# data[].attributes.body
The Chorus (2004)

# data[].attributes.body
The Dark Knight (2008)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins (2005), Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new District Attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City, until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against The Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent, and Rachel Dawes. - Leon Lombardi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Dark Knight: Directed by Christopher Nolan. With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine. When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.

# data[].attributes.body
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Outliers: The Story of Success [Gladwell, Malcolm] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Outliers: The Story of Success

# data[].attributes.body
Leonardo da Vinci

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.

Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in, or near, Vinci, he was educated in Florence by the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in the city, but then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time where his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture.

Leonardo is identified as one of the greatest painters in the history of Western art and is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance. Despite having many lost works and fewer than 25 attributed major works - including numerous unfinished works - he created some of the most influential paintings in the Western canon. The is his best known work and is the world's most famous individual painting. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, attributed in whole or part to Leonardo, was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.

Revered for his technological ingenuity, he conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, a ratio machine that could be used in an adding machine, and the double hull. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. Some of his smaller inventions, however, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, hydrodynamics, geology, optics, and tribology, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science.

Early life (1452-1472)

Birth and background

Leonardo Da Vinci's baptism record

Leonardo da Vinci, properly named Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ("Leonardo, son of ser Piero from Vinci"), was born on 15 April 1452 in, or close to, the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, 20 miles from Florence. He was born out of wedlock to Piero da Vinci (Ser Piero da Vinci d'Antonio di ser Piero di ser Guido; 1426-1504), a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina di Meo Lippi ( c. 1434-1494), from the lower class. It remains uncertain where Leonardo was born; the traditional account, from a local oral tradition recorded by the historian Emanuele Repetti, is that he was born in Anchiano, a country hamlet that would have offered sufficient privacy for the illegitimate birth, though it is still possible he was born in a house in Florence that Ser Piero almost certainly had. Leonardo's parents both married separately the year after his birth. Caterina - who later appears in Leonardo's notes as only "Caterina" or "Catelina" - is usually identified as the Caterina Buti del Vacca, who married the local artisan Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca, nicknamed L'Accattabriga, 'the quarrelsome one'. Having been betrothed to her the previous year, Ser Piero married Albiera Amadori and after her death in 1464, went on to have three subsequent marriages. From all the marriages, Leonardo eventually had 16 half-siblings (of whom 11 survived infancy) who were much younger than he (the last was born when Leonardo was 46 years old) and with whom he had very little contact.

The possible birthplace and childhood home of Leonardo in Anchiano, Vinci, Italy

Very little is known about Leonardo's childhood and much is shrouded in myth, partially because of his biography in the frequently apocryphal Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550) by 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari. Tax records indicate that by at least 1457 he lived in the household of his paternal grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, but it is possible that he spent the years before then in the care of his mother in Vinci, either Anchiano or Campo Zeppi in the parish of San Pantaleone. He is thought to have been close to his uncle, Francesco da Vinci, but his father was probably in Florence most of the time. Ser Piero, who was the descendant of a long line of notaries, established an official residence in Florence by at least 1469 and had a successful career. Despite his family history, Leonardo only received a basic and informal education in (vernacular) writing, reading, and mathematics; possibly because his artistic talents were recognised early, so his family decided to focus their attention there.

Later in life, Leonardo recorded his earliest memory, now in the Codex Atlanticus. While writing on the flight of birds, he recalled as an infant when a kite came to his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail; commentators still debate whether the anecdote was an actual memory or a fantasy.

Verrocchio's workshop

The Baptism of Christ (1472-1475) by Verrocchio and Leonardo, Uffizi Gallery

In the mid-1460s, Leonardo's family moved to Florence, which at the time was the centre of Christian Humanist thought and culture. Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time. This was about the time of the death of Verrocchio's master, the great sculptor Donatello. Leonardo became an apprentice by the age of 17 and remained in training for seven years. Other famous painters apprenticed in the workshop or associated with it include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo was exposed to both theoretical training and a wide range of technical skills, including drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, and woodwork, as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting, and modelling.

Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino, who were all slightly older than he was. He would have met them at the workshop of Verrocchio or at the Platonic Academy of the Medici. Florence was ornamented by the works of artists such as Donatello's contemporaries Masaccio, whose figurative frescoes were imbued with realism and emotion, and Ghiberti, whose Gates of Paradise, gleaming with gold leaf, displayed the art of combining complex figure compositions with detailed architectural backgrounds. Piero della Francesca had made a detailed study of perspective, and was the first painter to make a scientific study of light. These studies and Leon Battista Alberti's treatise were to have a profound effect on younger artists and in particular on Leonardo's own observations and artworks.

Much of the painting in Verrocchio's workshop was done by his assistants. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his The Baptism of Christ (c.  1472-1475), painting the young angel holding Jesus's robe with skill so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio purportedly put down his brush and never painted again (the latter claim probably being apocryphal). The new technique of oil paint was applied to areas of the mostly tempera work, including the landscape, the rocks seen through the brown mountain stream, and much of Jesus's figure, indicating Leonardo's hand. Additionally, Leonardo may have been a model for two works by Verrocchio: the bronze statue of in the Bargello and the archangel Raphael in Tobias and the Angel.

Vasari tells a story of Leonardo as a very young man: a local peasant made himself a round buckler shield and requested that Ser Piero have it painted for him. Leonardo, inspired by the story of Medusa, responded with a painting of a monster spitting fire that was so terrifying that his father bought a different shield to give to the peasant and sold Leonardo's to a Florentine art dealer for 100 ducats, who in turn sold it to the Duke of Milan.

First Florentine period (1472 - c. 1482)

Adoration of the Magi c. 1478-1482, Uffizi, Florence

By 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine, but even after his father set him up in his own workshop, his attachment to Verrocchio was such that he continued to collaborate and live with him. Leonardo's earliest known dated work is a 1473 pen-and-ink drawing of the Arno valley (see below). According to Vasari, the young Leonardo was the first to suggest making the Arno river a navigable channel between Florence and Pisa.

In January 1478, Leonardo received an independent commission to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of Saint Bernard in the Palazzo Vecchio, an indication of his independence from Verrocchio's studio. An anonymous early biographer, known as Anonimo Gaddiano, claims that in 1480 Leonardo was living with the Medici and often worked in the garden of the Piazza San Marco, Florence, where a Neoplatonic academy of artists, poets and philosophers organised by the Medici met. In March 1481, he received a commission from the monks of San Donato in Scopeto for The Adoration of the Magi. Neither of these initial commissions were completed, being abandoned when Leonardo went to offer his services to Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza. Leonardo wrote Sforza a letter which described the diverse things that he could achieve in the fields of engineering and weapon design, and mentioned that he could paint. He brought with him a silver string instrument - either a lute or lyre - in the form of a horse's head.

With Alberti, Leonardo visited the home of the Medici and through them came to know the older Humanist philosophers of whom Marsiglio Ficino, proponent of Neoplatonism; Cristoforo Landino, writer of commentaries on Classical writings, and John Argyropoulos, teacher of Greek and translator of Aristotle were the foremost. Also associated with the Platonic Academy of the Medici was Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola. In 1482, Leonardo was sent as an ambassador by Lorenzo de' Medici to Ludovico il Moro, who ruled Milan between 1479 and 1499.

First Milanese period (c. 1482-1499)

Virgin of the Rocks, c. 1483-1493, Louvre version

Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In the spring of 1485, Leonardo travelled to Hungary (on behalf of Sforza) to meet king Matthias Corvinus, and was commissioned by him to paint a Madonna. In 1490 he was called as a consultant, together with Francesco di Giorgio Martini, for the building site of the cathedral of Pavia and was struck by the equestrian statue of Regisole, of which he left a sketch. Leonardo was employed on many other projects for Sforza, such as preparation of floats and pageants for special occasions; a drawing of, and wooden model for, a competition to design the cupola for Milan Cathedral; and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Ludovico's predecessor Francesco Sforza. This would have surpassed in size the only two large equestrian statues of the Renaissance, Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, and became known as the Gran Cavallo. Leonardo completed a model for the horse and made detailed plans for its casting, but in November 1494, Ludovico gave the metal to his brother-in-law to be used for a cannon to defend the city from Charles VIII of France.

