LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519

Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 Archaeological Reconstruction of the Etruscan Tomb of Montecalvario at Castellina in Chianti, near Siena Black chalk, pen, brown ink and brown wash on paper About 1507 In 1507, the remains of an Etruscan tomb were discovered by chance at the Montecalvario site near Castellina in Chianti.The drawing in the Louvre is traditionally associated with this discovery, as it seems to show the archaeological reconstruction. Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Inv. 2386 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 Technology Left-hand page: Tank; Helicopter Left-hand page: Ornithopter Pen and brown ink About 1487–1489 These sheets (once separated by a number of missing pages) are among the most famous in Leonardo’s corpus of technological drawings.The design for the ‘ornithopter’ on the right is based on biomimicry (the imitation of nature’s designs) – in this case, on the flight of birds. The ornithopter requires a human being to make its wings flap, but the ‘helicopter’ on the left has a starched linen screw, stretched over an iron spiral, which is supposed to rise in the air if turned quickly … Institut de France, Paris, Manuscript B, fol. 83v and 88r 122 123