Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo was born in 1452 April 15, in the small village of Vinci, near Florence, which was the intellectual and scientific centre of Italy. His artistic talent was revealed soon, showing exceptional ability for geometry, music and artistic expression. Knowing his capacities, his father, Ser Piero da Vinci, showed his son’s drawings to Andrea del Verrochio. This great master of the Renaissance was thrilled with Leonardo’s talent, and took him as his pupil. In 1472, with 20 years old, Leonardo becomes an associate of the core of painters in Florence.

There is not many information about his education and artistic training. However, many authors affirm that his knowledge does not come from traditional education, but from observation and practical execution of his ideas.

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, Leonardo da Vinci was the most versatile talent in Italy’s Renaissance. His drawings, together with a great scientific precision and imaginative power, reflect the vastness of his interest, which covered biology, philosophy, hydraulics, aeronautics and mathematics.

During the apogee of the Renaissance, Da Vinci, as an anatomist, was concerned about the internal systems of the human body and, as an artist, focused on the extreme details of the human form, studying exhaustively its proportions.

Renaissance painters, and Da Vinci in particular, used projective geometry concepts (using a projection centre, parallel lines represented as convergent lines, escape point) to give the three-dimensional perception in its paintings.

One of the most famous paintings in the world – Mona Lisa - is painted by Leonardo da Vinci. This is probably the portrait of Madona Lisa Gherardini, wife of the rich Venetian citizen Francesco del Giocondo, who ordered it to the painter. This is why this painting is also called Gioconda. However, experts suspect that this painting started, in fact, as a portrait of a noble woman, but was changed by Da Vinci in its idea of perfect beauty.

In this painting it can be observed the golden proportion in several situations. For example, if we build a rectangle around her face, we’ll see that it’s a golden rectangle. We can also sub-divide this rectangle using the line of the eyes to draw an horizontal straight line, and we’ll obtain the golden ratio again. This golden proportion can also be obtained in other parts of the body. Even the painting itself is painted in a golden rectangle canvas.