Contemporary correspondence records that Leonardo and his assistants were commissioned by the Duke of Milan to paint the Sala delle Asse in the Sforza Castle, c. 1498. The project became a trompe-l'œil decoration that made the great hall appear to be a pergola created by the interwoven limbs of sixteen mulberry trees, whose canopy included an intricate labyrinth of leaves and knots on the ceiling.

Second Florentine period (1500-1508)

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, c. 1499-1508, National Gallery, London

When Ludovico Sforza was overthrown by France in 1500, Leonardo fled Milan for Venice, accompanied by his assistant Salaì and friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli. In Venice, Leonardo was employed as a military architect and engineer, devising methods to defend the city from naval attack. On his return to Florence in 1500, he and his household were guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and were provided with a workshop where, according to Vasari, Leonardo created the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, a work that won such admiration that "men [and] women, young and old" flocked to see it "as if they were going to a solemn festival."

In Cesena in 1502, Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer and travelling throughout Italy with his patron. Leonardo created a map of Cesare Borgia's stronghold, a town plan of Imola in order to win his patronage. Upon seeing it, Cesare hired Leonardo as his chief military engineer and architect. Later in the year, Leonardo produced another map for his patron, one of Chiana Valley, Tuscany, so as to give his patron a better overlay of the land and greater strategic position. He created this map in conjunction with his other project of constructing a dam from the sea to Florence, in order to allow a supply of water to sustain the canal during all seasons.

Leonardo had left Borgia's service and returned to Florence by early 1503, where he rejoined the Guild of Saint Luke on 18 October of that year. By this same month, Leonardo had begun working on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the model for the , which he would continue working on until his twilight years. In January 1504, he was part of a committee formed to recommend where Michelangelo's statue of should be placed. He then spent two years in Florence designing and painting a mural of The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, with Michelangelo designing its companion piece, The Battle of Cascina.

In 1506, Leonardo was summoned to Milan by Charles II d'Amboise, the acting French governor of the city. There, Leonardo took on another pupil, Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Lombard aristocrat, who is considered to have been his favourite student. The Council of Florence wished Leonardo to return promptly to finish The Battle of Anghiari, but he was given leave at the behest of Louis XII, who considered commissioning the artist to make some portraits. Leonardo may have commenced a project for an equestrian figure of d'Amboise; a wax model attributed to him survives and would be the only extant example of Leonardo's sculpture, but the attribution is not widely accepted. Leonardo was otherwise free to pursue his scientific interests. Many of Leonardo's most prominent pupils either knew or worked with him in Milan, including Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, and Marco d'Oggiono. In 1507, Leonardo was in Florence sorting out a dispute with his brothers over the estate of his father, who had died in 1504.

Second Milanese period (1508-1513)

By 1508, Leonardo was back in Milan, living in his own house in Porta Orientale in the parish of Santa Babila.

In 1512, Leonardo was working on plans for an equestrian monument for Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, but this was prevented by an invasion of a confederation of Swiss, Spanish and Venetian forces, which drove the French from Milan. Leonardo stayed in the city, spending several months in 1513 at the Medici's Vaprio d'Adda villa.

Rome and France (1513-1519)

An apocalyptic deluge drawn in black chalk by Leonardo near the end of his life (part of a series of 10, paired with written description in his notebooks)

In March 1513, Lorenzo de' Medici's son Giovanni assumed the papacy (as Leo X); Leonardo went to Rome that September, where he was received by the pope's brother Giuliano. From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Apostolic Palace, where Michelangelo and Raphael were both active. Leonardo was given an allowance of 33 ducats a month and, according to Vasari, decorated a lizard with scales dipped in quicksilver. The pope gave him a painting commission of unknown subject matter, but cancelled it when the artist set about developing a new kind of varnish. Leonardo became ill, in what may have been the first of multiple strokes leading to his death. He practised botany in the Vatican Gardens, and was commissioned to make plans for the Pope's proposed draining of the Pontine Marshes. He also dissected cadavers, making notes for a treatise on vocal cords; these he gave to an official in hopes of regaining the Pope's favour, but he was unsuccessful.

