Leonardo Da Vinci – ADHD in 1510

Leonardo Da Vinci

The original Renaissance man meets the original Renaissance woman as Martha Stewart visits Leonardo Da Vinci’s workshop. Leo demonstrates painting, anatomy, dissection, fortress building, weapon design, and much more. The episode also features a folk singer, Gordon Slicefoot, crooning about the perils of human dissection. There’s parodies of Married With Children, and ads for some of the more bizarre products of the 15th century.

There’s a good chance Leonardo Da Vinci had ADD.

This episode features parodies of Martha Stewart, Hollywood Squares, Pikachu, Gordon Lightfoot, Everybody Loves Raymond, Married With Children, and Dirty Harry.

Ever wonder if you have ADD? Try Rick Green’s online ADHD Test at TotallyADD.

YouTube transcript

Welcome to History Bites I’m Rick Green.

What Does Renaissance Man Really Mean?

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times but people today always misuse the term a Renaissance man, they apply it to anyone who has more than one skill.

The actor who can play an instrument or the computer programmer who’s written a science fiction novel.

Oh look jr. can walk and talk. What it should mean is a person who has achieved real greatness in a wide range of

different disciplines someone like well the original Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci.

Leo painted, he sculpted, he wrote, he sliced, he diced, he was a draftsman, a defense contractor, an engineer, and an

architect, he could even do you a nice patio.

So let’s go back to 1483 and get a first-hand look at this multi-talented guy. Now where would you find the ultimate Renaissance man? Probably right alongside the ultimate Renaissance woman, on television.

Martha Stewart Parody

Hello I’m Martha and I’m a good thing.

I’m here this week at the fabulous home of one of the richest Nobles in Italy the Duke of Sforza. The Duke is the

unpatronizing patron of my very dear friend Leonardo da Vinci. Hello Leo.

Oh hi it’s great to have you here Maria.

Martha. Well perhaps you can tell us a bit about what you do for your patron and the Duke, it’s not just oil paintings is it?

Oh no I do oil paintings as well, but you know I also do

architecture, sculpting, house paintings, as well as fortifications and war machines because you know what war machines pay the bills boys and girls.

I know exactly what it’s like with all the nobles away at war, in the morning I’m boiling oil for dinner and later in the day I’ll probably end up dumping it over some attacking army or angry investors storming my home.

Yes, okay now speaking of attacking and I want to show you something look.

Oh I love this it looks like some sort of covered gazebo.

You know that’s exactly how it started out you know the Duke wanted a place in the garden with benches where intellectuals could discuss Renaissance philosophy,

then I thought you know what this shape you know put some wheels on it and voila you’ve got a fabulous war machine.

Mmm sort of like a warship for the land, and I see you have guns sticking out all around.

Guns to blast ’em wheels to crush ’em.

Them there’s some sort of battering ram here no no that’s actually a bench to discuss Renaissance philosophy.

HollyWood Squares Parody

I’ll pick Gary Shandino to block.

Okay Gary I hear you just started a new job.

That’s right I’m working as a jester with the Sforza family right now up in Milan, thank you.

We wish you the best of luck with that, here’s the

question. What thing in an artist studio is worth more than gold more than gold?

More than gold huh, well that’s probably the artists ego, no

seriously I’m gonna say it’s one of the blue paints they use because you know those blue paints can be worth a fortune

so I say it’s Azurite.

I’m gonna agree.

Oh so close it’s a blue pigment but the actual answer is ultramarine, the blue they use to paint the Virgin Mary’s

cloak.

you know why don’t we say when

you’re when you’re building a war

machine you should always start with the

steering mechanism there you know what

we can do this later

let me show you the garden I make

[Music]

the Dooku’s forces estate is spacious

and beautiful nearly as beautiful as my

own in fact this would make a fabulous

note yes

Moke they’re earthworks over there and

we got a hard road gonna come right

through here for moving canons defences

are always changing you’ve got to keep

them guessing and a road really is the

perfect thing for a noble on a budget to

really stretch his canons

[Music]

