference for leggier women. Another common measurement of related to leg-to-body ratio is sitting-height ratio, sitting height ratio is the ratio of the head plus spine length to total height which is highly correlated to leg-to-body ratio
8.
De architectura
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It contains a variety of information on Greek and Roman buildings, as well as prescriptions for the planning and design of military camps, cities, and structures both large and small. Derived partially from Latin rhetoric, Vitruvian terms for order, arrangement, proportion, and fitness for intended purposes have guided architects for centuries, the Roman author also gave advice on the qualifications of an architect and on types of architectural drawing. The ten books or scrolls are organized as follows, De architectura – Ten Books on Architecture Roman architects were skilled in engineering, art, Vitruvius was very much of this type, a fact reflected in De architectura. He covered a variety of subjects he saw as touching on architecture. This included many aspects that may seem irrelevant to modern eyes, ranging from mathematics to astronomy, meteorology, in the Roman conception, architecture needed to take into account everything touching on the physical and intellectual life of man and his surroundings. Vitruvius, thus, deals with many issues concerning architecture. Book IX relates the abstract geometry of Plato to the work of the surveyor. Astrology is cited for its insights into the organisation of human life, likewise, Vitruvius cites Ctesibius of Alexandria and Archimedes for their inventions, Aristoxenus for music, Agatharchus for theatre, and Varro for architecture. Vitruvius sought to address the ethos of architecture, declaring that quality depends on the relevance of the artists work. Perhaps the most famous declaration from De architectura is one still quoted by architects, a modern interpretation of Wottons English might render it thus, The ideal building has three elements, it is sturdy, useful, and beautiful. Vitruvius also studied human proportions and his canones were later encoded in a famous drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. Vitruvius also described the construction of sundials and water clocks, numerous such massive structures occur across the former empire, a testament to the power of Roman engineering. Vitruvius description of Roman aqueduct construction is short, but mentions key details especially for the way they were surveyed, and his book would have been of assistance to Frontinus, a general who was appointed in the late 1st century AD to administer the many aqueducts of Rome. The Roman Empire went far in exploiting water power, as the set of no fewer than 16 water mills at Barbegal in France demonstrates, the mills ground grain in a very efficient operation, and many other mills are now known, such as the much later Hierapolis sawmill. Vitruvius described many different construction materials used for a variety of different structures. Cement, concrete, and lime received in-depth descriptions, the longevity of many Roman structures being mute testimony to their skill in building materials, Vitruvius advised that lead should not be used to conduct drinking water, clay pipes being preferred. He comes to conclusion in Book VIII of De architectura after empirical observation of the apparent laborer illnesses in the plumbum foundries of his time. In 1986, the United States banned the use of lead in plumbing due to lead poisonings neurological damage, however, much of the water used by Rome and many other cities was very hard, and coated the inner surfaces of the pipes, so lead poisoning was unlikely
9.
Classical order
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An Order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform. The three orders of architecture—the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—originated in Greece, to these the Romans added, in practice if not in name, the Tuscan, which they made simpler than Doric, and the Composite, which was more ornamental than the Corinthian. The Architectural Order of a building is akin to the mode or key of classical music. It is established by certain modules like the intervals of music, Columns shrank into half-columns emerging from walls or turned into pilasters. This treatment continued after the conscious and correct use of the orders, initially following exclusively Roman models, Greek Revival architecture, inspired by increasing knowledge of Greek originals, returned to more authentic models, including ones from relatively early periods. Each style has distinctive capitals at the top of columns and horizontal entablatures which it supports, the column shaft and base also varies with the order, and is sometimes articulated with vertical hollow grooves known as fluting. The capital rests on the shaft and it has a load-bearing function, which concentrates the weight of the entablature on the supportive column, but it primarily serves an aesthetic purpose. The necking is the continuation of the shaft, but is separated by one or many grooves. The echinus lies atop the necking and it is a circular block that bulges outwards towards the top to support the abacus, which is a square or shaped block that in turn supports the entablature. The entablature consists of three layers, all of which are visually separated from each other using moldings or bands. There are names for all the parts of the orders. The height of columns are calculated in terms of a ratio between the diameter of the shaft at its base and the height of the column, sometimes this is phrased as lower diameters high, to establish which part of the shaft has been measured. There are three orders in Ancient Greek architecture, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. These three were adopted by the Romans, who modified their capitals, the Roman adoption of the Greek orders took place in the 1st century BC. The three Ancient Greek orders have since been used in neo-classical European architecture. Sometimes the Doric order is considered the earliest order, but there is no evidence to support this, rather, the Doric and Ionic orders seem to have appeared at around the same time, the Ionic in eastern Greece and the Doric in the west and mainland. Both the Doric and the Ionic order appear to have originated in wood, the Temple of Hera in Olympia is the oldest well-preserved temple of Doric architecture. It was built just after 600 BC, the Doric order later spread across Greece and into Sicily where it was the chief order for monumental architecture for 800 years
10.
Mathematics and art
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Mathematics and art are related in a variety of ways. Mathematics has itself been described as an art motivated by beauty, Mathematics can be discerned in arts such as music, dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, and textiles. This article focuses, however, on mathematics in the visual arts, Mathematics and art have a long historical relationship. Artists have used mathematics since the 5th century BC when the Greek sculptor Polykleitos wrote his Canon, prescribing proportions based on the ratio 1, persistent popular claims have been made for the use of the golden ratio in ancient art and architecture, without reliable evidence. In the Italian Renaissance, Luca Pacioli wrote the influential treatise De Divina Proportione, illustrated with woodcuts by Leonardo da Vinci, another Italian painter, Piero della Francesca, developed Euclids ideas on perspective in treatises such as De Prospectiva Pingendi, and in his paintings. The engraver Albrecht Dürer made many references to mathematics in his work Melencolia I, in modern times, the graphic artist M. C. Mathematics has inspired textile arts such as quilting, knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, embroidery, weaving, Turkish and other carpet-making, as well as kilim. In Islamic art, symmetries are evident in forms as varied as Persian girih and Moroccan zellige tilework, Mughal jaali pierced stone screens, and widespread muqarnas vaulting. Mathematics has directly influenced art with conceptual tools such as perspective, the analysis of symmetry, and mathematical objects such as polyhedra. Magnus Wenninger creates colourful stellated polyhedra, originally as models for teaching, mathematical concepts such as recursion and logical paradox can be seen in paintings by Rene Magritte and in engravings by M. C. Computer art often makes use of including the Mandelbrot set. Polykleitos the elder was a Greek sculptor from the school of Argos, and his works and statues consisted mainly of bronze and were of athletes. While his sculptures may not be as famous as those of Phidias, Polykleitos uses the distal phalanx of the little finger as the basic module for determining the proportions of the human body. Next, he takes the length and multiplies that by √2 to get the length of the palm from the base of the finger to the ulna. This geometric series of measurements progresses until Polykleitos has formed the arm, chest, body, the influence of the Canon of Polykleitos is immense in Classical Greek, Roman, and Renaissance sculpture, many sculptors following Polykleitoss prescription. While none of Polykleitoss original works survive, Roman copies demonstrate his ideal of physical perfection, some scholars argue that Pythagorean thought influenced the Canon of Polykleitos. In classical times, rather than making distant figures smaller with linear perspective, painters sized objects, in the Middle Ages, some artists used reverse perspective for special emphasis. The Muslim mathematician Alhazen described a theory of optics in his Book of Optics in 1021, the Renaissance saw a rebirth of Classical Greek and Roman culture and ideas, among them the study of mathematics to understand nature and the arts
11.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
12.
