Leonardo and flight
Leonardo became involved with studies on flight at various points in his life, and the results of his observations in this field are among his most original and anticipatory. He was fascinated with the idea of being able to translate the forms of nature into a machine that would allow a man to fly. His work proceeded along methodical lines in which observations, drawings, measurements, and experimentations blended together continually. Leonardo combined his observations of birds and of nature in general with study and experimental practice, applying also his knowledge of physics and mechanics.
Leonardo and military engineering
Leonardo’s drawings as a military engineer at the Sforza court in Milan showed not only influences from medieval tradition but also representations of the nascent artillery. These were further elaborated during the 1490s through theoretical studies in the field of physics.Initially, Leonardo drew machines of the most various types, from scythed chariots to gigantic crossbows, from bombards to ships with movable bow rams, from assault ladders to mortars. These drawings are characterized not only by their unbridled fantasy, but also by their detachment from any practical implication.
Leonardo and machines
The first drawings of machines are characterized by a sign that is still uncertain and simplified. But already during the course of the 1480s, Leonardo was experimenting with and refining ever more effective graphical systems of representation, which he would proceed in applying also to other sectors, like anatomy, architecture and military engineering. Sections, prospect views, and transparent views were used to decompose machines into their constituent elements, with the twofold objective of finding the best language for documenting the machines and also of finding solutions for automating and rendering more efficient the existing traditional mechanisms, or of conceiving completely new mechanisms. Leonardo passed, particularly in the 1490s, from documentation of practical problems to a more theoretical analysis of the principles regulating the functioning of machines, from the study of mechanical elements to their interrelation.
Leonardo and construction site machinery
Leonardo’s first encounter with technology and machinery occurred at the construction site for Florence’s cathedral. Between 1469 and 1471, Verrocchio’s entire workshop crew was involved in the project of completing the lantern for the cupola on Santa Maria del Fiore, with the charge of constructing and positioning an enormous copper sphere at a height of over a hundred metres off the ground. The enterprise was a true test bed for numerous pupils, including Leonardo, who had the opportunity to observe and become acquainted with many machines for lifting heavy objects, such as the crane designed by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi. With the construction of the cupola for Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi succeeded in creating a synthesis of models from antiquity and the tradition of medieval construction.