In October 1515, King Francis I of France recaptured Milan. On 21 March 1516 Antonio Maria Pallavicini, the French ambassador to the Holy See, received a letter sent from Lyon a week previously by the royal advisor Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, containing the French king's instructions to assist Leonardo in his relocation to France and to inform the artist that the King was eagerly awaiting his arrival. Pallavicini was also asked to reassure Leonardo that he would be well received at court, both by the King and by his mother, Louise of Savoy. Leonardo entered Francis's service later that year, and was given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé near the King's residence at the royal Château d'Amboise. He was frequently visited by Francis, and drew plans for an immense castle town the King intended to erect at Romorantin. He also made a mechanical lion, which during a pageant walked towards the King and - upon being struck by a wand - opened its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies.

Leonardo was accompanied during this time by his friend and apprentice Francesco Melzi, and was supported by a pension totalling 10,000 scudi. At some point, Melzi drew a portrait of Leonardo; the only others known from his lifetime were a sketch by an unknown assistant on the back of one of Leonardo's studies (c.  1517) and a drawing by Giovanni Ambrogio Figino depicting an elderly Leonardo with his right arm wrapped in clothing. The latter, in addition to the record of an October 1517 visit by Louis d'Aragon, confirms an account of Leonardo's right hand being paralytic when he was 65, which may indicate why he left works such as the Mona Lisa unfinished. He continued to work at some capacity until eventually becoming ill and bedridden for several months.

Drawing of the Château d'Amboise (c.  1518) attributed to Francesco Melzi

Leonardo died at Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519 at the age of 67, possibly of a stroke. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari describes Leonardo as lamenting on his deathbed, full of repentance, that "he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done." Vasari states that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. Vasari also records that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story may be legend rather than fact. In accordance with his will, sixty beggars carrying tapers followed Leonardo's casket. Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving, as well as money, Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo's other long-time pupil and companion, Salaì, and his servant Baptista de Vilanis, each received half of Leonardo's vineyards. His brothers received land, and his serving woman received a fur-lined cloak. On 12 August 1519, Leonardo's remains were interred in the Collegiate Church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise.

Salaì, or Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One", i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's household in 1490 as an assistant. After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his misdemeanours, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton," after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five occasions and spent a fortune on clothes. Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence, and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years. Salaì executed a number of paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì, but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him many things about painting," his work is generally considered to be of less artistic merit than others among Leonardo's pupils, such as Marco d'Oggiono and Boltraffio.

At the time of his death in 1524, Salaì owned a painting referred to as Joconda in a posthumous inventory of his belongings; it was assessed at 505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.

Personal life

Saint John the Baptist c.  1507-1516, Louvre. Leonardo is thought to have used Salaì as the model.

Despite the thousands of pages Leonardo left in notebooks and manuscripts, he scarcely made reference to his personal life.

Within Leonardo's lifetime, his extraordinary powers of invention, his "great physical beauty" and "infinite grace," as described by Vasari, as well as all other aspects of his life, attracted the curiosity of others. One such aspect was his love for animals, likely including vegetarianism and according to Vasari, a habit of purchasing caged birds and releasing them.

Leonardo had many friends who are now notable either in their fields or for their historical significance, including mathematician Luca Pacioli, with whom he collaborated on the book Divina proportione in the 1490s. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with Cecilia Gallerani and the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella. While on a journey that took him through Mantua, he drew a portrait of Isabella that appears to have been used to create a painted portrait, now lost.

Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret. His sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation. This trend began in the mid-16th century and was revived in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably by Sigmund Freud in his Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood. Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salaì and Melzi. Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of a sexual or erotic nature. Walter Isaacson in his biography of Leonardo makes explicit his opinion that the relations with Salaì were intimate and homosexual.