Cosmography
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Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the cosmos or universe, describing both heaven and Earth. The 14th-century work Ajaib al-makhluqat wa-gharaib al-mawjudat by Arab physician Zakariya al-Qazwini is considered to be a work of cosmography. Traditional Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cosmography schematize a universe centered on Mount Meru surrounded by rivers, continents and these cosmographies posit a universe being repeatedly created and destroyed over time cycles of immense lengths. In 1551, Martín Cortés de Albacar, from Zaragoza, Spain, translated into English and reprinted several times, the work was of great influence in Britain for many years. He proposed spherical charts and mentioned magnetic deviation and the existence of magnetic poles, peter Heylins 1652 book Cosmographie was one of the earliest attempts to describe the entire world in English, and being the first known description of Australia and among the first of California. In 1659, Thomas Porter published a smaller, but extensive Compendious Description of the Whole World and these were all part of a major trend in the European Renaissance to explore the known world. The word was commonly used by Buckminster Fuller in his lectures
13.
Macrocosm and microcosm
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Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a vision of cosmos where the part reflects the whole and vice versa. It is a present in all esoteric schools of thinking, according to scholar Pierre A. Riffard. It is closely associated with Hermeticism and underlies practices such as astrology, alchemy, §435, pg 151 Theories of Macrocosms and Microcosms in the History of Philosophy, G. P. Conger, NY,1922, which includes a survey of critical discussions up to 1922. Cosmos - an Illustrated Dimensional Journey from microcosmos to macrocosmos - from Digital Nature Agency
14.
Mirror writing
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It is sometimes used as an extremely primitive form of cipher. Some people are able to produce handwritten mirrored text, and Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his notes in this way. Mirror writing calligraphy was popular in the Ottoman Empire, where it often carried mystical associations, research suggests that the ability to produce handwritten mirror writing is probably inherited and caused by atypical language organization in the brain. Half of the children of people with the ability inherit it, a higher proportion of left-handed people are better mirror writers than right-handed people, perhaps because it is more natural for a left-hander to write backwards. 15% of left-handed people have the language centres in both halves of their brain, the cerebral cortex and motor homunculus are affected by this, causing the person to be able to read and write backwards quite naturally. This hypothesis was proposed because these affect an neural mechanism that controls the higher cerebral function of writing via the thalamus. Another study by the university discovered that damage was not the only cause. Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his notes in mirror. The purpose of practice by Leonardo remains unknown, though several possible reasons have been suggested. For example, writing left handed from left to right would have been messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it, Writing in reverse would prevent such smudging. Matteo Zaccolini may have written his original four volume treatise on optics, color, Mirror writing calligraphy was popular in the Ottoman Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries among the Bektashi order, where it often carried mystical associations. The origins of this mirror writing tradition may date to the period in rock inscriptions of the western Arabian peninsula. Peep show images shown in a zograscope have headers in Mirror writing, boustrophedon Ambigram Media related to Mirror writings at Wikimedia Commons Mirror Writing a genetic trait Jay A. Gottfried, kruba sundar, Feyza Sancar, Anjan chatterjee. Acquired mirror writing and reading, evidence for reflected graphemic representations, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Mirror writing, neurological reflections on an unusual phenomenon
15.
Palm (unit)
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The palm is an obsolete anthropic unit of length, originally based on the width of the human palm and then variously standardized. The same name is used for a second, rather larger unit based on the length of the human hand. The width of the palm was a unit in Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome and in medieval England. The only commonly discussed palm in modern English is the palm of ancient Israel. The length of the hand—originally the Roman greater palm—formed the palm of medieval Italy, the Spanish and Portuguese palm was the span, the distance between an outstretched thumb and little finger. The Ancient Egyptian palm has been reconstructed as about 75 mm or 3 in, the unit is attested as early as the reign of Djer, third pharaoh of the First Dynasty, and appears on many surviving cubit-rods. The palm was subdivided into four digits of about 19 mm, three palms made up the span or lesser span of about 22.5 cm. Four palms made up the foot of about 30 cm, five made up the remen of about 37.5 cm. Six made up the Greek cubit of about 45 cm, seven made up the royal cubit of about 52.5 cm. Eight made up the pole of about 60 cm, the palm was not a major unit in ancient Mesopotamia but appeared in ancient Israel as the tefah, tepah, or topah.9 in. As in Egypt, the palm was divided into four digits of about 18.5 mm and three palms made up a span of about 22.1 cm. Six made up the Hebrew cubit of about 44.3 cm, the Ancient Greek palm made up ¼ of the Greek foot, which varied by region between 27–35 cm. This gives values for the palm between 6. 7–8.8 cm, with the Attic palm around 7.4 cm and these various palms were divided into four digits or two middle phalanges. Two palms made a half-foot, three, a span, four, a foot, five, a cubit, and six. The Greeks also had a less common greater palm of five digits, the Roman palm or lesser palm made up ¼ of the Roman foot, which varied in practice between 29. 2–29.7 cm but is thought to have been officially 29.6 cm. This would have given the palm a notional value of 7.4 cm within a range of a few millimeters, the palm was divided into four digits of about 1.85 cm or three inches of about 2.47 cm. Three made a span of about 22.2 cm, four, a Roman foot, five, a hand-and-a-foot of about 37 cm, six, a cubit of about 44.4 cm. The palms of medieval and early modern Europe—the Italian, Spanish, in Italy, the palm varied regionally
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Foot (unit)
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The foot is a unit of length in the imperial and US customary systems of measurement. Since 1959, both units have been defined by international agreement as equivalent to 0.3048 meters exactly, in both systems, the foot comprises 12 inches and three feet compose a yard. Historically the foot was a part of local systems of units, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, French. It varied in length from country to country, from city to city and its length was usually between 250 mm and 335 mm and was generally, but not always, subdivided into 12 inches or 16 digits. The United States is the industrialized nation that uses the international foot and the survey foot in preference to the meter in its commercial, engineering. The foot is legally recognized in the United Kingdom, road signs must use imperial units, the measurement of altitude in international aviation is one of the few areas where the foot is widely used outside the English-speaking world. The length of the international foot corresponds to a foot with shoe size of 13,14,15.5 or 46. Historically the human body has been used to provide the basis for units of length. The foot of a male is typically about 15. 3% of his height, giving a person of 160 cm a foot of 245 mm. These figures are less than the used in most cities over time. Archeologists believe that the Egyptians, Ancient Indians and Mesopotamians preferred the cubit while the Romans, under the Harappan linear measures, Indus cities during the Bronze Age used a foot of 13.2 inches and a cubit of 20.8 inches. The Egyptian equivalent of the measure of four palms or 16 digits—was known as the djeser and has been reconstructed as about 30 cm. The Greek foot had a length of 1⁄600 of a stadion, one stadion being about 181.2 m, the standard Roman foot was normally about 295.7 mm, but in the provinces, the pes Drusianus was used, with a length of about 334 mm. Originally both the Greeks and the Romans subdivided the foot into 16 digits, but in later years, after the fall of the Roman Empire, some Roman traditions were continued but others fell into disuse. In AD790 Charlemagne attempted to reform the units of measure in his domains and his units of length were based on the toise and in particular the toise de lÉcritoire, the distance between the fingertips of the outstretched arms of a man. The toise has 6 pieds each of 326.6 mm, at the same time, monastic buildings used the Carolingian foot of 340 mm. The procedure for verification of the foot as described in the 16th century by Jacob Koebel in his book Geometrei, the measures of Iron Age Britain are uncertain and proposed reconstructions such as the Megalithic Yard are controversial. Later Welsh legend credited Dyfnwal Moelmud with the establishment of their units, the Belgic or North German foot of 335 mm was introduced to England either by the Belgic Celts during their invasions prior to the Romans or by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th & 6th century
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Cubit
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The cubit is an ancient unit based on the forearm length from the middle finger tip to the elbow bottom. Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in antiquity, during the Middle Ages, the term is still used in hedge laying, the length of the forearm being frequently used to determine the interval between stakes placed within the hedge. The English word cubit comes from the Latin noun cubitus elbow, from the verb cubo, cubare, cubui, cubitum to lie down, the ancient Egyptian royal cubit is the earliest attested standard measure. Cubit rods were used for the measurement of length, a number of these rods have survived, two are known from the tomb of Maya, the treasurer of the 18th dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun, in Saqqara, another was found in the tomb of Kha in Thebes. Fourteen such rods, including one double cubit rod, were described and compared by Lepsius in 1865. These cubit rods range from 523.5 to 529.2 mm in length, and are divided into seven palms, each palm is divided into four fingers and the fingers are further subdivided. Use of the royal cubit is also known from Old Kingdom architecture, in 1916, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire and in the middle of World War I, the German assyriologist Eckhard Unger found a copper-alloy bar while excavating at Nippur. The bar dates from c.2650 BC and Unger claimed it was used as a measurement standard and this irregularly formed and irregularly marked graduated rule supposedly defined the Sumerian cubit as about 518.6 mm. The Near Eastern or Biblical cubit is usually estimated as approximately 457.2 mm, in ancient Greek units of measurement, the standard forearm cubit measured approximately 0.46 m. The short forearm cubit, from the wrist to the elbow, in ancient Rome, according to Vitruvius, a cubit was equal to 1 1⁄2 Roman feet or 6 palm widths. Other measurements based on the length of the forearm include some lengths of ell, the Chinese chi, the Japanese shaku, the Indian hasta, the Thai sok, the Tamil, the Telugu, a cubit arm in heraldry may be dexter or sinister. It may be vested and may be shown in positions, most commonly erect. It is most often used erect as a crest, for example by the families of Poyntz of Iron Acton, Rolle of Stevenstone, the Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture. The Cubit, A History and Measurement Commentary, Journal of Anthropology doi,10. 1155/2014/489757,2014 Media related to Cubit arms at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of cubit at Wiktionary
18.
