Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist of the High Renaissance. He is widely known as the most talented artist ever to have lived. His full name was Leonardo di ser Piero da, Vinci. Leonardo was born to Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci, Florence, Italy.
Leonardo was educated in the studio of the famous Italian painter Andrea del Verrocchio. He spent much of his life in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan and later, worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice. Most of us know him as an influential painter. Yet, he had more to his skills. He was also known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings on science, inventions based on anatomy, botany, cartography and painting.
Leonardo was a tough competition for his contemporary- Michelangelo. Although he had no formal academic training, he was regarded as the supreme exemplar of the "Renaissance Man" or "Universal Genius". His view of the world was based on logic, and he used empirical methods. His most famous painting is "Mona Lisa", the most famous portrait made till now. His other painting, "The Last Supper", is the most reproduced religious painting and "Vitruvian Man" drawing is also regarded as a cultural symbol.
Leonardo conceptualized the flying machines, concentrated solar power, an adding machine and double hull. Few of his designs were constructed during his lifetime. Many of his smaller inventions further entered the world of manufacturing, such as an automated bobbin winder and the machine that tested the tensile strength of wire. Leonardo has also been credited to design the parachute and helicopter. Undoubtedly, Leonardo was an important figure around the major idea of Humanism during the Renaissance. He spent the last three years in France and died there in 1519. Below are some of the famous Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes.
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is a painting that is felt rather than seen.
Painting and poetry are almost similar in how they feel. In comparison, the painting is like poetry that's just seen and not felt. On the other hand, poetry is like a painting that can only be felt through its words and music. Thus, Vinci seems to say that both are interchangeable pieces of art with their own unique sensory experience.
A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.
A painter, while beginning to paint, should always paint their canvas black. Ever wondered why? Well, that's because all things in nature are black and dark unless exposed to light. Thus, a painter is that light that will illuminate the darkness of the canvas.
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
Having an experience par excellence means that you will look for that experience all the time. If ever you fly in the sky, it means that you have experienced the utmost ecstasy in life. You are already a star and thus while walking on Earth, you would always look up in the sky because you have already achieved so much in life.
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
Studying without an earnest desire is nothing but just a useless exercise. If ever you study without the real urge or passion, you are automatically putting under threat your memory. On top of that, your mind would not be able to retain anything. Thus, it's crucial to make a mixture of studying and desire both.
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
People of accomplishment don't sit on the couch and wait for opportunities to come to them. They instead themselves get up and seek them. You can't accomplish anything without really doing things yourself. You will have to go out and let things happen to you, then wait for a conducive time or so.
Continue reading some of the best Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes...
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.
The painter is truly a gift of God. He/she has the power to depict the entire universe on his/her canvas. That's why they say that the painters have the entire universe in their hands and minds. Through their mind, they create scenarios, situations and scenes. Finally, with their hands, they implement their imagination on canvas.
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
If you ever want to strengthen your authority, look out for silence. Silence is so powerful that it sends across a message of reclaiming and reinforcement. Look carefully at how your charisma and authority can silence people around you. Thus, nothing is ever more strengthening than the pin-drop silence authority brings with itself.
I love those who can smile in trouble…
Smiling in the face of trouble is tough. Yet if you do it, you are the ultimate strong person. Vinci seems to love people who smile even in the face of trouble. That's so because it takes one extra effort to smile while ensuring pain. And if you succeed in doing it, you will be able to tackle even more difficult situations.
One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
You need not master anyone else because that's not worth it. All you have to do is master yourself. That's because mastering yourself gives you a sense of understanding of your thoughts and aspirations. If you succeed in mastering your random reveries, thoughts, overwhelming emotions, etc., you can easily sail the ocean of life.
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
Doesn't it feel nice when someone can understand you just as you wanted them to do? Understanding is so beautiful that it leaves us shocked to see that people can comprehend our minds and hearts. Finding someone to melt for or perhaps someone who understands you without judging is the person we all need in life.
Some famous Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes...
Art is never finished, only abandoned.
Art in the form of visual art can never get finished. It can only be abandoned. So all we have to do is rediscover it in all its glory. Art has to be handled carefully. It cannot be taken for granted as it's the very foundation of nationalism and creativity of any nation. Thus, if art takes a backseat, just remember that art is only abandoned and never finished.
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
When you spend your day nicely, you can take a good nap at night. It's so wholesome and fulfilling to see that one productive day can perpetuate the cycle of good sleep and subsequent productive days. Similarly, if you use your life well and do what is right for you, you will be able to spend your entire life nicely. At last, you will get the fruit of a long-lasting sleep like death.
Learning never exhausts the mind.
Who says that learning exhausts the mind? Rather learning just helps to hone our thinking. Learning adds extra fuel to our brain cells so that whatever you keep on adding to our brain adds to the overall knowledge we have about anything. It would be a gross misunderstanding if we think that learning damages our brain. Rather it's a practice of the brain.
The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.
Men think that their opinions are the best. Yet this is the greatest delusion they suffer from. It's unnecessary to think that we hold perfect opinions. Rather opinions are just unpolished thoughts that may also be wrong. Thus, we always need to look at things from a third-person perspective. If our views look problematic, we need to acknowledge and learn.
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
It's very easy to resist something at the beginning. That's so because, in the beginning, we don't know anything about a particular issue or person. Added to that, we don't develop emotions for something soon. Yet, with time, when we start developing feelings for something, it becomes absolutely difficult to resist at the end.
Few more Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes....
As you cannot do what you want, Want what you can do.
If ever in life you encounter a situation wherein you feel that you are not able to do what you want to, don't worry much. That particular moment will teach us an important life lesson: we should only want things we can do. This means that keeping realistic goals in life is crucial. Just want those things in life which you find feasible to be done.
I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.
This quote is the ultimate one that reminds us of the transience of life. We all tend to think that in the course of life, we learn to live. Yet, that's scary to know that our life is somehow going to end in the destination of death. Thus, we don't learn to live. It's rather the living that teaches us how to die.
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
It's interesting to see and know that Da Vinci was a great lover of cats. He was so obsessed with the little creature's cuteness that he said the smallest feline was a masterpiece. Perhaps what he's saying is that everything has a beauty of its own. Something can be as small or common as a cat, yet it can still be a masterpiece.
Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.
Hands are the most crucial thing when it comes to artwork. If your spirit is not transforming itself on the canvas with the help of your hands, then your art is useless. Art is created only with your hands, and thus your imagination, spirit and hands have to come together to create a beautiful work of visual art.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Staying simple and sober is an art in itself. Many people tend to complicate little things, and often what happens is that simplicity takes a backseat. Yet, we should strive for simplicity as it is the ultimate sophistication. While turning things or art into complex objects is easy, achieving simplicity is a sophisticated task.
