Leonardo Da Vinci Conference

Leonardo – Who Are You?Prof. Adir Pridor, HIT & Dr. Nava Shaked, HIT

Abstract

The talk is aimed at providing a brief summary of the personality and the contribution of Leonardo da Vinci – a formidable task due to the extremely wide range and impressive depths of his fields of interest. This world renowned Renaissance polymath is introduced by some seemingly contradictory aspects of Leonardo: his low social origin and yet tight relations with dukes and kings, far reaching scientific insights while being formally illiterate, mainly an artist or a scientist, experimentalist or theoretician, how he viewed music and painting, was he a cool-blooded military engineer or a firm pacifist, why did he explore human anatomy in such depth, what was the origin and the outcome of his rivalry with Michelangelo – and others.