Bibliography

Leonardo da Vinci

How Leo's Perspective frame helped people

Biograpy of Leonardo da Vinci

Birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci

A Gallery of Leonardo's Drawings

A good Leonardo da Vinci Site

He was also considered a hydraulic and mechanical engineer. By 1489, da Vinci’s concept of vision led him to a series of explorations of the anatomy of the brain and optic nerves with and emphasis on the location of the "senso comune", the center associated with the conscious experience of one’s world… in essence… the soul. In addition to making extensive sketches of the human anatomy he also became interested in geometry. He read Leon Battista Alberti’s books on architecture and Piero della Francesca’s on perspective in painting. He illustrated Pacioli’s Divina proportione and he continued to work with Pacioli and is reported to have neglected his painting because he became so involved and engrossed in geometry. Plus, during this time working under the Duke, Leonardo realised the possibility of constructing a telescope and in Codex Atlanticus written in 1490 he speaks of… "making glasses with which he could use to view the moon at an enlarged size." In later work, Codex Arundul written in about 1513, hey says that: "in order to observe the nature of the planets, open the roof of a building and bring the image a single planet onto the base of a concave mirror… the image of the planet reflected by the base will show the surface of the planed much magnified." In 1499 the French armies entered Milan and the Duke was defeated. Some months later Leonardo left Milan together with Pacioli. He traveled to Mantua, Venice and finally returned to Florence. Although he was under constant pressure to paint, mathematical studies kept him away from his painting activity much of the time. He was for a time employed by Cesare Borgia as a senior military architect and general engineer. By 1503 Leo was in Florence advising on the project to divert the River Arno behind Pisa to help the siege of the city with the Florentines were engaged in at the time. He then produced plans for a canal to allow Florence to gain access to the sea. The canal was never built nor was the River Arno diverted. Then he started working on his masterpiece the Mona Lisa (worked on during 1505-1513), the most well-known painting ever created.