Bilateria
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In contrast, radially symmetrical animals like jellyfish have a topside and a downside, but no identifiable front or back. The bilateria are a group of animals, including the majority of phyla but not sponges, cnidarians, placozoans. For the most part, bilateral embryos are triploblastic, having three germ layers, endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Nearly all are symmetrical, or approximately so, the most notable exception is the echinoderms, which achieve near-radial symmetry as adults. Except for a few phyla, bilaterians have complete digestive tracts with a separate mouth, some bilaterians lack body cavities, while others display primary body cavities or secondary cavities. The hypothetical most recent common ancestor of all bilateria is termed the Urbilaterian, the nature of the first bilaterian is a matter of debate. The first evidence of bilateria in the record comes from trace fossils in Ediacaran sediments. Earlier fossils are controversial, the fossil Vernanimalcula may be the earliest known bilaterian, fossil embryos are known from around the time of Vernanimalcula, but none of these have bilaterian affinities. Burrows believed to have created by bilaterian life forms have been found in the Tacuarí Formation of Uruguay. There are two main superphyla of Bilateria, the deuterostomes include the echinoderms, hemichordates, chordates, and a few smaller phyla. The protostomes include most of the rest, such as arthropods, annelids, mollusks, flatworms, there are a number of differences, most notably in how the embryo develops. In particular, the first opening of the embryo becomes the mouth in protostomes, many taxonomists now recognize at least two more superphyla among the protostomes, Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa. Within the latter, some researchers also recognize another superphylum, Platyzoa, the arrow worms have proven particularly difficult to classify, with some taxonomists placing them among the deuterostomes and others placing them among the protostomes. The two most recent studies to address the question of chaetognath origins support protostome affinities, a modern consensus phylogeny for Bilateria is shown below, although the position of certain clades are still controversial and the tree has changed considerably between 2000 and 2010. Nodes marked with * have received broad consensus, a prominent alternative tree is championed by Nielsen. Embryological origins of the mouth and anus Tree of Life web project — Bilateria University of California Museum of Paleontology — Systematics of the Metazoa
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Symmetry
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Symmetry in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, symmetry has a precise definition, that an object is invariant to any of various transformations. Although these two meanings of symmetry can sometimes be told apart, they are related, so they are discussed together. The opposite of symmetry is asymmetry, a geometric shape or object is symmetric if it can be divided into two or more identical pieces that are arranged in an organized fashion. This means that an object is symmetric if there is a transformation that moves individual pieces of the object, an object has rotational symmetry if the object can be rotated about a fixed point without changing the overall shape. An object has symmetry if it can be translated without changing its overall shape. An object has symmetry if it can be simultaneously translated and rotated in three-dimensional space along a line known as a screw axis. An object has symmetry if it does not change shape when it is expanded or contracted. Fractals also exhibit a form of symmetry, where small portions of the fractal are similar in shape to large portions. Other symmetries include glide reflection symmetry and rotoreflection symmetry, a dyadic relation R is symmetric if and only if, whenever its true that Rab, its true that Rba. Thus, is the age as is symmetrical, for if Paul is the same age as Mary. Symmetric binary logical connectives are and, or, biconditional, nand, xor, the set of operations that preserve a given property of the object form a group. In general, every kind of structure in mathematics will have its own kind of symmetry, examples include even and odd functions in calculus, the symmetric group in abstract algebra, symmetric matrices in linear algebra, and the Galois group in Galois theory. In statistics, it appears as symmetric probability distributions, and as skewness, symmetry in physics has been generalized to mean invariance—that is, lack of change—under any kind of transformation, for example arbitrary coordinate transformations. This concept has one of the most powerful tools of theoretical physics. See Noethers theorem, and also, Wigners classification, which says that the symmetries of the laws of physics determine the properties of the found in nature. Important symmetries in physics include continuous symmetries and discrete symmetries of spacetime, internal symmetries of particles, in biology, the notion of symmetry is mostly used explicitly to describe body shapes. Bilateral animals, including humans, are more or less symmetric with respect to the plane which divides the body into left
20.
Universe
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The Universe is all of time and space and its contents. It includes planets, moons, minor planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the size of the entire Universe is unknown. The earliest scientific models of the Universe were developed by ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing the law of gravitation, Sir Isaac Newton built upon Copernicuss work as well as observations by Tycho Brahe. Further observational improvements led to the realization that our Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy and it is assumed that galaxies are distributed uniformly and the same in all directions, meaning that the Universe has neither an edge nor a center. Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the Universe had a beginning, the majority of mass in the Universe appears to exist in an unknown form called dark matter. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the Universe, under this theory, space and time emerged together 13. 799±0.021 billion years ago with a fixed amount of energy and matter that has become less dense as the Universe has expanded. After the initial expansion, the Universe cooled, allowing the first subatomic particles to form, giant clouds later merged through gravity to form galaxies, stars, and everything else seen today. Some physicists have suggested various multiverse hypotheses, in which the Universe might be one among many universes that likewise exist, the Universe can be defined as everything that exists, everything that has existed, and everything that will exist. According to our current understanding, the Universe consists of spacetime, forms of energy, the Universe encompasses all of life, all of history, and some philosophers and scientists suggest that it even encompasses ideas such as mathematics and logic. The word universe derives from the Old French word univers, which in turn derives from the Latin word universum, the Latin word was used by Cicero and later Latin authors in many of the same senses as the modern English word is used. Another synonym was ὁ κόσμος ho kósmos, synonyms are also found in Latin authors and survive in modern languages, e. g. the German words Das All, Weltall, and Natur for Universe. The same synonyms are found in English, such as everything, the cosmos, the world, the prevailing model for the evolution of the Universe is the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang model states that the earliest state of the Universe was extremely hot and dense, the model is based on general relativity and on simplifying assumptions such as homogeneity and isotropy of space. The Big Bang model accounts for such as the correlation of distance and redshift of galaxies, the ratio of the number of hydrogen to helium atoms. The initial hot, dense state is called the Planck epoch, after the Planck epoch and inflation came the quark, hadron, and lepton epochs. Together, these epochs encompassed less than 10 seconds of time following the Big Bang, the observed abundance of the elements can be explained by combining the overall expansion of space with nuclear and atomic physics. As the Universe expands, the density of electromagnetic radiation decreases more quickly than does that of matter because the energy of a photon decreases with its wavelength
21.
