Inside the mind of Leonardo, artist and inventor of the helicopter
HE was perhaps the greatest Western artist of all time: the hand of genius behind The Last Supper and Mona Lisa masterpieces.
Now modern audiences will be able to enter the mind of the young Leonardo da Vinci as an engineer and inventor too, in what is expected to be one of the most popular exhibitions of 2016.
Computer modelling techniques will bring to life at the Science Museum in London the designs he thought up in his early 20s in Florence, but never fully brought to fruition.
The exhibition will also showcase 40 historical models of da Vinci’s groundbreaking inventions, including ideas for a helicopter-style ‘aerial screw’ flying machine, an early diving suit – and even a prototype armoured tank.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Genius includes recreations made in the 1950s of his paper designs from almost 500 years earlier.
Born in 1452, by the age of 20 da Vinci was employed in a workshop on the site of the Duomo in Florence.
There he began studying cranes and other building machinery, often trying to improve the efficiency of existing designs. For the first time, his drawings have been recreated in 3D using computer programs and they will be shown at the exhibition via video terminals instead of in display cases.
The Mechanics of Genius, which runs from Feb 10 to Sept 9, also sets da Vinci’s plans and inventions beside images from the natural world – a “flying machine” will be seen next to a bird’s wing – to show his influence on the idea of biomimicry, where engineers and designers look to emulate successes found in nature as a way of providing solutions to challenges such as flight.
While the mathematical precision of da Vinci’s technical drawings in combination with his paintings have helped secure his status as the ultimate “Renaissance man”, subsequent generations have struggled to bring his complex engineering ideas to life. That paradox has even led some experts to claim that he inserted deliberate flaws into his schemes, precisely because he wanted to make sure that they could never be used.
A BBC documentary in 2002 attempted to recreate some of da Vinci’s most ambitious military designs including a form of tank, a glider and a diver’s suit.
The programme team found that despite the complexity of the schemes, each included a simple – but correctable – “fault” which became apparent when they were built.
His tank, for example, included gears which had been set against each other, rendering it undriveable.
The programme makers concluded that this must have been deliberate, either to protect his designs in an age before copyright, or even because da Vinci harboured pacifist ideas and simply did not want his patrons to use the ideas for warfare.
Ian Blatchford, director of the Science Museum, said: “Leonardo da Vinci is one of history’s greatest independent thinkers, whose determination to imagine the world anew inspired humankind for generations and will continue to do so for generations to come.
“We hope this unique exhibition helps our visitors to understand more about his skilled and innovative approach to engineering and to be inspired to look afresh at the world around them.”