try putting them on a perimeter wall

they make a really strong statement the

Renaissance was a time of tremendous

innovation artists were experimenting

with new painting techniques doctors

were learning about the human body by

studying corpses and some people were

doing both repairing the quacks which

gave me an idea for planning a pageant

and then I also used it when I was

planning that bronze statue which well

you know if I have to finish or let’s

start actually right but getting back to

painting Leonardo

there’s nothing more embarrassing than

commissioning a portrait and finding out

that the proportions have come out all

wrong and before you got on to botany

and flying Leonardo you were saying that

before you paint you spend a lot of time

studying the human form exactly yeah but

you know I also like to cut up human

bodies and and then I draw what I see

it’s a real slice of life it’s quite

difficult finding the bodies isn’t it

well you’ve been reading my mind or my

notebooks well you know actually nobody

can read my notebooks because of my

secret writing like Copernicus and

Galileo many of da Vinci’s ideas were

revolutionary now today revolutionary

ideas could earn you a Nobel Prize in

the 15th century they could get you

imprisoned or burned at the stake since

a lot of Leonardo’s ideas were so

cutting-edge they could have been

considered dangerous he wrote his notes

in a secret code ixnay on the era see

hey okay you see that you see that you

see how cunningly disguise the writing

is you see that see that’s a secret

method I’ve developed so that no one can

read it

I used a mirror perhaps Amir Amir would

course make it less difficult Yoga Yoga

we’re being attacked

it’s an army of strange machines I

summon the power of alchemy what you

said about those crazy war machines da

Vinci do son I said they were too

advanced and couldn’t be built because

his instructions were illegible just

gibberish he do flying machines and

tanks but his nuts were just the

nonsense drawings of a mad scribbling

clever genius

there’s no can be read in a mirror and

they’re in a secret shorthand of course

our code so no one could accuse him of

writing heresy the left-handed devil

oh dear the Vinci’s joins came alive yes

we better run yeah da Vinci also blew

dead bodies once in a lifetime comes a

songwriter who captures the sound of an

era when Gordon sliced foot was the

greatest of them all he sang about human

dissection and his songs cut to the bone

let me snip away snip away now you can

own 20 hits by this country’s greatest

vivisectionist minstrel it’s alright for

some but not all around

I’ve also used a short hand the short oh

speaking of short hands you know I love

to draw hands but they’re very difficult

so you know what I do I dissect them go

up go up

I’ve got some heads right over here now

in dissecting freshness is important

isn’t it Leonardo Martha I start with

the freshest corpses I can find you know

I try the hospital or get them a little

embarrassed to say this but grave

robbers and also there’s dead bodies now

and then at the gallows or you know what

the public stocks now I’ve had a lot of

trouble with public stocks well the

problem with execution victims is it the

medical schools get some fresh pickings

well Leonardo and I want to get the

freshest corpses I can find I know I can

rely on my loyal servant Pedro Pedro

I’ve heard great things about you whoa

that’s fresh

[Music]

she’s buried Six Feet Under

I couldn’t care less the sun’s down I

better take care cuz I have to steal her

body from that graveyard there

Gordon’s musical legacy poignant and

anatomically correct has inspired

artists and doctors now all that

knowledge is gathered in one great set

of songs and I’ll touch your heart and

then cut it open to see what’s inside

I can see veins in your eyes I found a

brand new muscle

I can see things

whenever I pull the tendons like this

you you think hands are complicated on

the outside look what coming inside I

must say that as an artist dissections

really give me a sense of how the whole

thing is put together this collection

includes his poignant and prophetic

masterpiece

that’s what

spear Anatomy I’m caught and swinging on

the news when a bit they’ll cut me loose

they’ll start dissecting me my hands are

really difficult that’s why yeah that’s

why I like to study the the skeleton and

and the musculature and you know the way

the the folds of skin go and do you use

the rule of fives I don’t know that one

I discovered this rule myself when I was

under her ochio hey I studied under bra

here too for years

oh I wasn’t studying just under him but

I did think of this wonderful rule for

drawing fingers start drawing fingers

and then you count as you go right until

you get to five and then you stop it

gives you a very natural looking hand

when you draw five fingers four fingers

and a thumb actually when we return

Aeronautics and aqua knotek’s and

armaments and architecture chemistry

physics anatomy biology alchemy and more

let me snip away snip away

leonardo was a great one for pulling

different disciplines together he

carried out experiments with different

mixtures of paints he studied the

mathematics of perspective and he was

interested in the links between geometry

and beauty talk about painting by

numbers

Leonardo is fascinated by the

relationship between art and mathematics

this is also an interest in mind the way

that the artist can transform paint wood

and canvas into hundreds or even

thousands of gold ducats which is how

architecture led me to look at ways of

improving stage lighting inside theaters

using just getting back to mathematics

and your study of art oh all right yeah

well we majors all about math I mean

look oh look look look take a look at

this sketch here you know you’ll see the

link between geometry and Anatomy what a

wonderful design I love the use of

proportions here which almost remind me

of the ideas of the Roman architecture

through this message in this picture

Leonardo well maybe a guy can be well

rounded and still a bit of a square

[Music]