Giuseppe Bossi
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Giuseppe Bossi was an Italian painter, arts administrator and writer on art. He ranks among the foremost figures of Neoclassical culture in Lombardy, along with Ugo Foscolo, Giuseppe Parini and he was born in the town of Busto Arsizio, near Milan. He was educated at the college of Monza, and his fondness for drawing was fostered by the director of the college. He met Jacques-Louis David in Lyon in 1802, though his own style employed a less rigorously classicizing technique and he was rewarded with the Order of the Iron Crown. The drawing was made from the remains of the original with the aid of copies, the mosaic,9.18 m in length, was executed by the Roman mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli, and was placed in the Minoritenkirche, Vienna. Bossi made another copy in oil, which was placed in the Pinacoteca Brera, the Brera Academy owed to him its fine collection of casts of great works of sculpture acquired at Paris, Rome and Florence. For himself, Bossi collected books, drawings, prints, paintings, coins, sculptures and he left unfinished a large cartoon in black chalk of the Dead Christ in the bosom of Mary, with John and the Magdalene. Bossis other publications were Delle Opinioni di Leonardo intorno alla simmetria de corpi umani and his diary, 1807–1815, is a useful guide to the official artistic life of Napoleonic Milan. Bossi died at his home in via S. Maria Valle, a monument by Canova was erected to his memory in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, and a bust was placed in the Brera. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Bossi. Getty Museum, Giuseppe Bossi, a sheet of studies Commemorative plaque on Bossis Milan residence, gives birth date 11. viii.1777, le memorie di Giuseppe Bossi, Diario di un artista nella Milano napoleonica 1807-1815
22.
The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci)
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The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. It is one of the worlds most famous paintings, the painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, as it is told in the Gospel of John,13,21. Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. The Last Supper measures 460 cm ×880 cm and covers an end wall of the hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The theme was a one for refectories, although the room was not a refectory at the time that Leonardo painted it. The main church building had recently been completed, but was remodeled by Bramante. The painting was commissioned by Sforza to be the centerpiece of the mausoleum, the lunettes above the main painting, formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with Sforza coats-of-arms. The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, Leonardo began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in 1498—he did not work on the painting continuously. The beginning date is not certain, as the archives of the convent for the period have been destroyed, one story goes that a prior from the monastery complained to Leonardo about the delay, enraging him. The Last Supper specifically portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him, all twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles are identified from a manuscript with their names found in the 19th century, from left to right, according to the apostles heads, Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus, and Andrew form a group of three, all are surprised. Judas Iscariot, Peter, and John form another group of three, Judas is wearing green and blue and is in shadow, looking rather withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus. He is also tipping over the salt cellar and this may be related to the near-Eastern expression to betray the salt meaning to betray ones Master. He is the person to have his elbow on the table. Peter looks angry and is holding a knife pointed away from Christ, the youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon. Jesus Apostle Thomas, James the Greater, and Philip are the group of three. Thomas is clearly upset, the index finger foreshadows his incredulity of the Resurrection
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Antonio Canova
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Antonio Canova was an Italian neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. In 1757, Antonio Canova was born in Possagno to Pietro Canova, a year later, his mother remarried. He led Antonio into the art of sculpting, before the age of ten, Canova began making models in clay, and carving marble. Indeed, at the age of nine, he executed two small shrines of Carrara marble, which are still extant, after these works, he appears to have been constantly employed under his grandfather. In 1770, he was an apprentice for two years to Giuseppe Bernardi, who was known as Torretto. Afterwards, he was under the tutelage of Giovanni Ferrari until he began his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, at the Academy, he won several prizes. During this time, he was given his first workshop within a monastery by some local monks, the Senator Giovanni Falier commissioned Canova to produce statues of Orpheus and Eurydice for his garden – the Villa Falier at Asolo. The statues were begun in 1775, and both were completed by 1777, the pieces explify the late Rococo style. On the year of its completion, both works were exhibited for the Feast of the Ascension in Piazza S. Marco, widely praised, the works won Canova his first renown among the Venetian elite. In 1779, he opened his own studio at Calle Del Traghetto at S. Maurizio, at this time, Procurator Pietro Vettor Pisani commissioned Canovas first marble statue, a depiction of Daedalus and Icarus. The statue inspired great admiration for his work at the art fair. At the base of the statue, Daedalus tools are scattered about, with such an intention, there is suggestion that Daedalus is a portrait of Canovas grandfather Pasino. Canova arrived in Rome, on 28 December 1780, prior to his departure, his friends had applied to the Venetian senate for a pension. Successful in the application, the stipend allotted amounted to three hundred ducats, limited to three years, while in Rome, Canova spent time studying and sketching the works of Michelangelo. In 1781, Girolamo Zulian – the Venetian ambassador to Rome – hired Canova to sculpt Theseus, the statue depicts the victorious Theseus seated on the lifeless body of a Minotaur. The initial spectators were certain that the work was a copy of a Greek original, the highly regarded work is now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London. Between 1783 –1785, Canova arranged, composed, and designed a monument dedicated to Clement XIV for the Church of Santi Apostoli. After another two years, the work met completion in 1787, the monument secured Canovas reputation as the pre-eminent living artist
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Francesco di Giorgio Martini
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Born in Siena, he apprenticed as a painter with Vecchietta. The third book is preoccupied with the city, constrained within star-shaped polygonal geometries reminiscent of the star fort. The design of the church of San Sebastiano in Vallepiatta in Siena is also attributed to him, di Giorgios painting of the Madonna and Child with 2 Angels is found at the Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables, Florida. Born sometime in 1439 in Siena to a dealer, Francesco Maurizio di Giorgio di Martino was baptized on September 23,1439. Not much is known about his youth, except that he is assumed to have been a student of Vecchietta due to similarities in style between di Giorgios early paintings and those of the master. The first record of his work as an artist is from 1464 and he was married two times in quick succession when his first wife, Cristofana, died shortly after they were married in 1467. Di Giorgios early years as a professional artist, architect, and they were able to enlarge the fountain in the Piazza del Campo and make other improvements around the city, successfully fulfilling their contract in 1473. During this period, di Giorgio was also working with assistants on The Coronation of the Virgin for the Santa Maria della Scala, a large painted altarpiece. Sienese records from 1471 describe an episode in which the artist and nine others broke into the Monastery of the Holy Saviour outside Siena and they were sentenced to be banished from the city for three months, or to pay a 25 lire fine, which di Giorgio paid. During the mid-1470s, di Giorgio came into the employ of Federico da Montefeltro and he created multiple artistic works for the Duke, including the bronze relief Deposition from the Cross and served as an architect and engineer for the duke during the Pazzi conspiracy. In the fighting between Italian city-states which followed, di Giorgio constructed a series of fortifications for his patron. This source of employment for di Giorgio continued after da Montefeltros death with his son the new duke, architectural work also came to di Giorgio through his employment with the Duke, including what is probably his most famous building, Santa Maria delle Grazie al Calcinaio in Cortona. The church was challenging to design due to the incline of its location. Letters from 1485 reveal that the Sienese government wrote to Francesco di Giorgio to request that he return to his city and embark on the design. He did return to the city in 1486 and began receiving a salary of 800 florins for his position as official city engineer in which he would inspect all engineering projects throughout Siena. Di Giorgio also completed projects for the city, such as the candle-holding angel sculptures which he contributed to the altar at the Opera del Duomo. This time was one of prosperity and popularity for di Giorgio, whose presence and expertise were fought over by the rulers of several city-states, particularly Siena and his tax documents from 1488 show material wealth as well as familial wealth in the form of six children. In 1490 he was commissioned by the government of Milan to produce a model for dome of the Milan Cathedral and this project led him to journey to the site of the cathedral, where he met Leonardo da Vinci who had also been hired to consult on the building
25.
