World History Essay: Renaissance and Leonardo Da Vinci's Contributions

This essay delves into the profound impact of Leonardo da Vinci on world history, particularly during the Renaissance. It highlights da Vinci's multifaceted genius, emphasizing his contributions to art, science, and engineering. The essay analyzes his iconic artworks, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, exploring their artistic techniques, symbolism, and cultural significance. Furthermore, it examines da Vinci's scientific endeavors, including his anatomical drawings, inventions, and engineering designs. The essay underscores how his innovative ideas and meticulous observations transformed the way people viewed the world, influencing subsequent generations of artists, scientists, and thinkers. By examining da Vinci's diverse achievements, the essay illustrates the enduring legacy of this Renaissance polymath and his pivotal role in shaping modern society. The essay also refers to how he used dissection of corpses to collect data for his anatomical drawings. Also, his sketches were not just work of art but a blueprint of proper working mechanism which would help in the development of the science in the long term.

Running head: WORLD HISTORY
World History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The world history has underwent a lot of changes and they have made the society what it
is today. Amidst the various ages the contribution of the renaissance was the turning point which
forged the future one is living in today. The age was marked with the rise in the number of
people who had scientific thinking and led to the rise in the number of people contributing to the
development of scientific thinking (Bono, Morelli & Quattrone, 2015). One of the most prolific
thinker of the time was Leonardo Da Vinci.
Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most influential thinkers and he was working towards
the development of better ideas in the social and other scientific attitudes of the people. He was
one of the first to think of a number of scientific inventions and made a considerable contribution
in the field of medical sciences by making the diagrams of the internal working of the different
circulation systems, among other works he was the first to sketch a working model of a
parachute considering that the earlier sciences were obsessed about the ability of flying and the
ways that the mechanics of flight worked (Ackerman, 2018). The diagram was based on a
mechanism which would help individuals to fall from heights without hurting themselves fatally.
Painting was one of the major proficiencies of Leonardo Da Vinci and his work Mona
Lisa and Madonna of the Rocks are widely critically acclaimed. There are a number of factors
that makes the painting one of a kind. One of the most important is the famous Mona Lisa smile
which apparently took one year to paint and the smile has been interpreted as sexual to evil but it
represents the mastery and the genius that Leonardo Da Vinci had (Garrard, 2018).
Few of his diagrams mention in intricate details the anatomy of a man and the details I
this case focus on the development of the human body. One of the most famous wok in this
context is the Vitruvian Man. The accuracy of the angles that is shown in the Vitruvian man

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stands in stark contrast to the details that the people have in their real life if they do not have any
deformity (West, 2017). One of the major ways in which he collected the data for his anatomical
drawings was the dissection of the corpses which was considered a gross practice at the time. He
was also known to use the corpses of the people known to him for a detailed study of the human
body.
Many of his artworks and sketches research in detail the dynamics of flights movement of
the animals and the ways in which the different engineering constructions worked. In showrt
most of his sketches in the time were not just work of art but a blue print of proper working
mechanism which would help in the development of the science in the long term.
Other than Mona Lisa a painting that is a subject of study and deep research among
scholars is The Last Supper. It is the depiction of the last supper that Christ has along with all the
apostles. The painting shows in detail the last impression of the impending doom that was
awaiting to take place and the use of colors and expressions to represent the same. There are a
number of ways that the painting stands out as it has taken into consideration very minute details
such as the use of the deaf and mute language to communicate the ideas of the painting and use
of semiotics and symbolism to show the effects of the future.
The Madonna of the Rocks is another important work of Vinci in which Madonna with
infant versions of Christ and John the Baptist, along with the archangel Gabriel. The
surroundings show the details of juxtaposition that the artist used to convey the idea of
mysticism among the viewers (Garrard, 2018). It is also seen as the divine element as a viewer of
the communication and expression of the human emotions. The painting also sticks to Florentine
tradition of the study of details and the representation of humanizing of divine entities.

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Therefore, it can be said that Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the most important artists of
Renaissance who took to art to not only transform the thinking of the individuals in the society
but also help in the scientific explanations. His paintings show his love for the depth and detail
along with the understanding he had about the different subjects of science.

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References
Ackerman, J. S. (2018). Leonardo da Vinci: Art in science. In Science in Culture (pp. 207-224).
Routledge.
Bono, F., Morelli, M., & Quattrone, A. (2015). Facial dystonia as depicted in art in the time of
Leonardo da Vinci. The Lancet Neurology, 14(4), 351.
Garrard, M. D. (2018). Leonardo da Vinci: female portraits, female nature. In The Expanding
Discourse (pp. 58-85). Routledge.
West, J. B. (2017). Leonardo da Vinci: engineer, bioengineer, anatomist, and artist. American
Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, 312(3), L392-L397.