SEATTLE — A new exhibit at MOHAI brings some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s invention ideas to life.
Da Vinci - Inventions focuses on the artist’s codices - small booklets containing sketches and descriptions (often written in backward handwriting) - containing ideas that were precursors to airplanes and automobiles.
"We know Leonardo is a great artist, we think of the Mona Lisa. But did you know he was a great inventor?" said Leonard Garfield, Executive Director of MOHAI. "Leonardo Da Vinci is the definition of the Renaissance Man."
The exhibit is made up of wooden models, all based on Da Vinci’s codices. Italian and European craftsmen used traditional woodworking techniques to replicate what they might have looked like if they’d been produced during the Renaissance Era.
Some pieces are interactive, allowing visitors to experience Da Vinci's engineering ideas for things like ball bearings and self-locking mechanisms.
There are also larger models, like a glider and an aerial screw, representing Da Vinci’s fascination with flight.
"He was the absolute consummate observer of nature. He looked at water, he looked at animals, he looked at the human body,” Garfield said. "And there's so many examples in his work where nature inspired him to build something great."
Da Vinci also had a number of military inventions, including the very first tank. Visitors can also see his idea for a scuba suit, a master-planned city with elevated homes to combat plagues and disease, and musical instruments like a drum machine and a portable piano.
He even designed costumes and devised an eight-panel mirrored room for admiring oneself.
"Nothing was beyond his grasp, nothing was beyond his creativity, and I think that's what inspires us today,” Garfield said. “If we can harness our own creativity, think of the problems we can solve and the amazing worlds that we can invent as we go forward."
Da Vinci - Inventions is on display at MOHAI through March 13, 2022.
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