From armored tanks and gliders to "plastic glass" and drawing machines, this interactive book explores the incredible mind of Leonardo da Vinci through hands-on building projects and activities. Most of Leonardo's inventions were never made in his lifetime and remained sketches in his famous notebooks; kids examine some of these original sketches and learn about the models he made of his inventions. From there they delve into detailed step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and templates for each project, which are interpersed with historical facts, biographical anecdotes, and trivia. Most of the building can be done using simple household supplies: construction paper, tape, markers, glue, cardboard tubes, aluminum foil, and cardboard boxes. Background about the Renaissance as a period of remarkable achievement in art and science appears throughout the book.

One of the most interesting and important changes in art that occurred during the Renaissance was the discovery of an idea that made it possible for painters to translate the three-dimensional world they lived in onto the two-dimensional surface of a painting. This idea is called “linear perspective.” Linear perspective was first invented by a famous Renaissance architect named Filippo Brunelleschi, who had a system that helped show how objects shrink in size according to their distance from the eye. Brunelleschi’s system has been lost to history, but in 1435, a painter and architect named Leon Battista Alberti wrote a book called On Painting, in which he described a method that painters could use that would actually do just what Brunelleschi suggested: make what was painted on the canvas look three-dimensional.

Alberti’s book had a huge influence on painters during the Renaissance, including Leonardo. He learned about Alberti’s theory of linear perspective during his days as an apprentice in Verrocchio’s studio, and all of Leonardo’s paintings, even his early ones, show that he not only understood linear perspective, he took the idea of perspective even further.

Leonardo considered a painting a window to the outside world, and wanted everything in his paintings to look as if it were a scene through a window, happening before the viewer’s eyes. Because he was a careful observer of nature, he noticed that at different times of day objects in the distance looked more or less sharp and took on slightly different colors. Other painters had also noticed this and even had started showing it in their paintings, but Leonardo carefully measured and recorded what he noticed. For example, Leonardo noticed that in the morning light, distant objects (such as hills or mountains) looked less distinct and more blue than closer hills or mountains. He also noticed that the farther away the image was, the more its color blended into the color of the air around it.

As a result of his observations, Leonardo came up with some simple rules for painters to follow in creating what he called aerial perspective: the nearest object should be painted its true color, the one immediately behind the nearest one should be painted proportionately bluer, and the object farther away should be proportionately bluer still.

"Whenever a figure is placed at a considerable distance you lose first the distinctness of the smallest parts; while the larger parts are left to the last losing all distinctness of detail and outline; and what remains is an oval or spherical figure with confused edges."

In addition to laying out rules for aerial perspective, Leonardo thought long and hard about how to create a machine for sketching a scene with the proper linear perspective. This machine he invented was called a perspectograph, and it helped artists design a replica of the scene they wanted to paint in proper perspective.

Leonardo’s perspectograph was simply a clear pane of glass placed into a frame that held a small viewing slot. The painter put the pane of glass in the frame, placed the perspectograph in front of the scene to be painted, and then looked through the viewing slot with one eye and sketched the outline of the scene onto the glass. The artist could then transfer the rough sketch onto canvas as an outline and paint in the details.

Artists since Leonardo have created many different versions of the perspectograph, including ones with grids that made it really easy to transfer a rough sketch onto a piece of paper or canvas: an artist would simply have to draw whatever lines appeared on any given grid number, and the complete picture would come together.

 

Introduction
- What Was the Renaissance?
- Biography of Leonardo

Leonardo the Artist and Dreamer
- Perspective and Leonardo's "Perspectograph"
- Masks for a Masque
- "Plastic Glass" and Paint
- Leonardo and Luca Pacioli's "Divine Proportion"
- Leonardo the Jokester
- Monster Shield

Leonardo's Useful Machines
- The Camera Obscura
- Leonardo's Weather Predictions
- Leonardo's Hydrometer
- Leonardo's Monkey Wrench

Leonardo and Water
- Walk-on-Water Shoes
- Leonardo's Webbed Gloves

Leonardo in Flight
- Leonardo's Ornithopter
- Leonardo's Helicopter
- Leonardo's Parachute
- Leonardo's Anemometer

Leonardo's War Inventions
- Leonardo's Safety Bridge
- Leonardo's Trebuchet
- Leonardo's Tank

Image Credits
Glossary
Bibliography/Resources
Index

"This marvelous book will introduce you to some of Leonardo's most exciting ideas and innovations."

 

"Encourages young readers to explore the genius of Leonardo. . .and have a huge amount of fun in the process."

 

"A wonderful resource for children, and for adults who wish to experience a Renaissance of their childlike love of learning."

 

"Fun and factual."

 

"Guides young readers to sample Leonardo’s mind by replicating what were for him 'mental inventions.'"

 

"Bring[s] an immediacy to da Vinci's life and work."

 

"The book is perfect for capturing a middle schooler's attention! Highly recommended."

 

"More than an activity book, this nifty volume explores Leonardo's life, times and endless imagination"

 

Maxine Anderson is the author of Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself. She is a former teacher and an avid amateur historian, focusing on inventions and innovations in a historical context. She lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.

 

Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself by Maxine Anderson
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