Earlier in Leonardo's life, court records of 1476, when he was aged twenty-four, show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy in an incident involving a known male prostitute. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and there is speculation that since one of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was related to Lorenzo de' Medici, the family exerted its influence to secure the dismissal. Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism manifested in Saint John the Baptist and and more explicitly in a number of erotic drawings.

Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his fame rested on his achievements as a painter. A handful of works that are either authenticated or attributed to him have been regarded as among the great masterpieces. These paintings are famous for a variety of qualities that have been much imitated by students and discussed at great length by connoisseurs and critics. By the 1490s Leonardo had already been described as a "Divine" painter.

Among the qualities that make Leonardo's work unique are his innovative techniques for laying on the paint; his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology; his interest in physiognomy and the way humans register emotion in expression and gesture; his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition; and his use of subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.

Early works

Annunciation c. 1472-1476, Uffizi, is thought to be Leonardo's earliest extant and complete major work.

Leonardo first gained attention for his work on the Baptism of Christ, painted in conjunction with Verrocchio. Two other paintings appear to date from his time at Verrocchio's workshop, both of which are Annunciations. One is small, 59 centimetres (23 in) long and 14 cm (5.5 in) high. It is a " predella" to go at the base of a larger composition, a painting by Lorenzo di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, 217 cm (85 in) long. In both Annunciations, Leonardo used a formal arrangement, like two well-known pictures by Fra Angelico of the same subject, of the Virgin Mary sitting or kneeling to the right of the picture, approached from the left by an angel in profile, with a rich flowing garment, raised wings and bearing a lily. Although previously attributed to Ghirlandaio, the larger work is now generally attributed to Leonardo.

In the smaller painting, Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a gesture that symbolised submission to God's will. Mary is not submissive, however, in the larger piece. The girl, interrupted in her reading by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the place and raises her hand in a formal gesture of greeting or surprise. This calm young woman appears to accept her role as the Mother of God, not with resignation but with confidence. In this painting, the young Leonardo presents the humanist face of the Virgin Mary, recognising humanity's role in God's incarnation.

Paintings of the 1480s

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness (unfinished) c. 1480-1490, Vatican

In the 1480s, Leonardo received two very important commissions and commenced another work that was of ground-breaking importance in terms of composition. Two of the three were never finished, and the third took so long that it was subject to lengthy negotiations over completion and payment.

One of these paintings was Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, which Bortolon associates with a difficult period of Leonardo's life, as evidenced in his diary: "I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die." Although the painting is barely begun, the composition can be seen and is very unusual. Jerome, as a penitent, occupies the middle of the picture, set on a slight diagonal and viewed somewhat from above. His kneeling form takes on a trapezoid shape, with one arm stretched to the outer edge of the painting and his gaze looking in the opposite direction. J. Wasserman points out the link between this painting and Leonardo's anatomical studies. Across the foreground sprawls his symbol, a great lion whose body and tail make a double spiral across the base of the picture space. The other remarkable feature is the sketchy landscape of craggy rocks against which the figure is silhouetted.

The daring display of figure composition, the landscape elements and personal drama also appear in the great unfinished masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi, a commission from the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. It is a complex composition, of about 250 x 250 centimetres. Leonardo did numerous drawings and preparatory studies, including a detailed one in linear perspective of the ruined classical architecture that forms part of the background. In 1482 Leonardo went to Milan at the behest of Lorenzo de' Medici in order to win favour with Ludovico il Moro, and the painting was abandoned.

Lady with an Ermine, c. 1489-1491, Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland

The third important work of this period is the Virgin of the Rocks, commissioned in Milan for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. The painting, to be done with the assistance of the de Predis brothers, was to fill a large complex altarpiece. Leonardo chose to paint an apocryphal moment of the infancy of Christ when the infant John the Baptist, in protection of an angel, met the Holy Family on the road to Egypt. The painting demonstrates an eerie beauty as the graceful figures kneel in adoration around the infant Christ in a wild landscape of tumbling rock and whirling water. While the painting is quite large, about 200×120 centimetres, it is not nearly as complex as the painting ordered by the monks of San Donato, having only four figures rather than about fifty and a rocky landscape rather than architectural details. The painting was eventually finished; in fact, two versions of the painting were finished: one remained at the chapel of the Confraternity, while Leonardo took the other to France. The Brothers did not get their painting, however, nor the de Predis their payment, until the next century.

