Da Vinci's mechanical lions

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The drawings on sheets 90 verso and 91 recto of Codex Madrid I. are interpreted as construction drawings for the leg mechanics of Automata Leone. [1] The drawings on sheets 90 verso and 91 recto of Codex Madrid I. are interpreted as construction drawings for the leg mechanics of Automata Leone. [1]
The drawings on sheets 90 verso and 91 recto of Codex Madrid I are interpreted as construction drawings for the leg mechanics of Automata Leone.

Da Vinci's mechanical lions were mechanical, slightly larger than life- size figures with a wind-up mechanism in the shape of lions , which were conceived and constructed by the Italian painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci between the years 1509 and 1517 . He made two of the figures for the French kings Louis XII. and Francis I as a gift, a third lion was presented to the Medici family . The best known is the Automata Leone baptized Lion of Lyon. Da Vinci's technical drawings and notes on the mechanical lions are in Volume 1 of the Codex Madridreceive. There are no contemporary images of the figures.

story

Milan Lion

An unusual document from 1777 called Fondo Principale II.IV. 171 was rediscovered in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in 2005 and published by Jill Burke in the Oxford Art Journal 2006 . The historical, municipal report of the library shows that Leonardo da Vinci designed a lion figure with a sophisticated winding mechanism for the French King Louis XII as early as 1506 . had created. This lion was placed in a resting position above the city gate of Milan . When the king stepped through on July 1 , 1506 on the occasion of a triumphal procession , the figure straightened up to assume a seated posture. Then the chest opened and blue balls filled with golden lily flowers tumbled out. The king is said to have been enthusiastic and immediately asked about its inventor. The fact that Leonardo da Vinci turned out to be the creator, however, did not surprise the king: Louis XII. had called on da Vinci a few weeks earlier to wait for the majesty in Milan instead of following her to France. With the wind-up lion, da Vinci probably wanted to thank the king on behalf of all of Milan for the liberation battle of Agnadello near Venice .

Lion of Lyon

The Automata Leone constructed da Vinci in 1515, he made the figure commissioned by Pope Leo X to. The reason for the order was that the Florentines wanted to thank France for the promised support in the battle of Marignano . Florence and Milan were also very grateful for the peace treaties with France. That is why Leo X had planned to present the lion figure to the French king. An interesting fact was that the Pope himself was called "Leo" (in English "lion"). The modern research literature establishes a connection between the name of the Pope and the design as a lion, for which there is no direct, contemporary evidence. Da Vinci actually had the Automata Leone already King Ludwig XII. want to hand over, but he died more or less surprisingly in January 1515.

So the lion was presented to the newly crowned King Francis I on July 12, 1515 during the coronation banquet as a friendship gift. According to contemporary reports by Italian art historian Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo , the lion was able to walk, pose and nod. As a highlight , as it were , the figure had an expansive chest compartment in which large, artificial lily flowers were hidden. The lion figure could sit down, stand up (so to speak, “make a man”) and open the chest, whereupon the lily flowers popped out. The special selection of the flowers had a special reason: Lily blossoms were considered fleur-de-lys in France as a king symbol and played an important role in French heraldry . Pope Leo X's name would have been a fitting addition to the symbolism behind the gift. When the figure was presented in Lyon, it caused a lot of spectacle and amazement. Both Lomazzo and the Italian architect and court painter of the Medici , Giorgio Vasari , gave detailed reports on the event. The lion was presented two more times, once on September 30 , 1517 when Francis I entered Argentan and on August 12 , 1519 in Amboise , when Leonardo da Vinci was buried there.

Lion of Florence

A mechanical lion was also presented during the wedding of Maria de 'Medici to King Henry IV on October 1, 1600 in Florence. According to contemporary reports by court reporter Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger , the lion was a gift from the Duke of Urbino , Lorenzo di Piero de 'Medici . This time it was the Florentines who were amazed at the figure; the Medici family is said to have been delighted. However, it remains to be seen whether it was a second machine or an improved version of the original lion: On the one hand, Buonarroti mentions a “mechanical lion of Lyon for his Majesty Franz I”, to which the new lion is “very similar On the other hand, da Vinci's notes and drafts also suggest that he had at least planned and even started more Automata.

See also

literature

  • Fritjof Capra: The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-385-52411-7 .
  • Götz-Rüdiger Tewes, Michael Rohlmann: The Medici Pope Leo X. and France: Politics, culture and family business in the European Renaissance (= late Middle Ages and Reformation , 19 volume). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 978-3-16-147769-0 .
  • Stefan Klein: Da Vinci's legacy or: How Leonardo reinvented the world . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2014. ISBN 978-3-10-403201-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietrich Lohrmann, Thomas Kreft (Ed.): Codex Madrid I, annotated edition . Vienna 2018, ISBN 978-3-412-51206-4 ( online [accessed December 15, 2020]).
  2. ↑ a b c Luca Garai: The automatic lion. In: Mechanical Lion - Feast of the Fortess . Article from May 2010 on researchgate.net (English); last accessed on December 16, 2020.
  3. ↑ Götz-Rüdiger Tewes, Michael Rohlmann: The Medici Pope Leo X. and France. Page 240.
  4. ^ A b Fritjof Capra: The Science of Leonardo. Pages 125 & 126.