Page 10 - Italina-American Herald - January 2025

10 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | JANUARY 2025 ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
TELEVISION
Da Vinci: New documentary endeavors
to understand a genius, and comes close
Continued from front page
brings to life not just Leonardo’s life but
also the zeitgeist of Renaissance Italy: We
learn about his influences and rivalries with
men like Michelangelo and Raphael. We
see political upheavals, tension, and warfare
that sent Leonardo wandering across the
Italian peninsula from patron to patron and
eventually to his final years in France.
The film gives ample time to each of the
various fascinations – perhaps even obsessions
– that drove this amazing man. Leonardo
was, of course, a consummate painter of
magisterial skill, yet he completed few
paintings, often keeping them with him for
years. Writing in his prodigious journals, he
asked, “Tell me if anything was ever really
done?” Only his death liberated a few of his
last works.
In one particularly fascinating segment,
the documentary shows how Leonardo
used single-point linear perspective and his
understanding of the human mind and form
to create his masterpiece “The Last Supper.”
Painted on a wall of a monastery, it was one
work he had to leave behind.
Leonardo possessed a mind of scientific
intensity that discovered underlying patterns
in nature. He performed dissections, driven by
his need as an artist and scientist to understand
human anatomy. Leonardo discovered how
the four-chambered heart functioned using
simple materials like silk, wax, water, and
grass seeds – only to be proven right 450
years later with sophisticated technology like
MRI scans that Leonardo could only have
imagined. Likewise, his fascination with flight
and birds never quite left him, and his love
for the avian
soul is captured by the story of how he would
purchase live birds in the market only to let
them fly free. He considered himself a “disciple
of nature” and his life’s work shows it.
The portal to Leonardo’s immense
curiosity is the thousands of pages of journal
entries he made. Written in a mirror script
and studded with wonderful sketches,
Leonardo created in them the first exploded
and transparent images that showed the inner
workings of machines and humans alike.
The inspiration for da Vinci’s
anatomical drawing was the
writings of ancient Roman
architect Vitruvius.
ADOBE
The documentary does not shy away
from Leonardo’s sexuality, noting his lifetime
relationship with his companion Salai. But
this does not suggest Leonardo was not able
to capture the feminine experience – his
commissioned portraits of female subjects,
such as the “Mona Lisa,” depicted women’s
features while penetrating their souls and minds
with a half-smile or a sparkle in their eyes.
If you take pride in being Italian, take
some time to watch this documentary about
this most famous of Italians. It is available
streaming on PBS and for purchase on iTunes
and other platforms. IAH
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