Saturday, May 22, 2004

Philologus Indoles...


Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci was a south paw? At that time, they were seen as evil and so were forced to write with their right hand but da Vinci kept using his left hand in private. Here is a snapshot of one of his notes. He wrote from right to left AND in mirror image. Some say that he wrote that way to prevent people from finding out or stealing his great ideas, especially the Roman Catholic Church who was against many of the new ideas "scientists" at that time had (including the proposal that the world actually revolved around the sun as supposed to everything revolving around us!) Others say that it was to prevent smudging since he wrote with his left hand. However when he wrote to other people, he wrote as a normal person would.

I think da Vinci was a great man. He had a mind that is worthy of admiring and repecting. Such a great man only comes every so often. Its such a shame that most people only know him for his famous painting, Mona Lisa, and never truly appreciate the genius that he was.

2 comments:

Roy said...

The Mona Lisa's a disappointment. It's tiny, and at the Louvre they put it in some sort of weird glass compartment. To protect it from camera flashes and humidity and all it seems.

Other than that, genius? Hmmm. Probably, but there were certainly many other geniuses out there too, not documented.

swurple said...

Of course there was. But on a man-to-world ratio, God only graces us with very few.