okay now if this doesn’t work with a

catapult I can use it for scaffolding

for the Last Supper OC supper because

I’ve got some great experts agree breast

milk is best for babies and they agree

a woman who is breastfeeding should

refrain from sexual activity so like

most new fathers you’ll want to pack

your newborn after a wet nurse as fast

as you can but choose your wetness

carefully because breast milk not only

carries the nutrients that growing

babies need it also transmits the

physical and moral traits of the donor

hire a loose woman and your child may

swallow a wanton lifestyle that’s what I

did I painted the dragon on the shield

and my father was just scared to death

because he thought that it was a real

bride I know I’m going to interrupt you

here because he made an interesting

point earlier what was your original

point my underwater suit no before that

said my book of fables know something

about how you love animals I love to

draw horses no no it was only about how

you like to go to the marketplace and

buy pigeons that are being sold for food

and then just released yet I’d like to

release them just to watch them fly free

you know what I designed the machine

with yes it’s so interesting

don’t lie to me Raymond I saw you

dancing in the street with another woman

okay okay you wanna know why I was

dancing with her

we were damn waiting yeah it was they

who is the tarantella Karen oh my god

you mean the spider dance yeah you got

bitten by one of those poisonous Italian

tarantula spider yeah yeah yeah that’s

it Oh God I’ve heard about that you get

bitten and the poison it it makes you

dance and it’s horrible

well what did you take anything for it I

could mix up some fairy I have a Viper’s

flash in the cupboard and Noah Rou

leaves those are very good against

poison oh no no you see they see that

that’s exactly what what was she was

giving me you see she she saw that I had

been bitten and so she was giving me

some rulli’s yeah poisonous but she

didn’t notice that that that the spider

was still there and so it bit her – I

thought that you and that woman we’re

making the beast with two backs we were

making the beast with eight legs yeah

now I’ve added pheasant and rabbit and

venison to my vegetarian pie and the

rich juices using from the flesh really

enhance the flavor of the vegetables

while we waited for the pies to cook

Leonardo who never sits still as you can

imagine showed me some of his newest

artistic creations I see you drawn some

horses here you know I love horses think

that’s a sensitive eyes don’t they you

know what mother you cannot create a

sensitive work of art if you are not

sensitive to animals can’t be done it

looks like they’re pulling some sort of

horse-drawn mower here oh oh that’s

close to you know what that is it’s an

assault chariot right you see all those

blades they were all around that cut off

the enemy’s arms and legs and stop stop

stop stop

olá head you know what let me just draw

some limbless bodies in here and and

they’re flailing around in agony and and

they’re twitching they’re ditching their

severed muscles right in there when

victims add so much to a drawing and

look at this horse look at this horse

doesn’t have sad eyes you know what you

can see this horse trotting behind the

crucifixion huh or or the martyrdom of

Saint Sebastian right Saint Sebastian

was there right and he’s not all the

arrows sticking out of remains total

agony right and all the sudden sees this

horse pulling this gripping chopping

machine coming towards when he’s like

[Laughter]

