Leonardo Da Vinci----The true "Renaissance Man"

............was born the son of a notary and a peasant woman.  He spent his childhood roaming the Tuscan countryside.  This inspired him to observe the natural world in all its detail.  He moved to Florence at seventeen who worked under the mentoring of Verrocchio.  His skills were not only in the mastery of art itself but in engineering, mathematics, inventions, and architecture.  Leonardo risked punishment by the church when he declared that fossils were not deposited on mountaintops by Noah's Ark and the flood that was involved.  He was able to catch the essence and "crown-like" spray of a water drop that was not proved until Harold Edgerton's high speed photography proved it to be true.  He also mentioned that he had invented an underwater breathing device.  This picture explains a phenomena that we now know to be true about the moon and the sun...     

!.  What do you think this scientific theory is?   (hint:  what rotates around what)

2.  How would being a talented artist help Leonardo with his research on science?    

3.  What are three other inventions that Leonardo proposed?

    look on www.yahoo.com and type in Leonardo Da Vinci.                                    

Leonardo was also very impressive at painting.  The painting The Last Supper was known for many different qualities.  Each person in the painting represents a different emotion. Leonardo puts everyone on one side of the table to add to the drama of Jesus and his disciples.  It is hard to notice in this picture but Judas' face is the only one set in a shadow that sets him apart psychologically form the rest of the people.  

4.  Going left to right pick an emotion (anger, love, devoted, courage, greed, doubtful) for each person around the table.  What emotion is best shown through their face expressions and gestures?  Try your best.

5.  What is the brightest spot in the painting?  Why was this put here?  Do you think it was intentional?

6.  Why do you think this painting is so dark?

Leonardo had the incredibly strange habit of writing backwards.  There are many theories as to why he would do this.  It must have been difficult, you can try it yourself by writing by looking in a mirror.

backwards......                   normal.....

There are a few theories why he may have done this:

*****He was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas.
*****He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with
what Leonardo observed.
*****Writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it.  Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging.


7.  Why do you think Leonardo wrote in reverse?

***Try writing in reverse to see what Leonardo went through here...

One final question remains in my mind.  Leonardo was probably most famous for his painting now on display at the Louvre;  The Mona Lisa.   One burning controversy is over the question...

8.  Why is the Mona Lisa smiling?(find the answer here)

I want you to use the internet to answer this one more question.  You may want to try my favorite search engine ASK JEEVES to answer this. It will let you type in a whole question and come up with a more targeted answer.  This should direct you to some good sites.  If you use a better search engine or know a direct link feel free to try that.  

9.   Why doesn't the Mona Lisa have eyebrows???

10.  Write down one site you found while on this scavenger hunt that would be helpful if you were teaching a class on the Renaissance.  Why would this site be useful?