Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Leonardo dedicated himself to his anatomy studies with a persistence and diligence that were often lacking in his other endeavors. During his frenzied years of work from 1508 to 1513, he seemed never to tire of it and kept digging deeper, even though it meant nights spent amid cadavers and the stench of decaying organs. He was mainly motivated by
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
“The first intention of the painter,” Leonardo later wrote, “is to make a flat surface display a body as if modeled and separated from this plane, and he who surpasses others in this skill deserves most praise. This accomplishment, with which the science of painting is crowned, arises from light and shade, or we may say chiaroscuro.”30 That
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
In his job-seeking letter to Ludovico Sforza, he boasted of his abilities “to take the water out of the trenches” and “in guiding water from one place to another.” While in Milan, he studied that city’s large network of canals, including the grand canal dug in 1460 to Lake Como, as well as its well-tended waterways, dams, locks, fountains, and
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, born around 80 BC, served in the Roman army under Caesar and specialized in the design and construction of artillery machines. His duties took him to what are now Spain and France and as far away as North Africa. Vitruvius later became an architect and worked on a temple, no longer in existence, in the town of Fano in
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
Vision without execution is hallucination. But I also came to believe that his ability to blur the line between reality and fantasy, just like his sfumato techniques for blurring the lines of a painting, was a key to his creativity. Skill without imagination is barren. Leonardo knew how to marry observation and imagination, which made him history’s
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo was one of history’s most disciplined observers of nature, but his observation skills colluded rather than conflicted with his imaginative skills. Like his love of art and science, his ability to both observe and imagine were interwoven to become the warp and woof of his genius.
Walter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
En rassemblant dans ses carnets un tel enchevêtrement d’idées, Léonard se plie en fait à une pratique devenue populaire en Italie durant la Renaissance : la tenue d’un zibaldone, sorte de recueil de croquis et notes variés.