Leonardo's most remarkable portrait of this period is the Lady with an Ermine, presumed to be Cecilia Gallerani ( c. 1483-1490), lover of Ludovico Sforza. The painting is characterised by the pose of the figure with the head turned at a very different angle to the torso, unusual at a date when many portraits were still rigidly in profile. The ermine plainly carries symbolic meaning, relating either to the sitter, or to Ludovico who belonged to the prestigious Order of the Ermine.

Paintings of the 1490s

The Last Supper, Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan (c. 1492-1498)

Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last Supper, commissioned for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. It represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death, and shows the moment when Jesus has just said "one of you will betray me", and the consternation that this statement caused.

The writer Matteo Bandello observed Leonardo at work and wrote that some days he would paint from dawn till dusk without stopping to eat and then not paint for three or four days at a time. This was beyond the comprehension of the prior of the convent, who hounded him until Leonardo asked Ludovico to intervene. Vasari describes how Leonardo, troubled over his ability to adequately depict the faces of Christ and the traitor Judas, told the duke that he might be obliged to use the prior as his model.

The painting was acclaimed as a masterpiece of design and characterisation, but it deteriorated rapidly, so that within a hundred years it was described by one viewer as "completely ruined." Leonardo, instead of using the reliable technique of fresco, had used tempera over a ground that was mainly gesso, resulting in a surface subject to mould and to flaking. Despite this, the painting remains one of the most reproduced works of art; countless copies have been made in various mediums.

Toward the end of this period, in 1498 Leonardo's trompe-l'œil decoration of the Sala delle Asse was painted for the Duke of Milan in the Castello Sforzesco.

Paintings of the 1500s

In 1505, Leonardo was commissioned to paint The Battle of Anghiari in the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Leonardo devised a dynamic composition depicting four men riding raging war horses engaged in a battle for possession of a standard, at the Battle of Anghiari in 1440. Michelangelo was assigned the opposite wall to depict the Battle of Cascina. Leonardo's painting deteriorated rapidly and is now known from a copy by Rubens.

Mona Lisa or La Gioconda c. 1503-1516, Louvre, Paris

Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the or La Gioconda, the laughing one. In the present era, it is arguably the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality perhaps due to the subtly shadowed corners of the mouth and eyes such that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called " sfumato", or Leonardo's smoke. Vasari wrote that the smile was "so pleasing that it seems more divine than human, and it was considered a wondrous thing that it was as lively as the smile of the living original."

Other characteristics of the painting are the unadorned dress, in which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details; the dramatic landscape background, in which the world seems to be in a state of flux; the subdued colouring; and the extremely smooth nature of the painterly technique, employing oils laid on much like tempera, and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable. Vasari expressed that the painting's quality would make even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart." The perfect state of preservation and the fact that there is no sign of repair or overpainting is rare in a panel painting of this date.

In the painting Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the composition again picks up the theme of figures in a landscape, which Wasserman describes as "breathtakingly beautiful" and harkens back to the Saint Jerome with the figure set at an oblique angle. What makes this painting unusual is that there are two obliquely set figures superimposed. Mary is seated on the knee of her mother, Saint Anne. She leans forward to restrain the Christ Child as he plays roughly with a lamb, the sign of his own impending sacrifice. This painting, which was copied many times, influenced Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto, and through them Pontormo and Correggio. The trends in composition were adopted in particular by the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Veronese.

Antique Warrior in Profile, c.  1472. British Museum, London

Presumed self-portrait of Leonardo (c. 1510) at the Royal Library of Turin, Italy

Leonardo was a prolific draughtsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. His earliest dated drawing is a Landscape of the Arno Valley, 1473, which shows the river, the mountains, Montelupo Castle and the farmlands beyond it in great detail.