hey you know what let’s do it let’s do

it right now on the empty wall on the

chapel come on it’s cold come on talent

and genius made da Vinci famous his

political savvy made him successful

you see Leonardo was also a genius at

finding funding yes his imagination

sword but his feet were on the ground

and ready to walk away like today’s free

agent sports heroes Renaissance artists

and engineers were always looking for

bigger bucks and a better position with

another Prince in another city and Leo

played ball for some of the top teams in

Italy show me the money

who’s paying for these sketches anyway I

mean why is is the production pink I

mean first the patron and the paint

that’s what I’d say okay arts art but

you gotta eat mrs. da Vinci but I don’t

know what to paint

meow sorry the bitches already painted

plenty of horse faces well I hear da

Vinci doesn’t like girls why not paint

me in the nude I don’t have a brush big

enough sure sure

you just need a little page hey don’t

patronize me peg yeah I need a patron to

pay me to paint his family or better

still his mistress you see that way I

can create an artistic legacy for the

ages and stared a naked babe that’s it

I’m gonna find the richest guy in town

and say if you pay me 500 bucks I’ll

paint your mistress you see the way to

water reflects the sunlight it just kind

of goes up Oh

hydraulics hydraulic Sutra you know we

could we could pump the moat dry coming

up we’ll focus on Leonardo’s inability

to focus well look cows

cuz I have to steal ur body the Metra

garden today there are some people who

believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s lack of

focus was the result of attention

deficit disorder interesting idea people

with AD D find it easy to start

something but difficult to stick with it

and finish it and for every completed

masterpiece like the Mona Lisa

Leonardo left dozens of unfinished

canvases

there were always of their little

projects to distract them you know so

say you’re a bishop or something and you

really like to have a portrait of your

mistress painted you can get the church

to pay for it if you have your mistress

poor create as a biblical character so

that’s a little money saving tip right

but what now okay well you just mix in

some of this wonderful Ethiopian wolf oh

and I just love that just feel that it’s

so soft I just love the Ethiopian world

me too now you add the frankincense just

like they gave the baby Jesus that’s

right the very same and mix it up and

voila and it’s finished

there you have a Greek fire ala Leonardo

and you know Martha this you can like

this you can hurl it at a ship it’ll

stick to the wood the sails and even if

the ship goes underwater Greek fire just

keeps going and going and going you know

speaking of underwater I wonder if we

could build a submarine and I imagine

this Greek fire would stick to sailors

as well oh that’s right yes hello and

goodbye sailor talk about your jacket

are did I ever tell you how fin phenom

am about animals yes you know I’d like

to go draw some animals right now I know

what you’re thinking did he fire one

shot or only zero did he remember to put

in the wadding so the musket ball would

stay in place is this gunpowder damp

as rain fallen in the flash man as his

guns wit gone out it’s too windy to

ignite him if he does fired can hit a

man-sized target of two yards but benas

this is a 75 Ark of us the most powerful

handgun in the world and employer has

clean off you’ve got to ask yourself one

question

do I feel lucky well given the odds you

probably do okay this is another flying

machine that I saw when I am right saw a

seed flying that’s what that was this is

the that could be farm machinery or

something there’s a there’s a church

dome that’s something like that and

there’s an ostrich and there’s no I

think that’s a Medusa oh no that’s the

drawing you did of me earlier today oh

right yeah right well you know I haven’t

I haven’t decided whether I’m gonna use

blue in that painting all right I’ll

decide that when I do the actual

painting painting painting you know what

I just forgot that I didn’t finish the

adoration of the Magi it said the

monastry at Santa Ana Escobedo oh you

know what I was gonna put a camel in

there because you know camels have got

such expressive lips or Justin president

they’re just so great for an adoring

painting you know I know you have a

reputation

don’t you for not finishing the works it

begins it’s like the altarpiece

for the st. Bernard chapel at the

palazzo della signoria Leo I must say

there’s only something interesting just

around the corner

oh yeah show me you know I start

someplace I get an itchy feet and then

I’m off to find a new patron I came I

saw I left the fresco unfinished then

even even chief hilarious I’m gonna put

you in my notebook I’m gonna cry

where’s my mirror you know what that

could invent a new mirror

[Applause]

in the Renaissance Leonardo was treated

with admiration today he probably would

have been treated with Ritalin

but then maybe you would have finished

something unfortunately no matter how

much we admire da Vinci the fact is

today most progress comes from highly

focused specialists recent history has

been shaped by those whose knowledge

goes narrow and deep and for the

Renaissance man history bites yes I

think that pies may be cool enough to

eat now see this flying machine will

carry four or five people I like to

design flying machines that can carry a

hundred people at once yeah well this

one will travel as fast as the wind and

it’s powered by a hand-cranked engine

right there see mine will travel as fast

as thought is powered by six strong

Griffin’s yeah mine still in the

planning stages probably six months to

complete you a lot of technical

difficulties mine is decades away from

completion and the technical problems

are insurmountable

[Music]

you

Post date February 13, 2020