Cesare Cesariano
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Cesare di Lorenzo Cesariano was an Italian painter, architect and architectural theorist. He authored the first Italian-language version of Vitruvius De architectura, information about his life is scarce. In 1496 he lived for a period at Reggio Emilia, in the early 1500s he worked at Parma, in 1507 he was in Rome, where he met Perugino, Pinturicchio and Luca Signorelli. However, most of his activity was in Milan, where he returned in 1512-1513 as military engineer at Maximilian Sforzas court. Enraged at not having received the reward which he had expected, Cesare refused to work any more, in 1528 Cesariano was appointed as ducal engineer by the Spanish governor of Milan. In 1535 he became director of construction in the Duomo, Cesariano is chiefly remembered as the first translator of Vitruvius treatise De architectura into a modern language, with his added commentary. It was published, with copious illustrations, at Como,1521. It contained 360 pages and was printed in 1300 copies and it was soon plagiarized in editions published at Venice, but all were superseded by Daniele Barbaros edition, with illustrations by Andrea Palladio,1556. Vitruvius technical language is fraught with difficulties, leon Battista Alberti was of the mind that the Latins thought Vitruvius was writing Greek and the Greeks, Latin. The impenetrable Latin and the lack of illustrations gave freedom to the Renaissance designers, Cesarianos Vitruvius gives us a clear picture of the Renaissance perception of the architecture of Classical Antiquity. Indeed, the spirit of Milans Late Gothic Duomo can be recognized in some of Cesarianos woodcuts, Vitruvius Cesarianos De architectura on line Cesarianos illustrations of the kinds of temples, from Vitruvius, Book III.2 Yves Pauwels, Université de Lille,2005. Cesariano, Sagredo and the Language of Architectural Ornament in the Low Countries from 1530 Onwards, Antwerp Conference
26.
William Blake
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William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a figure in the history of the poetry. His so-called prophetic works were said by 20th century critic Northrop Frye to form what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language. His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him far, in 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his entire life, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre and his paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as Pre-Romantic. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French, despite these known influences, the singularity of Blakes work makes him difficult to classify. William Blake was born on 28 November 1757 at 28 Broad Street in Soho and he was the third of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Blakes father, James, was a hosier and he attended school only long enough to learn reading and writing, leaving at the age of ten, and was otherwise educated at home by his mother Catherine Blake. Even though the Blakes were English Dissenters, William was baptised on 11 December at St Jamess Church, Piccadilly, the Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, and remained a source of inspiration throughout his life. Blake started engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities purchased for him by his father, within these drawings Blake found his first exposure to classical forms through the work of Raphael, Michelangelo, Maarten van Heemskerck and Albrecht Dürer. The number of prints and bound books that James and Catherine were able to purchase for young William suggests that the Blakes enjoyed, at least for a time, a comfortable wealth. When William was ten years old, his parents knew enough of his headstrong temperament that he was not sent to school and he read avidly on subjects of his own choosing. During this period, Blake made explorations into poetry, his work displays knowledge of Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser. On 4 August 1772, Blake was apprenticed to engraver James Basire of Great Queen Street, at the sum of £52.10, at the end of the term, aged 21, he became a professional engraver. This aside, Basires style of line-engraving was of a kind held at the time to be old-fashioned compared to the flashier stipple or mezzotint styles. It has been speculated that Blakes instruction in this form may have been detrimental to his acquiring of work or recognition in later life. After two years, Basire sent his apprentice to copy images from the Gothic churches in London and his experiences in Westminster Abbey helped form his artistic style and ideas. The Abbey of his day was decorated with suits of armour, painted funeral effigies, ackroyd notes that. the most immediate would have been of faded brightness and colour
27.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
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Anthropometry
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Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the human individual. Anthropometry involves the measurement of the physical properties of the human body, primarily dimensional descriptors of body size. Changes in lifestyles, nutrition, and ethnic composition of lead to changes in the distribution of body dimensions. Due to methodological and practical problems, its measurement is subject to considerable error in statistical sampling. The average height in genetically and environmentally homogeneous populations is often proportional across a number of individuals. Exceptional height variation within such a population is due to gigantism or dwarfism. Similarly, the shortest and tallest of individuals, Chandra Bahadur Dangi and Robert Wadlow, have ranged from 1 ft 9 in to 8 ft 11.1 in, respectively. Adult brain size varies from 974.9 cm3 to 1,498.1 cm3 in females and 1,052.9 cm3 to 1,498.5 cm3 in males, with the average being 1,130 cm3 and 1,260 cm3, respectively. The right cerebral hemisphere is typically larger than the left, whereas the cerebellar hemispheres are typically of similar size. Size of the stomach varies significantly in adults, with one study showing volumes ranging from 520 cm3 to 1,536 cm3. Male and female genitalia exhibit considerable variation, with penis size differing substantially. Human beauty and physical attractiveness have been preoccupations throughout history which often intersect with anthropometric standards, cosmetology, facial symmetry, and waist–hip ratio are three such examples where measurements are commonly thought to be fundamental. Anthropometric studies today are conducted to investigate the significance of differences in body proportion between populations whose ancestors lived in different environments. On a micro evolutionary level anthropologists use anthropometric variation to reconstruct small-scale population history, today anthropometry can be performed with three-dimensional scanners. A global collaborative study to examine the uses of three-dimensional scanners for health care was launched in March 2007, the Body Benchmark Study will investigate the use of three-dimensional scanners to calculate volumes and segmental volumes of an individual body scan. The aim is to establish whether the Body Volume Index has the potential to be used as a long-term computer-based anthropometric measurement for health care, in 2001 the UK conducted the largest sizing survey to date using scanners. Since then several national surveys have followed in the UKs pioneering steps, notably SizeUSA, SizeMexico, and SizeThailand, sizeUK showed that the nation had become taller and heavier but not as much as expected. Since 1951, when the last womens survey had taken place, baropodographic devices fall into two main categories, floor-based, and in-shoe
29.
Leonardo's robot
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Leonardos robot was a humanoid automaton designed and possibly constructed by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1495. The design notes for the robot appear in sketchbooks that were rediscovered in the 1950s, Leonardo is said to have displayed the machine at a celebration hosted by Ludovico Sforza at the court of Milan in 1495. The robot knight could stand, sit, raise its visor and independently maneuver its arms, the entire robotic system was operated by a series of pulleys and cables. Since the discovery of the sketchbook, the robot has been built based on Leonardos design. The robot is described as being clad in German-Italian medieval armor and it is partially a result of Leonardos anatomical research in the Canon of Proportions as described in the Vitruvian Man
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Modulor
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The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier. It was developed as a bridge between two incompatible scales, the imperial and the metric system. It is based on the height of a man with his arm raised and it was used as a system to set out a number of Le Corbusiers buildings and was later codified into two books. The system is based on measurements, the double unit, the Fibonacci numbers. Le Corbusier described it as a range of measurements to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture. With the Modulor, Le Corbusier sought to introduce a scale of visual measures that would unite two virtually incompatible systems, the Anglo Saxon foot and inch and the French metric system, the result, in August 1943 was the first graphical representation of the derivation of the scale. This was refined after a visit to the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences in Sorbonne on 7 February 1945 which resulted in the inclusion of a section into the representation. The dimensions were refined to give round numbers and the height of the raised arm was set at 2.262 m. Of the works leading to the creation of the Modulor, Robin Evans notes that the body was only belatedly considered and rejected as a source of proportional harmony. On the 10 January 1946, Le Corbusier on a visit to New York met with Henry J. Kaiser, kaisers project was to build ten thousand new houses a day, but he had changed his mind and decided to build cars instead. On the same trip he met with David E. Lilienthal of the Tennessee Valley Authority to promote the use of his harmonious scale on further civil engineering projects and he also applied the principle of the Modulor to the efficient design of distribution crates in post war France. A spiral, graphically developed between the red and blue segments, seems to mimic the volume of the human figure, the Modulor 2 was drawn by André Maissonier and Justino Serralta. The modular governs, the plan, section and elevations, the brise-soleil, the roof, the supporting columns and it was also used for the dimensions of the commemorative stone laid on 14 October 1947. A version of the Modulor Man was cast in concrete near the entrance, in the Church of Sainte Marie de La Tourette Le Corbusier floors the majority of the church in pale concrete panels set to Modulor dimensions. Also, the engineer Iannis Xenakis applied the Modulor system to the design of the exterior vertical ventilators or ondulatoires, in the Carpenter Center the Modulor system was used for the brise-soleil distances, the floor to floor heights, the bay distances and the column thicknesses. Le Corbusier conceived that the dimensioning of the ramp would be visible essay on the mathematics of the human body. Le Corbusier published Le Modulor in 1948, followed by Modulor 2 in 1955 and these works were first published in English as The Modulor in 1954 and Modulor 2 in 1958. The 2004 reprinted box set including both books was printed in a format using the Modulor with the series twenty seven to one hundred
31.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
32.
