Leonardo Di Vinci, a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer, who was born and iconified during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for his paintings, amongst which include the famous Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the illustration of the Vitruvian man, which is seen as a cultural item in Europe, in which coins, textbooks and bags have been based on. Leonardo is further revered for his technical ingenuity, in which he conceived the ideas of a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, and a calculator. Leonardo had accomplished so many things in his life, and as a tribute to the great thinker I did some research, and came up with clues that will bring us further towards how this great thinker saw the world.
Leonardo's genius can be analyzed by understanding where he grew up, his experiences, and also through the way he digested the world around him. In this article I focus on the latter, the way he digested the world around him, though the first two are obviously of paramount value in understanding how he came to be. It all began in 1452, where Leonardo Da Vinci was born in the Tuscan hill of Vinci. Interestingly Leonardo was not born with a sir name, his name Da Vinci simply means "of Vinci," labelled after his birthplace. His father was moderately wealthy and his mother a peasant, and throughout his childhood his father whom he lived with had married four different women. By the age of fourteen Leonardo apprenticed with the artist Andrea di Cione, it was here that he was exposed to what could be labelled one of the finest trainings in art Florence had to offer.
In order to understand the mind of Leonardo, we are going to utilize a theory commonly held by psychologists and various other mental health practitioners, that the world is commonly seen via three modalities, visually, kinesthetically (through emotion,) and auditory. The theory holds that people have a strength in either that which is visual, that which we can feel, or that which we can hear, and it is this strength which guides a significant part of that individuals work, personality and perceptions on events that occur around them.
"If you historians, or poets or mathematicians had never seen things with your eyes you would be ill able to describe them in our writings. And if you, O poet, represent a story by depicting it with your pen, the painter with his brush, will so render it as to be more easily satisfying and less tedious to understand"
Leonardo throughout his works has demonstrated a clear preference for things that are visual. This is the first step to understanding why he ended up illustrating art so well, the manner through which he saw the world. If one places a clear distinct preference of all things visual, his time would have been spent pondering visual images, drawing, painting, and illustrating. Saper Vedere ("knowing how to see",) this is what Leonardo placed at the forefront for how he analyzed structures, forms, nature, and the world. For Leonardo, knowledge was simply taking an idea, a concept, and then conceptualizing it clearly in a pictorial manner.
So how Leonardo drew so well does not only include looking at the world through a visual standpoint. This is an excerpt by Leonardo
"When you wish to know anything well by heart which you have studied follow this method: When you have drawn the same thing so many times that it seems that you know it by heart try to do it without the model; but have a tracing made of the model upon a thin piece of smooth glass and lay this upon the drawing you have made without the model. Note well where you have erred bear it in mind in order not to make the mistake again. Even return to the model in order to copy the part where you were wrong so many times as to fix it in your mind."
This is similar to a quote by Picasso made popular in our time by Steve Jobs, which read "good artists borrow, great artists steal." To me both artists agree that to learn a something one must first copy it, essentially everything we do is modeled after something we have seen or experienced in the past, thus every creation is built upon the copying of a previously seen illustration. Thus to be a great artist, or think in a way similar to Leonardo, it is critical that you allow yourself to be conscious of this idea, that all representations are simply just a result of what we have experienced in the past. To learn something, be relentless in copying the form in which it has been laid out.
If one is to learn how to speed draw, Leonardo suggests learning the various types of facial features by heart. For example, as quoted in his writings, "If you desire to acquire facility in keeping in your mind the expression of a face, first learn by heart the various different kinds of heads, eyes, noses, mouths, chins, throats, and also necks and shoulders... when you have to draw a face from memory, carry with you a small notebook in which you have noted down such features, and then when you have casted a glance at the face of the person whom you wish to draw you can look privately and see which mouth or nose resembles it."
Leonardo had believed that a good time to review study is between the phases of being awake and being asleep. Whilst lying in bed before you sleep, and just as you wake up are times in which if you go over what you are trying to learn, it will more easily be fixed into memory. This is now an explored concept in psychology, it is a state which is called trance, in trance learning unconsciously is much easier.
Leonardo believed that in order for us to understand something we must analyze it from various perspectives, as quoted when describing how he draws the human body, "therefore by my drawings every part will be known to you, and all by means of demonstrations from THREE different points of view of each part." When drawing the human body, he also believed it was essential to take into consideration all factors, including the purpose of the organ one is drawing, its origination, and also the state of the organ when experiencing death. His drawings were not just illustrations, they were also abstract maps of the systems he drew.
When judging your own picture Leonardo believed that it is wise to consider human psychology, we are more likely to draw faces similar to ourselves thus if we are ugly we may draw an ugly picture. He suggests that we are less likely to see the faults in our works as accurately as others can, thus, he suggests looking at your work through a flat mirror, or take a walk and then assess your work after relaxing. He also implies viewing your work from a distance will give a similar effect, it will allow you to see your work more so as it is, over what you want it be. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," further promoted in today's generation by Steve Jobs. Leonardo recognized the power simplicity has on beauty, and class, it is an advantage to have something which is simple. This can be compared to the popularity of an iPad over many of Microsofts products, the iPad is in essence a highly basic device, its simplicity seems to market its appeal.
"It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end," the first step can be the hardest sometimes. When starting something new it should be recognized that the beginning may involve the most inertia. And when working on a project it is wise to follow your experiences, not your mind, as "every instrument requires to be made by experience."
The last lesson I will present which I had learnt by reading the works of Leonardo, was his desire to create something extraordinary, as quoted "I wish to work miracles." The desire to create stuff out of air was written throughout his works, in which he compares himself to an alchemist on more than one occasion.
In summary, Leonardo Da Vinci's view of the world can be better understood if one decides to take time and focus on the beauty of all that is visual, if you take your time to understand the purpose of things you see. If you appreciate the idea that to learn something one must copy it until it can be done without a guide, and that the best time to learn something new is in a state of trance, right before sleep or just when one wakes up. When learning or analyzing something it is of utmost importance to take multiple perspectives, and that the desire to achieve miracles is also a necessary mix to the equation. Keep in mind the simplicity of your product when it has been completed, as it is the ultimate form of sophistication. Walk around with a notebook and keep in mind the importance of experience in your work, and the initial resistance which may be felt when pursuing a new venture.
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