Leonardo da Vinci was not only a brilliant artist and inventor. He was interested in many areas, including literature. His literary heritage consists of diary entries, the famous "Treatise on Painting", aphorisms and allegories. Leonardo da Vinci's parables for children are also known - short instructive stories.
Brief biography of the artist
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the geniuses of the High Renaissance. His birthplace is the village of Ankiano, which was located near the town of Vinci, located near Florence. Despite the fact that Leonardo was illegitimate, his father immediately recognized him.
At the age of four, Senor Piero da Vinci took his son to his place. The boy began to teach reading, writing, mathematics and Latin. Interesting is the fact regarding the artist’s handwriting. He was left-handed and wrote from right to left, writing letters so that they could be read with a mirror. But if Leonardo wrote to someone, then he did it in the usual way.
The boy was sent to Florence so that he mastered the profession of an artist. It was there that the painters were respected more than in other Italian cities. From 1467 to 1472 Leonardo was a student of Andrea del Verocchio - one of the famous artists of that time. The talent of da Vinci was recognized by both the teacher and the public after he painted the figure of an angel on the canvas "Baptism of Christ." After this, Verocchio admitted that the student surpassed him.
In 1482, the artist went to the court of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. At the court, da Vinci served as the organizer of the court holidays. In parallel with this, he studied other fields of science and developed as an artist. In Milan, he founded the Academy of Arts, then the Lombard School, consisting of students of Leonardo, appears. In 1495, da Vinci began work on the Last Supper on the wall of the refectory in Milan.
After Sforza lost influence, Leonardo left Milan and lived in different cities of Italy. In 1516 (1517), he went to France at the invitation of Francis the First. Leonardo da Vinci was interested not only in painting and mechanics, but also in mathematics, botany, astronomy and other fields. The artist died in 1519 in the castle of Clulet in France.
Literary activity
Leonardo da Vinci was a philosopher and realized quite early that the practical side of painting required a theoretical justification. He recorded all his thoughts and observations in a notebook, which he always carried with him. It was a diary that has no analogues in the world.
It should be noted that in the era of the Great Renaissance Latin dominated. Therefore, contemporaries Leonardo admired the beauty and expressiveness of his syllable. But the artist did not consider himself a writer, and therefore wrote as he heard. And from his notes you can imagine how the Italian intelligentsia of the 15th century spoke. Notes of the artist are simple, they do not have the pathos and artificiality inherent in humanists. And his works have value from a literary point of view.
Drawings, sketches and drawings are supplemented by notes, fables, allegories. All entries from Leonardo's diaries are material for a large encyclopedia. His most famous literary work is A Treatise on Painting. But no less famous were the parables of Leonardo da Vinci for children.
List of short instructive stories
The parables of Leonardo da Vinci are simple, but at the same time, a certain elegance of the syllable. The following are the most famous short stories:
- "A true friend".
- "Lion and the lamb."
- "Swan".
- "Flint and flint."
- "Caterpillar".
- "Stone and road."
- "The stolen egg."
- "Peach tree".
- "Justice".
Below is a summary of the parables of Leonardo da Vinci.
What is friendship
The parable of Leonardo da Vinci's “True Friend” tells how a little eagle once saw a lot of birds flying below. To his question, what kind of birds, the eagle said that they were their friends. Despite the fact that the eagle prefers to live alone, sometimes he needs society. Without this, he cannot be considered the king of birds.
After the explanation was received, the contented eagles began to consider all the birds as their loyal friends. But suddenly he saw that one of these birds had taken their food. Eaglet informed his mother that their food was stolen. To which the wise eagle replied that no one had stolen anything from them. It was she who treated the birds, because at a high altitude it is difficult to find food.
If you want true friends to surround you, you need to be kind and tolerant. It is also important to take care of loved ones. Respect those who are generous and ready to always help friends.
Power of trust
In the parable of Leonardo da Vinci, “The Lion and the Lamb,” it is said that kindness and naivety have great power and can change others. The hungry lion tossed a little lamb. But the latter was so gullible that he was not at all afraid of the king of beasts.
The lamb took him for mom, so he came closer to him. In his eyes there were only boundless love and trust. Leo did not expect such an attitude, and, discouraged by such meekness, did not touch the lamb. The moral of this short parable is that kindness and love have a special power and can change a person.
The parable of Leonardo da Vinci "The Swan"
This story tells of a beautiful and stately bird. The swan felt his life was drawing to a close. But he was pleased that during his life he managed to maintain the snow-white feathers. And, despite all the difficulties, he did not lose his dignity.
The swan gloriously swam to the willow, under which he admired the landscape. And then he sang a song, and it was as inspirational and beautiful as never before. In it, the swan spoke of his love for the sun, sky, the whole world. And everyone, as if enchanted, listened to this wonderful song.