Science and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci
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Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath, regarded as the epitome of the Renaissance Man, displaying skills in numerous diverse areas of study. While the full extent of his scientific studies has become recognized in the last 150 years, he was, during his lifetime, employed for his engineering. Many of his designs, such as the movable dikes to protect Venice from invasion, some of his smaller inventions entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. In practice, he advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, astronomy, civil engineering, optics. Leonardos most famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, is a study of the proportions of the body, linking art. NOTE, This is a summary of Leonardos early life. Leonardo da Vinci was born the son of Messer Piero, a notary, and Caterina. The journals of Leonardo contain matters as mundane as grocery lists, in 1466, Leonardo was sent to Florence to the workshop of the artist Verrocchio, in order to learn the skills of an artist. At the workshop, as well as painting and drawing, he learnt the study of topographical anatomy and he was also exposed to a very wide range of technical skills such as drafting, set construction, plasterworking, paint chemistry, and metallurgy. While Leonardos teacher, Verrocchio, largely ignored Pieros scientifically disciplined approach to painting, Leonardo and Domenico Ghirlandaio, two of Leonardos earliest paintings, both scenes of the Annunciation show his competent understanding of the linear perspective. His earliest dated drawing,1473, is of the valley of the Arno River and it displays some of the many scientific interests that were to obsess him all his life, in particular geology and hydrology. During the Renaissance, the study of art and science was not perceived as mutually exclusive, on the contrary, as a scientist, Leonardo had no formal education in Latin and mathematics and did not attend a university. Because of these factors, his studies were largely ignored by other scholars. Leonardos approach to science was one of observation and detailed recording. His journals give insight into his investigative processes, capra sees Leonardos unique integrated, holistic views of science as making him a forerunner of modern systems theory and complexity schools of thought. Leonardo kept a series of journals in which he wrote almost daily, as well as notes and sheets of observations, comments. He wrote and drew with his hand, and most of his writing is in mirror script. Much has survived to illustrate Leonardos studies, discoveries and inventions, on his death, his writings were left mainly to his pupil Melzi with the apparent intention that his scientific work should be published
33.
Personal life of Leonardo da Vinci
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The personal life of Leonardo da Vinci has been a subject of interest, inquiry, and speculation since the years immediately following his death. Interest in and curiosity about Leonardo has continued unabated for five hundred years. Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452, at the hour of the night in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina. His full birth name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning Leonardo, the inclusion of the title ser indicated that Leonardos father was a gentleman. His father had married a girl named Albiera, Ser Piero married four times. Leonardos seven brothers were later to argue with him over the distribution of his fathers estate, at the age of about fourteen Leonardo was apprenticed by his father to the artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was eventually to become an employee of Verrocchios studio. During his time there, Leonardo met many of the most important artists to work in Florence in the fifteenth century including Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio. Leonardo helped Verrocchio paint The Baptism of Christ, completed around 1475, according to Vasari, Verrocchio, on seeing the beauty of the angel that his young pupil had painted, never painted again. In 1481 Leonardo commenced an important commission, the painting of an altarpiece for the church of S. Donato a Scopeto. Leonardo left Florence and travelled to Milan carrying a gift from Lorenzo to the regent ruler, Ludovico Sforza. Other important events during this time were the arrival in his studio of the boy Salai in 1490, when Milan was invaded by the French in 1499, Leonardo left and spent some time in Venice, and possibly Rome and Naples before returning to Florence. In Florence, Leonardo lived at premises of the Servite Community and he is also reported to have had a job to do for King Louis XII of France. Between 1506 and 1513 Leonardo was once again based mostly in Milan, in 1507 Francesco Melzi joined his household as an apprentice, and remained with him until his death. In 1513 Leonardo left Milan for Rome and was employed by the Medici family, in 1516 he went to France as court painter to King Francis I. The king gave the chateau of Clos Lucé as his home and it is said that the king held Leonardos head as he died. Leonardo is buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert adjacent to the Château dAmboise in France, descriptions and portraits of Leonardo combine to create an image of a man who was tall, athletic and extremely handsome
34.
Medusa (Leonardo da Vinci painting)
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Medusa is either of two paintings described in Giorgio Vasaris Life of Leonardo da Vinci as being among Leonardos earliest works. Thereupon, having had it taken to Florence, without saying a word to Leonardo as to whose it was, rubens and Caravaggio are known to have painted their own versions of the subject, but their indebtedness to Leonardos painting is uncertain and potentially unknowable. In the period of Romanticism, the reputed Leonardo garnered much praise and its full-page engravings, first produced in Florence in 1828, spread across Europe, making the painting one of the most popular in Leonardos corpus of works. In 1851, Jean Baptiste Gustave Planche proclaimed, I do not hesitate to say that in the Medusa of the Uffizi there is the germ of what we admire in the Gioconda of the Louvre. As late as 1868, Walter Pater singled out Medusa as one of the most arresting works by Leonardo, in the 20th century, Bernard Berenson and other leading critics argued against Leonardos authorship of the Uffizi painting. It is now believed to be a work of an anonymous Flemish painter, vasari, Giorgio http, //www-class. unl. edu/ahis398b/classmats/vasari. html Life of Leonardo],1568
35.
Annunciation (Leonardo)
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Annunciation, by the Italian Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Verrocchio, dates from circa 1472–1475 and is housed in the Uffizi gallery of Florence, Italy. The subject matter is drawn from Luke 1, the subject was very popular for artworks and had been depicted many times in the art of Florence, including several examples by the Early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico. The details of its commission and its early history remain obscure, the painting has since been attributed to different artists, including Leonardo and Verrocchios contemporary Domenico Ghirlandaio. It was more determined to be a collaboration between Leonardo and his master Verrocchio, with whom Leonardo collaborated on the Baptism of Jesus. The angel holds a Madonna lily, a symbol of Marys virginity and it is supposed that Leonardo originally copied the wings from those of a bird in flight, but they have since been lengthened by a later artist. Since then a drawing for the angels sleeve has been recognized and attributed to Leonardo. Verrocchio used lead-based paint and heavy brush strokes and he left a note for Leonardo to finish the background and the angel. Leonardo used light brush strokes and no lead, when the Annunciation was x-rayed, Verrocchios work was evident while Leonardos angel was invisible. The marble table, in front of the Virgin, probably quotes the tomb of Piero and Giovanni de Medici in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, which Verrocchio had sculpted during this same period. Some immature hesitancies are usually noted, especially the Virgins ambiguous spatial relation to the desk and the marble on which it rests. On March 12,2007, the painting was at the center of a furor between Italian citizens and the Minister of Culture, who decided to place the picture on loan to exhibit in Japan. Leonardo da Vinci, anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Annunciation
36.
