Person
Leonardo da Vinci
Arts, Music & Media
Creativity & LearningWho is Leonardo da Vinci in the Agency editorial?
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist, engineer and scientist of the Renaissance, the painter of the Mona Lisa. The Agency editorial names him in three editions: Issue.12 uses the Mona Lisa to practise abstraction, the AI persona PunkGPT lists him among great artists in Creative.10, and Issue.23 names him first among the polymaths behind the idea of Homo Universalis.
In short
Leonardo da Vinci is named in three editions of the Agency editorial, always briefly. Issue.12, on semiotics, says the Mona Lisa can be interpreted from an infinite number of perspectives and walks through the eyes, the smile, the background, the pose and the frame before adding that the reader can be even more intrigued by "the colors used by Da Vinci". In Creative.10 the AI persona PunkGPT asks how people like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt and Andy Warhol managed to become artists when artists struggle to earn a living. In Issue.23 the author names Leonardo Da Vinci first in a list of polymaths he studied when he discovered the Homo Universalis.
Key facts
- Which work by Leonardo do the editions discuss?
- The Mona Lisa, in Issue.12. The edition treats each element of the painting, including the colours he used, as a sign with its own set of meanings, to show how abstraction finds new messages.
- Who mentions Da Vinci in Creative.10?
- PunkGPT, the AI persona being interviewed. It names him in a question to the interviewer about how famous artists managed to practise and study while paying their bills.
- What does Issue.23 call Leonardo?
- A polymath. He is the first of four the author names, with Saint Thomas Aquinas, Ada Lovelace and Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira, as examples of the Homo Universalis.
Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, draughtsman, engineer and scientist of the Renaissance. He painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper and left notebooks on anatomy, mechanics and many other subjects, which is why he is often given as the example of a polymath. The years and the other card facts of this entry come from outside the editions and are marked for verification.
How do the editions use Leonardo da Vinci?
Issue.12 does not discuss his life. It takes the Mona Lisa as an object for an exercise: the reader may be intrigued by the eyes, the smile, the background, the pose, the painting as a whole or even the frame, and each time the edition asks the reader to abstract it. The painter's name comes in the last step, about the colours. The edition concludes that each sign in the painting holds a set of meanings and that this exercise matters to communication professionals.
In Creative.10 the name is part of a question asked by PunkGPT, in an exchange about whether only people with resources can make art; the interviewer answers that some of those artists came from noble backgrounds, some had patrons and others had undeniable talent. In Issue.23 the author says the polymaths he studied understood that, through the fire of discipline and the passion for curiosity, they could develop any skill necessary to create what was born in the space of their minds.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
- Issue.12 - SemioticsRead the edition
- Creative.10 - PunkGPTRead the edition
- Issue.23 - A Brazilian Model?Read the edition