2008 Woodie Awards
Da Vinci's inventions decoded
Leticia Brunetto
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
Leonardo da Vinci, the famous Italian artist and inventor, said, "Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind."
Da Vinci, however, was anything but inactive over the course of his life, as is evident by the plethora of inventions, drawings and paintings he has left as his legacy.
"The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci," an exhibition on view at the Pensacola Museum of Art until March 3, features 16 contemporary models of mechanical devices conceived and designed by the artist.
Leah L. Griffin, assistant curator of Pensacola Museum of Art, said that the fully operable models have been fabricated from Leonardo's own drawings that were recorded in notebooks until his death in 1519.
"These notebooks, the ideas in these notebooks, were neglected for 500 years for the most part, until collectors started gathering his notebooks because he was famous, as a painter," Griffin said. "And then in the 1950`s, engineers from IBM put his ideas into practical use by creating these models."
Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, mathematician, musician, scientist and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man infinitely curious and equally inventive.
"His artist's eye and love of scientific inquiry prompted Leonardo to study the natural world and to apply the principles that he observed in nature to his inventions such as the ''Flying Machine', inspired by the wing structure of a bird," Griffin said. "The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci illustrates how Leonardo's 16th century conceptual drawings foreshadowed modern technology."
She also said the most interesting thing about the exhibit is that people are going to see that an artist can also be an engineer. She said she thinks it may help them to understand that people can think scientifically and creatively at the same time.
"Through models such as the 'Hydraulic Screw' that prefigures the water turbine, and the 'Variable Speed Drive' which is much like the transmission of the modern automobile, the exhibit demonstrates how Leonardo's drawings contained the guiding principles of many devices that revolutionized society and industry nearly four centuries later," Griffin said.
According to the museum, Leonardo filled thousands of pages with drawings, records of observations, and written accounts of experiments. Some of these pages were in actual notebooks; some were just loose sheets assembled into notebooks long after the artist's death.
"I think students really enjoy coming in to see the inventions of da Vinci," Griffin said. "It is something that a lot of people aren't necessarily aware of and that opens their eyes more to what Leonardo was all about."
Admission to the museum is $5 for adults and $2 for students and active military. For more information, call 432-6247 or check out the museum's Web site.
Da Vinci, however, was anything but inactive over the course of his life, as is evident by the plethora of inventions, drawings and paintings he has left as his legacy.
"The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci," an exhibition on view at the Pensacola Museum of Art until March 3, features 16 contemporary models of mechanical devices conceived and designed by the artist.
Leah L. Griffin, assistant curator of Pensacola Museum of Art, said that the fully operable models have been fabricated from Leonardo's own drawings that were recorded in notebooks until his death in 1519.
"These notebooks, the ideas in these notebooks, were neglected for 500 years for the most part, until collectors started gathering his notebooks because he was famous, as a painter," Griffin said. "And then in the 1950`s, engineers from IBM put his ideas into practical use by creating these models."
Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, mathematician, musician, scientist and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man infinitely curious and equally inventive.
"His artist's eye and love of scientific inquiry prompted Leonardo to study the natural world and to apply the principles that he observed in nature to his inventions such as the ''Flying Machine', inspired by the wing structure of a bird," Griffin said. "The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci illustrates how Leonardo's 16th century conceptual drawings foreshadowed modern technology."
She also said the most interesting thing about the exhibit is that people are going to see that an artist can also be an engineer. She said she thinks it may help them to understand that people can think scientifically and creatively at the same time.
"Through models such as the 'Hydraulic Screw' that prefigures the water turbine, and the 'Variable Speed Drive' which is much like the transmission of the modern automobile, the exhibit demonstrates how Leonardo's drawings contained the guiding principles of many devices that revolutionized society and industry nearly four centuries later," Griffin said.
According to the museum, Leonardo filled thousands of pages with drawings, records of observations, and written accounts of experiments. Some of these pages were in actual notebooks; some were just loose sheets assembled into notebooks long after the artist's death.
"I think students really enjoy coming in to see the inventions of da Vinci," Griffin said. "It is something that a lot of people aren't necessarily aware of and that opens their eyes more to what Leonardo was all about."
Admission to the museum is $5 for adults and $2 for students and active military. For more information, call 432-6247 or check out the museum's Web site.
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