Leonardo da Vinci

[Wander00]

This quotation is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci


"Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned forever skyward, for there you have been, and there you long to return".


Now my question is, could he written that from imagination, or must he have experienced flight, for however short a period, to have been able to write it. My brain says the former, my heart the latter

[D120A]

And a related question is: how could Camille Saint-Saens possibly have written the last few bars of his Piano Concerto No. 2 without ever having landed a heavy aeroplane in a crosswind?

Play it (Cecile Licad and Stephen Hough have the best two interpretations for the purpose), close your eyes as you get to the end of the 3rd movement, and wonder. :8

[Genghis the Engineer]

Whatever else we do or don't know about Leonardo, I think that we do know very reliably that he had a hellishly impressive imagination. But he also didn't get around to building a lot of of the things he drew.

G

[joy ride]

I doubt that most his flying machines were ever built. I believe his pyramid-shaped parachute was used, although it was very unstable without venting at its tip.

It is very easy to stand on the top of a hill, cliff or bell tower and imagine what it must be like to fly, more so on a breezy day. Before Leonardo was born many people had already jumped to their deaths from high places with crude wings, so I see every reason to suppose that Leonardo gazed from a high place and imagined what flying must be like.