Leonardo da Vinci – London’s a flutter with a polymath’s art ... while his formula for trees is proving true today ...

His childhood home in Anchiano

“I want to work miracles” Leonardo scribbled in his cryptic mirror script – yes, he did write in ‘code’.   He drew, exposed, sketched, drafted, invented, peered into, calculated, dissected, mixed, painted and ultimately showed us the world ... that we might think, feel and respond to the wonderment of  this living earth with all its beings.

There has been a plethora of articles and programmes (many more to come, I am sure) about the new exhibition at The National Gallery – acclaimed as the single most amazing show ever.  Only 15 paintings have been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) and of those, The National has brought together nine of them, tying them in with their  sketches, drawings, half-finished paintings and finally the finished masterpieces.

Lady with Ermine – painted 1489-90;  On loan from the Czartoryski Museum, Krakow.  (NB a stoat also known as an ermine).  

When I went to Milan a few years ago, my mother and I travelled down to the Museo D’Arte e Scienza where over 2,000 of Leonardo’s items are on display ... and bought a poster with many of his drawings, mirror writing, botanical sketches ... together these form a part of his knowledge base for the ‘curriculum vitae’ he boldly set out in a letter to the Duke of Milan in 1483.

Leonardo Military Engineer: Representation

of a scene from an imaginary battle fought

with armoured cars and deadly war

machines designed by Leonardo da Vinci 

This letter offered his services as a military engineer!  He claimed he was a master of most disciplines and then once appointed put his research capabilities to good use ... painting, sculpting, botanical analysis, dissecting human and animal anatomy, utilising mechanics, hydraulics, architecture, as well as military and civil engineering – then just add ‘master of revels’.

He designed the dome of Milan Cathedral – I’ve walked the roof! – stunning views – he rebuilt the Duke’s castle ... making it an impregnable fortress; he was an expert equestrian and became a master craftsman in bronze.

On the roof of Milan Cathedral

Leonardo had unlimited talents ... searching the earth, studying plants and insects, calculating that humans too one day would be able to fly ... and made over 100 drawings of the ‘Ornithopter’ – the basis for our helicopter.

Leonardo’s ornithopter design

Fortunately he lived in Renaissance times (1300s – 1600s) and perhaps (probably) is the greatest recognised genius of all time, endowed with the brain of a polymath to explore the whole range of human knowledge.  He bewitched the Dukes of Milan, the French King and all persons in between – much as he does the peoples of the world today.

The Museo in Milan has two permanent exhibitions dedicated to Leonardo ... “Leonardo the universal genius in the exhibiton: ‘Leonardo Citizen of Milan’” and “Leonardo the ingenious painter in the exhibition: ‘Treatise on Painting’”.  If you ever visit .. a place not to be missed.

Studies of the arm showing the movements made by the Biceps

Let the scrummage begin – the National Gallery, London  is already packed ... hot, sweaty, tired of standing up visitors will push and shove to get a close viewing ... despite the National’s best endeavours at capping the number of visitors to 180 every half hour – it will be crowded, and there’s no point pretending it won’t be.

Seeing any one painting of Leonardo’s – as many of us know by having had a chance to view the Mona Lisa at The Louvre in Paris ... this is not being shown here – is a marvel to behold .. so no wonder many wish to see this once in a lifetime exhibition.

Study of horse from Leonardo’s journals – Royal Library, Windsor Castle

As I mentioned many are clamouring to see the spellbinding genius in one place – to understand the hows and the whys in his work, why much was unfinished ... he was scrying not only into the structures, but also into the very soul of creation  ... he was getting into a relaxed and meditative stage focusing on the shapes and symbols we see, and trying to interpret what meaning they may have for us.

Leonardo had a rule for trees too!  Wired Science has an article noting Leonardo observed that a tree almost always grows so that the total thickness of the branches at a particular height is equal to the thickness of the trunk.

So the graceful taper of a tree trunk into branches, boughs and twigs is so familiar few of us notice Leonardo’s observation.

It involves fractals – here I come unstuck .. but the article explains!  Simply fractals are defined as rough or fragmented geometric shapes that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced copy of the whole.

Leonardo's earliest known drawing -
the Arno Valley (1473) (Uffizi)

Botanists have hypothesized that Leonardo’s observation has something to do with how a tree pumps water from its roots to its leaves.  

Recently however scientists realised that it was the force of the wind caught by the leaves as it blew that caused most natural trees to grow in a fairly fractal fashion.

Eiffel Tower, Paris

The results of the research into wind-based damage, such as that caused by hurricanes when many trees are toppled across swathes of countryside ... may give scientists a greater understanding of the likely effects by the strength of the wind, and provide the answer to ‘the topple’ over effect, instead of a tree splintering into bits.

Man-made structures have been primarily designed by taking account of wind-loading considerations – bridges, the Eiffel Tower etc – so now trees have been added to the list ... originally observed by that polymath genius of half a millennia ago.

Virgin of the Rocks, Louvre:
demonstrates Leonardo's interest in
nature (this is on loan to the Exhibition)

Leonardo continues to fascinate us – as an artist, inventor, engineer, scientist, philosopher ... living at a time when it was perhaps possible to know much ... because he was smart, curious and observant – but it’s unlikely anyone will ever again be able to call himself master of all before.  Long may he continue to bewitch us as we marvel at his industriousness, foresight and vision.

Just one amazing man ... a sensational show ...

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London – “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at theCourt of Milan”

Wired Science: Leonardo’s Formula Explains Why Trees Don’t Splinter

Leonardo da Vinci in Milan: Museo d’Arte e Scienza

Dear Mr Postman .. my mother would be pleased to know I was writing about Leonardo - she too was fascinated by him ...  

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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