Este é um livro de histórias, aforismos e profecias de um dos maiores sábios do renascimento. Também é um livro sobre os enigmas da natureza. Enigmas perquiridos por um gênio que, apesar das muitas polêmicas que envolvem seu nome, repele etiquetas e é imune a modismos. Wagner schadeck, no prefácio, afirma que não é raro encontrarmos seus “aforismos estampados como epígrafes de livros sobre veganismo, ecologismo, ocultismo e ativismo científico”. Claro, personalidades fortes e lendárias como leonardo da vinci têm todos os elementos necessários para alimentar o fascinante e veloz espetáculo da vida moderna.
It was on April 15, 1452, that Leonardo was born in the town of Vinci, Republic of Florence, in what is now in Italy, the illegitimate son of a notary and a barmaid. It is from his birthplace that he is known as Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo seemed to master every subject to which he turned his attention: he was a painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer, wrote poetry and stories: the prototype Renaissance man!
His Last Supper (1495-97) and Mona Lisa (La Gioconda, 1503-06) are among the most popular paintings from the Renaissance. He and his rival Michelangelo did great service to the medical arts by accurate paintings of dissections, which were only occasionally allowed by the Church. Yet, his artistry appeared to be an afterthought, as he frequently left his works unfinished, and only about fifteen of his paintings survive. His notebooks reveal that he was centuries ahead of his time in mechanics and physic, fortifications, bridges, weapons, and river diversions to flood the enemy, which aided Italian city-states in their many wars.
Leonardo was an early evolutionist regarding fossils. Through his careful observations he noted that “if the shells had been carried by the muddy deluge they would have been mixed up, and separated from each other amidst the mud, and not in regular steps and layers — as we see them now in our time.” Leonardo reasoned that what is now dry land, where these aquatic fossils were found, must once have been covered by seawater.
He was for a short time accused of homosexuality: there is no evidence Leonardo had any sexual interest in women. As he wrote in his notebooks, “The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.”
And what of his religion? It is significant that at the end of his life he felt he had much spiritual negligence to atone for. His first biographer, Giorgio Vasari, wrote in 1550:
"Finally, …feeling himself near to death, [he] asked to have himself diligently informed of the teaching of the Catholic faith, and of the good way and holy Christian religion; and then, with many moans, he confessed and was penitent; and … was pleased to take devoutly the most holy Sacrament, out of his bed. The King, who was wont often and lovingly to visit him, then came into the room; wherefore he, out of reverence … showed withal how much he had offended God and mankind in not having worked at his art as he should have done."
There was much skepticism in Renaissance Italy at the time, and Leonardo was an intellectual genius, not just an artistic genius. While there was great intellectual freedom during the Italian Renaissance, there were limits as long as the Dominicans, the “Hounds of the Lord,” were active. This semblance of a deathbed conversion, by so critical a thinker and so great a genius as Leonardo, who would have nothing to lose by professing piety all his life, can only mean that during his prime years he was a secret freethinker.
Leonardo died quietly on the 2 of May, 1519, a few weeks following his 67th birthday.
Sensibile ed empatico, Leonardo Da Vinci in queste poche pagine, ha obbedito ad un intimo bisogno espressivo dando la parola ad ogni cosa, sasso, albero, animale... E per alcune profezie in particolare (parliamo del 1400!) mi sono venuti i brividi e ho ovviamente pianto. Ne riporto qui qualcuna= AFORISMI SULLA NATURA E PROVERBI SULL'UOMO - Natura non rompe sua legge - Chi nega la ragion delle cose, pubblica la sua ignoranza - L'omo e gli animali sono propio transito e condotto di cibo, sepoltura d'animali, albergo de' morti, facendo a sé vita dell'altrui morte, guaina di corruzione - Non mi sazio di servire (servire la verità) - Chi non stima la vita, non la merita INDOVINELLI E PROFEZIE - Vedrassi le piante rimanere senza foglie e i fiumi fermare i loro corsi. - Li animali d'acqua moriranno nelle bollenti acque. - Sarà morto da loro il loro nutritore, e fragellato con dispietata morte. - Dell'ova, ch'essendo mangiate, non possan fare e pulcini: O quanti fien quegli ai quali sarà proibito il nascere! - De' pesci che si mangiano ovati: Infinita generazione si perderà per la morte delle gravide. - Delli animali che si castrano: A gran parte della spezie masculina, pell'esser tolti loro e testiculi, fia proibito il generare. - Delle bestie che fanno il cacio: Il latte fia tolto ai piccoli figlioli. - Delle pecore, vacche, capre e simili: A innumerabili saran tolti e loro piccoli figlioli, e quelli scannati crudelissimamente squartati. - O animale mostruoso, quanto sare' meglio per li omini che tu ti tornassi nell'inferno! Per costui rimarran diserte le gran selve delle loro piante, per costui infiniti animali perdano la vita. Sono profondamente toccata di come questo grande uomo, intelligente anche a livello emotivo (che non mangiava carne e non si cibava di sofferenze altrui) abbia descritto così dettagliatamente ciò che avviene oggi negli allevamenti di animali, del cambiamento climatico e della crudeltà dell'uomo che è solo peggiorata.
Più che altro, una mera curiosità, in cui il piacere della lettura è piuttosto limitato. Forse sarebbe stato più adeguato un titolo del genere “Annotazioni sparse”. Di certo rivela uno sguardo attento e curioso su qualsiasi aspetto del mondo. E non poteva essere diversamente, dato l’autore.