Painter, who lived between 1452 and 1519, bequeathed great works and studies, but gaps continue to be analyzed
Leonardo da Vincitheme of a new immersive exhibition in São Paulo, As Farpas do Renascimentowho will propose, starting from 31 May, screenings of his works alongside those of another master, Michelangelo, is considered one of the greatest geniuses in the history of art. However, since the painter and inventor lived between 1452 and 1519, there are several gaps in the documents about his life and his works, as well as mysteries about his origin and other factors surrounding him. Remember a few that have recently been unveiled by scientists below.
The bridge behind the Mona Lisa
Research conducted by the Italian historian Silvano Vinceti, president of the National Committee for the Enhancement of Historic, Cultural and Environmental Heritage in Italy, indicates that the bridge located on the right side of the canvas of the famous painting, just above the shoulder of the Mona Lisa, would be the Bridge Romito, located in Laterina, in the province of Arezzo.
The thesis contradicts the most widespread hypotheses up to now, according to which the image portrays a bridge in Buriano, also in Arezzo, or the medieval bridge of Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza.
“I also defended the thesis of the Buriano bridge, but today I no longer have any doubts: the painting shows the Etruscan-Roman bridge of the Romito,” said Vinceti on May 3, 2023, in Rome, presenting the results of his study.
“A common mistake is to think that Leonardo painted fantastic visions. On the Mona Lisa yes, but not on the landscape”, added the historian. Only one arch of the bridge has resisted the passage of time, but, according to Vinceti, the structure was in full working order in the early sixteenth century and was well frequented, “as evidenced by a document of the Medici family found in the State Archives of Florence”.
At that time Da Vinci was in the Valdarno, which crosses Tuscany, first in the service of Cesare Borgia and then of the then ruler of the Republic of Florence, Pier Soderini.
Da Vinci was the son of a slave woman.
Caterina di Meo Lippi was a slave for several years of her life, and her deed of freedom was signed by the notary Piero da Vinci, father of the Italian, researcher Carlo Vecce found out.
Introducing his book Il Sorriso di Caterina on March 14, 2023, Vecce reported that he had found the “act of liberation from slavery” in the State Archives of Florence and that his search began because rumors circulated that the mother of the genius was a slave.
Until then, history has always pointed out that Da Vinci was an “illegitimate” son of Piero and Caterina, referred to only as a simple peasant girl who was orphaned at the age of 15. Initial searches indicated that the woman was from the Middle East, but little was known about her actual life. From Vecce’s analysis it emerged that Caterina was born in the Caucasus area, and then moved to the Azov Sea region, still part of Russia. He was taken to Byzantium, shortly before its fall into the hands of the Turks, and from there he went to Italy: Venice, Florence and then to Vinci. The young girl became a maid at the age of 15 and she was a slave for another local family, a man named Donato. She was “lent” to Piero’s family to be “caregiver” for one of the notary’s daughters, Maria.
Da Vinci sensed gravity
Drawings of experiments made by Leonardo da Vinci shows that the Italian was studying that the severity is a form of acceleration and who “intuited” the discovery of the Isaac Newton (1643-1727) almost 100 years before the theory of the British physicist.
According to research conducted by engineers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and specialists from the Western Switzerland University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hes-so), Da Vinci was close to defining the gravitational constant “g” with 97% of precision.
They even ran a computer experiment with da Vinci’s data and pointed out that the Italian had correctly used a wrong equation in his calculations. If I could have corrected that, I would have defined the “g” almost perfectly.
“We don’t know whether Leonardo experimented further or looked into this matter further, but the fact that he was approaching problems this way in the early 1500s demonstrates how advanced his thinking was,” concluded Caltech engineer Morteza Gharib.
Stains of the Codex Atlanticus
A study by the Milan Polytechnic found that mercury and sulfur caused some stains in the Codex Atlanticus, first published in 1478 by Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex Atlanticus, donated to the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan in 1637, was restored by the Ancient Book Laboratory of the Abbey of Grottaferrata between 1962 and 1972. Since then, studies began to understand what was happening, but the possibility of microbiological deterioration.
The mystery began to be solved in 2021 through the work of researchers led by Lucia Toniolo. They carried out a sort of “pilot project” with page 843. There, the analyzes showed the presence of non-organic nanoparticles, composed of mercury and sulfur, among the cellulose fibers of the paspatur paper. According to the specialists, who published the study in the journal Scientific Reports, the presence of mercury could be associated with the addition of an antifouling salt within the glue mixture used in the restoration of Grottaferrata. The product has been used to avoid microbiological actions.
The sulfur, on the other hand, is linked to air pollution in the city of Milan or to additives used in the glue itself which, over time, would have caused a reaction with the mercury salts and therefore favored the appearance of the particles responsible for black spots.
* With information from the ANSA agency.
Source: Terra
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