The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio)
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The Baptism of Christ is a painting finished around 1475 in the studio of the Italian Renaissance painter Andrea del Verrocchio and generally ascribed to him and his pupil Leonardo da Vinci. Some art historians discern the hands of members of Verrocchios workshop in the painting as well. The picture depicts the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist as recorded in the Biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Modern critics also attribute much of the landscape in the background, Andrea del Verrocchio was a sculptor, goldsmith and painter who ran a large and successful workshop in Florence in the second half of the 15th century. Among his apprentices and close associates were the painters Botticelli, Botticini, Lorenzo di Credi, Verrocchio was not himself a prolific painter and very few pictures are attributed to his hand, his fame lying chiefly in his sculptured works. Verrocchios paintings, as are typical of Florentine works of that date, are in tempera on wooden panel. The painting The Baptism of Christ was, according to Antonio Billi, commissioned by the Church of S. Salvi, in 1810 it entered the collection of the Accademia and passed to the Uffizi in 1959. In the 16th century the work was discussed in Giorgio Vasaris Lives of the Painters in the biographies of both Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci, Origins of a Genius
37.
Madonna of the Carnation
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The Madonna of the Carnation, a. k. a. Madonna with Vase or Madonna with Child, is a Renaissance oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci created around 1478-1480 and it is permanently displayed at the Alte Pinakothek gallery in Munich, Germany. The central and centered motif is the young Virgin Mary seated with Baby Jesus on her lap, depicted in precious clothes and jewellery, with her left hand Mary holds a carnation. The faces are put into light while all other objects are darker, the child is looking up, the mother is looking down — there is no eye contact. The setting of the portrait is a room with two windows on side of the figures. Originally this painting was thought to have created by Andrea del Verrocchio. The Madonna and Child was a motif in Christian art during the Middle Ages. This painting is the work by Leonardo which is permanently on display in Germany
38.
Ginevra de' Benci
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Ginevra de Benci is a portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat Ginevra de Benci. The oil-on-wood portrait was acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the sum of US$5 million—a record price at the time—came from the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund and was paid to the Princely House of Liechtenstein. It is the painting by Leonardo on public view in the Americas. It is known that Leonardo painted a portrait of Ginevra de Benci in 1474, the paintings imagery and the text on the reverse of the panel support the identification of this picture. Directly behind the lady in the portrait is a juniper tree. The reverse of the portrait is decorated with a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath of laurel, the laurel and palm are in the personal emblem of Bernardo Bembo, Venetian ambassador to Florence, whose platonic relationship with Ginevra is revealed in poems dedicated to them. Infrared examination has revealed Bembos motto Virtue and Honor beneath Ginevras, so it is likely Bembo ordered the emblematic painting on the verso of the portrait. The portrait is one of the highlights of the National Gallery of Art, Ginevra is beautiful, but austere, she has no hint of a smile and her gaze, although forward, seems indifferent to the viewer. A strip from the bottom of the painting was removed in the past, presumably owing to damage, using the golden section, Susan Dorothea White has drawn an interpretation of how her arms and hands may have been positioned in the original. The adaptation is based on images of hands by Leonardo that are thought to have been executed as studies for this painting, for an unorthodox view on Ginevra de Benci see Angelo Paratico Leonardo Da Vinci. A Chinese Scholar Lost in Renaissance Italy Lascar Publishing,2015 ISBN 978-988-14-1980-4, hand, J. O. National Gallery of Art, Master Paintings from the Collection. New York, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Virtue and Beauty, Leonardos Ginevra de Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women
39.
Benois Madonna
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Madonna and Child with Flowers, otherwise known as the Benois Madonna, could be one of two Madonnas Leonardo da Vinci had commented on having started in October 1478. The other one could be Madonna of the Carnation from Munich and it is likely that the Benois Madonna was the first work painted by Leonardo independently from his master Verrocchio. There are two of Leonardos preliminary sketches for this piece in the British Museum, studies of these sketches and the painting itself suggest that Leonardo was concentrating on the idea of sight. At that time it was thought that human eyes exhibited rays to cause vision with a central beam being the most important, the child is thought to be guiding his mothers hands into his central vision. The composition of Madonna and Child with Flowers proved to be one of Leonardos most popular and it was extensively copied by young painters, including Raphael, whose own version of Leonardos design was acquired in 2004 by the National Gallery, London. For centuries, Madonna and Child with Flowers was considered lost, in 1909, the architect Leon Benois sensationally exhibited it in Saint Petersburg as part of his father-in-laws collection. The painting had been brought from Italy to Russia by the notable connoisseur Aleksey Korsakov in the 1790s. Upon Korsakovs death, it was sold by his son to the Astrakhan merchant Sapozhnikov for 1400 roubles, after many a squabble regarding attribution, Leon Benois sold the painting to the Imperial Hermitage Museum in 1914. The purchase was made by Ernst Friedrich von Liphart who was the curator of paintings who had identified the artist. Since 1914 the painting has been exhibited in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, marian art in the Catholic Church
40.
Adoration of the Magi (Leonardo)
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The Adoration of the Magi is an early painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was given the commission by the Augustinian monks of San Donato a Scopeto in Florence and it has been in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence since 1670. The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a shape with the Magi kneeling in adoration. Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a self-portrait of the young Leonardo, in the background on the left is the ruin of a pagan building, on which workmen can be seen, apparently repairing it. On the right are men on horseback fighting, and a sketch of a rocky landscape, the ruins are a possible reference to the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to Medieval legend, the Romans claimed would stand until a virgin gave birth. It is supposed to have collapsed on the night of Christs birth, the ruins dominate a preparatory perspective drawing by Leonardo, which also includes the fighting horsemen. The palm tree in the centre has associations with the Virgin Mary, partly due to the phrase You are stately as a tree from the Song of Solomon. The other tree in the painting is from the carob family and they measure valuable stones and jewels. This tree and its seeds are associated with crowns suggesting Christ as the king of kings or the Virgin as the future Queen of heaven, jesus and the virgin Mary are, in fact, painted yellow, the color of light. It is also interesting how the trees are painted blue, a color for trees of any kind. On the right side the most credible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci as a 30 year old can be seen, see Angelo Paratico Much of the composition of this painting was influenced by an earlier work of the Northern artist Rogier van der Weyden. It is housed in the Uffizi of Florence, domenico Ghirlandaio, completed a separate painting, expanding upon Leonardos theme, in 1488. He concluded that the painting could not be restored without damaging it, another artist was responsible for all of the existing paintwork on top of the underdrawing. Seracini stated that none of the paint we see on the Adoration today was put there by Leonardo, the new images revealed by the diagnostic techniques used by Seracini were initially made public in 2002 in an interview with New York Times reporter Melinda Henneberger. In 2005, nearing the end of his investigation, Seracini gave another interview and they chose instead to relegate it to a storage house, rather than to destroy the original work. It was only later, and probably in the context of the subsequent rise in value of Leonardo artworks. This later re-working of the resulted in alterations to Leonardos original design for the piece. Recently the painting was under restoration at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Adoration of the Magi Adoration of the Magi of 1475 Costantino, Maria
41.
St. Jerome in the Wilderness (Leonardo)
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St Jerome in the Wilderness is an unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. The painting depicts Saint Jerome during his retreat to the Syrian desert, St Jerome kneels in a rocky landscape, gazing toward a crucifix which can be discerned faintly sketched in at the extreme right of the painting. In Jeromes right hand he holds a rock with which he is traditionally shown beating his chest in penance, at his feet is the lion which became a loyal companion after he extracted a thorn from its paw. The lion, the stone and a hat are the traditional attributes of the saint. On the left-hand side of the panel the background is a distant landscape of a surrounded by precipitous mountains shrouded in mist. To the right-hand side, the only feature is a faintly-sketched church. The churchs presence may allude to Jeromes position in Western Christianity as one of the Doctors of the Church, the composition of the painting is innovative for the oblique trapezoid form of the figure of the saint. The angular forms contrast with the form of the lion which transcribes an S across the bottom of the painting. The form of St Jerome prefigures that of the Virgin Mary in the Virgin of the Rocks, the rendering of the muscles in the neck and shoulders is seen as the first of Leonardos anatomical drawings. Popular legend has it that the Cardinal discovered the part of the panel with the torso being offered as a table-top in a shop in Rome. Many years later, he found another piece being used as a wedge for shoemaker’s bench. Whatever the circumstances of Feschs finding the parts, the panel was sold by his descendants to Pope Pius IX. The St. Jerome was once believed to have part of the collection of the painter Angelica Kauffman
42.