The moral of this short parable is that you need to live life so that there is nothing to regret. To never lose dignity, keep spiritual purity.
The Importance of Patience in Learning
The parable Flint and Flint tells the following: Flint was unhappy that it received strong blows from the flint. He did not understand why it treats him like that, because he does not touch anyone. And why not leave the flint alone? In response, the flint heard a request not to be angry, but to show a little patience and see what a miracle it would turn out.
Flint began to humbly wait and endure the blows of the flint. After some time, a fire appeared, with the help of which amazing things could be done. And this was a reward for patience. The essence of this parable is that you do not need to be afraid of the difficulties that may arise during training. If you show perseverance and patience, then the seeds of knowledge will give good shoots.
About the wonderful transformation
The Caterpillar parable tells how this little creature watched the life of other insects. Someone moved quickly, was beautiful, and only she, a poor caterpillar, was deprived of talents. She could only crawl, but she did it slowly.
But even crawling from leaf to leaf, the caterpillar made (as it seemed to her) a real journey. This creature did not envy anyone, realizing that everyone should do his own thing. The purpose of the caterpillar was that it needed to weave a cocoon from silk threads.
By the right time, she made a house for herself. And she had a question: what will happen next? The caterpillar heard a voice that asked for patience. When she woke up, she was no longer that awkward creature. She saw that she had beautiful wings painted in bright colors. So the caterpillar became a butterfly. No need to complain about life, perhaps in the future it will present you with generous gifts.
The charm of small towns
In the parable "Stone and Road" tells about the life of stone. He was a beautiful, large creek polished to a shine. But gradually the stream dried up, and the stone continued to lie on the hill. Around grew tall grasses and bright flowers.
The stone saw a road on which in a large pile were cobblestones and small pebbles. Tired of being alone, he began to murmur, complaining that he was bored of being among the herbs and flowers. It would be better if he was among his stone counterparts, where revival always reigned!
And he was on a paved road. But he was disappointed: passers-by kicked a stone, trampled, crumbled. And all his beauty disappeared. And the stone was already looking sadly at its hillock, dreaming of again being among the herbs and flowers.
No wonder they say that they usually do not know how to value what they have. And so are the people: they leave small rural corners, rushing into large and noisy cities. And once there, they begin to live in a fast rhythm, hectic. And then they begin to miss the unhurried rural way.
The relationship between mother and child
In the parable "The Stolen Egg", the story of a partridge, in which a nest was built on a cypress tree, is told. Once she flew to a neighbor who had chosen a olive tree. But that one was not there. The partridge could not resist and took one egg from its nest.
After some time, chicks hatched in both nests. The first to fly out of the nest in the olive tree. Then came the turn of partridge chicks. After the first flight, the chicks returned happy to their home. Everything except that stolen chick. Obeying his inner call, he returned to his mother in a nest on an olive tree. The bond between mother and child is never weakened.
The story of the peach tree
One of the parables of Leonardo da Vinci - "Peach Tree" - that you should not be envious of others. The peach tree saw that more fruits were growing on the plum tree, and therefore it became envious. Hazel tried to tempt him, explaining that they are different trees.
Hazel said that the plum has a strong trunk and flexible branches that can withstand such a large number of fruits. And instead of complaining, it would be better if it cared more about how to grow good peaches. But the peach tree was blinded by envy and did not want to listen to anything.
It ordered its roots to absorb as many juices as possible, and the branches to increase the number of ovaries. And when the tree bloomed, many fruits appeared on the branches. Peaches became harder day by day, pouring in juices. Therefore, it was hard for the branches to hold them.
And the severity of the trunk of the peach tree broke, and all the fruits fell to the ground. All peaches rotted at the base of the hazel. People often envy others, not trying to do useful work instead of grumbling. It is better to find what a person can do well in order to be beneficial.
About the correct device of a bee swarm
In the parable of Leonardo da Vinci "Justice" is shown on the example of bees the wisdom of nature. Once the animals began to complain about the unjust structure of the world. But the wise owl put an end to the debate.
She acknowledged that there was some truth in their words. But justice cannot be on the side of only one of them. An owl cited bees as an example. They are controlled by the uterus, there are bees that extract nectar, others are engaged in the arrangement of honeycombs, guard the hive. And how they care about their queen! There are bees that do not leave her. And when their ruler is aging, they select the most powerful bees that carry it on themselves. There are bee-healers preparing drugs. If one of the workers does not fulfill her duties, she will be punished. By the example of the hive, a wise device of life is shown: everyone should do his job well and responsibly.
These short instructive stories are useful to read not only for children but also for adults. The artist made the characters not animals, but animals, birds and things. And thanks to such images, kids are interested in listening to parables, perceiving them as a fairy tale. Adults, having read them, can rethink their life values. These parables are distinguished by the simplicity of the language, the clarity of the syllable and interesting images.