Completed 12th February 2024

 

500 Pieces

 

Bella Italia

 

Framed and decorated in a gelateria in Schalksmühle, Germany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I visited an exhibition in Hagen - Leonardo da Vinci

 Yesterday I visited the exhibition 

"Leonardo da Vinci, inventor and scientist"

at the Osthaus Museum in Hagen, with my husband.

The exhibition is held to celebrate the 500th anniversary of death of this genius

The exhibits are numerous reprints (facsimiles) and models built using the scetches of da Vinci.

 The facsimiles are from collections of 

• Codex Atlanticus, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy
• Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy
• Institut de France, Paris
• Windsor Castle Royal Library, Windor, GB

Self portrait, Turin, 1512

Leonardo as inventor

 

 Study of a flying man, 1485, Milan

 

Model of the flying man

 Model of the wind gauge

 Study of a helicopter, 1486-1490

 

 Model of the helicopter

 Study of a boat bridge, 1490, Milan

 Model of the boat bridge

 Study of a turn bridge, 1490, Milan

 Model of the turn bridge

Model of a double-walled ship's side, referred to a sketch of 1487-1489

Study of an old man sitting and swirls of pouring water, 1513, Windsor

Study of a turbine wheel, 1510, Milan

 Study of a printing press, 1495-1500, Milan

just note the figure on the lower right edge :-)

Model of the printing press

Study and model of an odometer, made of a carriage and two gear wheels.

Study of 1480

Model of a mechanical gear unit

Study of 1480

Did you ever saw a 'automobile" without fuel? here we go:

Study of 1493, Milan

Model of the automobile, based on a really complicated crossbow-spring-machinery. 

Released energy is transferred to a gear unit and to the differential gear of the back wheels. The can be moven autonomously from the fron wheel. Seems like this automobile as been invented for royal festivities and that it is a forerunner to the automatic machines of the renaissance era!

Model of a ball bearing, invented by Leonardo in 1480 to reduce the friction resistance

Leonardo as scientist (anatomy)

 During three or four periods in his life Leonardo da Vinci made over 750 anatomical drawings of all the organs of the human body. He also made drawings of animal anatomy to contrast it with its human counterparts. Leonardo began recording the results of his private dissections in Milan around 1485.

 Study of the skull, 1489, Windsor

 Study of muscles and bones of leg and hip

comparing study of man and horse

1507, Windsor

 Study of a bears' food, 1493, Windsor

 Study of the larynx, bronchia and muscles of the left leg

1510, Windsor

 Study of the muscles of throat and shoulder

1510, Windosr

 Study of the stomach and alimentary tract 

1506, Windsor

 Study of the nervous system, 1510, Windsor

note the way Leonardo wrote: mirror writing!

 Study of the lung, bladder and genitals

1509, Windsor

 Leonardo as inventor of weapons

Study of a bastion, Milan, 1508
 

 No idea how frightening this would have been: a chariot with reaping hooks
Turin, 1485

 Sketch of a war machine with four cross bows
Milan, 1485

 a giant cross bow
Milan, 1485

why using four cross bows, if you can use sixteen (ironically spoken)
Milan, 1485

mechanism to hold off scaling ladders
Milan, 1482

Model of a tank to place 26 soldiers inside
Milan, 1482

 

500th anniversary of death of Leonardo da Vinci (2nd May 2019)

 Detail of Mona Lisa, Prado, Madrid

Born 15th April 1452

Died 2nd May 1519

Drawer

Painter

Inventor

Sculptor

Architect

Scientist

Musician

Engineer

Astronomer

Mathematician

Anatomist

Geologist

Botanist

Writer

Historian

Cartograph

Polymath

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

 In september 2019 I'll visit an exhibition (german language) 

showing faksimiles and models.

Finished 12th November 2017

220 Pieces

Detail from "The last supper" by Leonardo da Vinci

8,8 x 4,6 m - it is a late 15th-century mural painting (fresco secco) housed by the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. It is one of the world's most recognizable paintings.

An Impronte Edizione jigsaw puzzle 

Finished 3rd May 2015 + updated 4th May

First of all: congratulations to the 

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

Her Royal Highness Catherine has been safely 

delivered of a baby girl yesterday :-)

HRH Princess Charlotte Elisabeth Diana of Cambridge

********* * * * ********

 1500 Pieces

Gioconda, Prado Museum

 It's a copy painted by one of the scholars of the genius in the same year. It belongs to the Prado, Madrid since the mid 1660ies. No idea why the background was covered with black colour, but no one realized the value of this Mona Lisa which was on display in the Prado - no one even thought it might be a perfect copy painted in Da Vincis atelier. Then, in 2012, the painting was cleaned and the craftsmaster recognized that the background looks close to the Mona Lisa in France. The Mona Lisa of the Prado is now on display and shows all the wonderful details (embroideries, the landscape, details of the face) that are lost on the Louvre-Mona Lisa due to the ages.

click here to discover the (updated) assembling process :-)