Madonna Litta
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The Madonna Litta is a late 15th-century painting, traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child, a subject known as the Madonna lactans. The figures are set in an interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardos earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond. In his left hand Christ holds a goldfinch, which is symbolic of his future Passion, the painting takes its name from the House of Litta, a Milanese noble family in whose collection it was for much of the nineteenth century. The Madonna Litta might be one of the paintings of the Madonna, on a drawing in the Uffizi Leonardo noted that he had begun “two Virgin Maries” in late 1478 and an inventory of his studio written in 1482 again mentions two paintings of “Our Lady”. The second of these is, according to different interpretations, either noted as being “almost finished, in profile” or “finished, scientific analysis of the painting has, however, suggested that it was produced by only one artist. Several drawings have been identified as preparatory to the Madonna Litta, one, which is universally attributed to Leonardo, is a metalpoint drawing of a young woman’s face in near profile, part of the Codex Vallardi in the Louvre. Two other drawings, in metalpoint with white lead highlights on blue prepared paper, are attributed to a follower of Leonardo, usually considered to be Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio. One, a study for the Christ childs head, is in the Fondation Custodia in Paris and these have been attributed to Boltraffio on the basis of the Berlin drawings similarity to other drapery studies by the artist. This suggests that the composition was partly pieced together from these studies, a further related drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, attributed to Boltraffio, is of the Virgins face in strict profile and does not resemble the finished painting in the Hermitage. It has been argued that this study might represent an idea by a pupil for the composition of the Madonna Litta. That the painting was regarded in Leonardos lifetime as his work is suggested by the number of copies made of it. A popular candidate for authorship is Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, david Alan Brown argues that Marco dOggiono was responsible for the Madonna Litta as its composition is reflected in his later works, whereas it is not in those of Boltraffio. A foot in Venetian measurements was 34. 7cm, rather less than the height of the painting in the Hermitage and closer to its width. The earliest print of the composition is Venetian, by an artist in the circle of Zoan Andrea, in 1784, the earliest secure date in its provenance, the painting was bought by Prince Alberico XII di Belgioioso from one Giuseppe Ro. After Belgioiosos death in 1813 it passed into the collection of the Litta family, in 1865 the Russian Tsar Alexander II acquired the panel from Count Antonio Litta, quondam minister to Saint Petersburg, for the Hermitage Museum, where it has been exhibited to this day. Upon acquiring the painting the Hermitage had it transferred from wood to canvas, citations Bibliography Media related to Madonna Litta at Wikimedia Commons
43.
Virgin of the Rocks
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The Virgin of the Rocks is the name used for two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, and of a composition which is identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, that is the earlier of the two, hangs in The Louvre in Paris and the other in the National Gallery, London, the paintings are both nearly 2 metres high and are painted in oils. Both were painted on panel, that in the Louvre has been transferred to canvas. Both paintings show the Madonna and Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist, the significant compositional differences are in the gaze and right hand of the angel. There are many ways in which the works differ, including the colours, the lighting, the flora. Although the date of a commission is documented, the complete histories of the two paintings are unknown, and lead to speculation about which of the two is earlier. Two further paintings are associated with the commission, side panels each containing an angel playing a musical instrument and these are both in the National Gallery, London. The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre is considered by most art historians to be the earlier of the two and date from around 1483–1486, most authorities agree that the work is entirely by Leonardo. It is about 8 cm taller than the London version, the first certain record of this picture is in 1625, when it was in the French royal collection. It is generally accepted that this painting was produced to fulfill a commission of 1483 in Milan and it is hypothesised that this painting was privately sold by Leonardo and that the London version was painted at a later date to fill the commission. There are a number of theories to explain the existence of two paintings. This painting is regarded as a example of Leonardos sfumato technique. A very similar painting in the National Gallery, London, is ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci. However its precise attribution is still the subject of a debate and it was painted for the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, in the church of San Francesco Maggiore in Milan. It was sold by the church, very likely in 1781, and certainly by 1785, when it was bought by Gavin Hamilton, after passing through various collections, it was bought by the National Gallery in 1880. Two paintings of angels playing instruments are believed to have been part of the composition that was set into the altarpiece. These two pictures, now in the National Gallery, London, are thought to have been completed between 1490 and 1495. One, an angel in red, is thought to be the work of Ambrogio de Predis while the angel in green is thought to be the work of a different assistant of Leonardo, perhaps Francesco Napoletano
44.
Portrait of a Musician
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Portrait of a Musician is an oil on wood painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci by some scholars. It was probably painted in 1490, the man in the painting was at one time thought to be Franchino Gaffurio, who was the maestro di cappella of the Milanese Cathedral. Although some believe it to be a portrait of Gaffurio, others think the man is anonymous, the piece of paper he holds is at least one part of a musical score, it has notes written on it. The painting was restored and repainted, and Leonardo probably left the portrait unfinished. The man is positioned in a position and he is holding a partition sheet. The musician stares at something outside the field of vision. Compared to the face of the musician, the red hat, his tunic. Art historians have recognized the fine art of da Vinci in the mans face, though the partition sheet. Siegfried Woldhek, a Dutch illustrator, has claimed that Portrait of a Musician is one of three self-portraits by Leonardo, Leonardo da Vincis Portrait of a Musician Leonardo da Vincis self-portrait
45.
Lady with an Ermine
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Lady with an Ermine is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490. The subject of the portrait is Cecilia Gallerani, painted at a time when she was the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Leonardo was in the service of the duke. The painting is one of four portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being the Mona Lisa, the portrait of Ginevra de Benci. The small portrait generally called The Lady with the Ermine was painted in oils on wooden panel, at the time of its painting, the medium of oil paint was relatively new to Italy, having been introduced in the 1470s. The subject has been identified with certainty as Cecilia Gallerani. Cecilia Gallerani was a member of a family that was neither wealthy nor noble. Her father served for a time at the Dukes court, at the time her portrait was painted, she was about 16 years old and was renowned for her beauty, her scholarship, and her poetry. She was married at age six to a young nobleman of the house of Visconti, but she sued to annul the marriage in 1487 for undisclosed reasons. Cecilia became the mistress of the Duke and bore him a son, even after his marriage to another woman 11 years previously, Beatrice was promised to the Duke when she was only 5, and married him when she was 16 in 1491. After a few months, she discovered the Duke was still seeing Cecilla, the painting shows a half-length figure, the body of a woman turned at a three-quarter angle toward her right, but her face turned toward her left. Her gaze is directed neither straight ahead, nor toward the viewer, in her arms, Gallerani holds a small white-coated stoat, known as an ermine. Galleranis dress is comparatively simple, revealing that she is not a noblewoman and her coiffure, known as a coazone, confines her hair smoothly to her head with two bands of hair bound on either side of her face and a long plait at the back. Her hair is held in place by a gauze veil with a woven border of gold-wound threads, a black band. There are several interpretations of the significance of the ermine in her portrait, the ermine, a stoat in its winter coat, was a traditional symbol of purity because it was believed an ermine would face death rather than soil its white coat. He repeats this idea in another note, Moderation curbs all the vices, the ermine prefers to die rather than soil itself. Ermines were kept as pets by the aristocracy and their pelts were used to line or trim aristocratic garments. For Ludovico il Moro, the ermine had a personal significance in that he had been in the Order of the Ermine in 1488. The association of the ermine with Cecilia Gallerani could have intended to refer both to her purity and to make an association with her lover
