Invention Timeline – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Painter, Sculptor, Teacher, and Engineer
b. ? 1452 and d. May 2, 1519
Italian painter, sculptor, teacher and engineer. He was very talented, and brought the art of painting to a high degree of perfection. Had he confined his powers to that art, he would probably never have been surpassed; but he was a most prolific experimenter, and the forerunner of Galileo. He is the reputed inventor of the wheelbarrow; and he experimented with flying machines in 1500 and designed an apparatus to propel a pair of wings.
He is the greatest artist, then,
Whether of pencil or of pen,
Who follows Nature. Never man,
As artist or as artisan,
Pursuing his own fantasies,
Can touch the human heart, or please,
Or satisfy our nobler deeds.
—Keramos: Longfellow
1505—Giovanni Bellini painted the Madonna with Saints.
1511—Albert Durer painted the Trinity.
1512—Albert Durer was made court painter by Maximilian. He invented etching.
1515—Nuremberg gave him a yearly pension of 100 gulden.
1735-1785, May 13—William Woollett lived. His landscapes, both etched and engraved, are ranked among the most exquisite works of the kind.
1783—Francois Blanchard, the aeronaut, constructed and used the parachute.