Among his famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a study of the proportions of the human body; the Head of an Angel, for The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre; a botanical study of Star of Bethlehem; and a large drawing (160×100 cm) in black chalk on coloured paper of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London. This drawing employs the subtle technique of shading, in the manner of the Mona Lisa. It is thought that Leonardo never made a painting from it, the closest similarity being to The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Louvre.

Other drawings of interest include numerous studies generally referred to as "caricatures" because, although exaggerated, they appear to be based upon observation of live models. Vasari relates that Leonardo would look for interesting faces in public to use as models for some of his work. There are numerous studies of beautiful young men, often associated with Salaì, with the rare and much admired facial feature, the so-called "Grecian profile". These faces are often contrasted with that of a warrior. Salaì is often depicted in fancy-dress costume. Leonardo is known to have designed sets for pageants with which these may be associated. Other, often meticulous, drawings show studies of drapery. A marked development in Leonardo's ability to draw drapery occurred in his early works. Another often-reproduced drawing is a macabre sketch that was done by Leonardo in Florence in 1479 showing the body of Bernardo Baroncelli, hanged in connection with the murder of Giuliano, brother of Lorenzo de' Medici, in the Pazzi conspiracy. In his notes, Leonardo recorded the colours of the robes that Baroncelli was wearing when he died.

Like the two contemporary architects Donato Bramante (who designed the Belvedere Courtyard) and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Leonardo experimented with designs for centrally planned churches, a number of which appear in his journals, as both plans and views, although none was ever realised.

Journals and notes

Renaissance humanism recognised no mutually exclusive polarities between the sciences and the arts, and Leonardo's studies in science and engineering are sometimes considered as impressive and innovative as his artistic work. These studies were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which fuse art and natural philosophy (the forerunner of modern science). They were made and maintained daily throughout Leonardo's life and travels, as he made continual observations of the world around him. Leonardo's notes and drawings display an enormous range of interests and preoccupations, some as mundane as lists of groceries and people who owed him money and some as intriguing as designs for wings and shoes for walking on water. There are compositions for paintings, studies of details and drapery, studies of faces and emotions, of animals, babies, dissections, plant studies, rock formations, whirlpools, war machines, flying machines and architecture.

A page showing Leonardo's study of a foetus in the womb (c.  1510), Royal Library, Windsor Castle

These notebooks - originally loose papers of different types and sizes - were largely entrusted to Leonardo's pupil and heir Francesco Melzi after the master's death. These were to be published, a task of overwhelming difficulty because of its scope and Leonardo's idiosyncratic writing. Some of Leonardo's drawings were copied by an anonymous Milanese artist for a planned treatise on art c. 1570. After Melzi's death in 1570, the collection passed to his son, the lawyer Orazio, who initially took little interest in the journals. In 1587, a Melzi household tutor named Lelio Gavardi took 13 of the manuscripts to Pisa; there, the architect Giovanni Magenta reproached Gavardi for having taken the manuscripts illicitly and returned them to Orazio. Having many more such works in his possession, Orazio gifted the volumes to Magenta. News spread of these lost works of Leonardo's, and Orazio retrieved seven of the 13 manuscripts, which he then gave to Pompeo Leoni for publication in two volumes; one of these was the Codex Atlanticus. The other six works had been distributed to a few others. After Orazio's death, his heirs sold the rest of Leonardo's possessions, and thus began their dispersal.

Some works have found their way into major collections such as the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España , the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which holds the 12-volume Codex Atlanticus, and the British Library in London, which has put a selection from the Codex Arundel (BL Arundel MS 263) online. Works have also been at Holkham Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in the private hands of John Nicholas Brown I and Robert Lehman. The Codex Leicester is the only privately owned major scientific work of Leonardo; it is owned by Bill Gates and displayed once a year in different cities around the world.

Most of Leonardo's writings are in mirror-image cursive. Since Leonardo wrote with his left hand, it was probably easier for him to write from right to left. Leonardo used a variety of shorthand and symbols, and states in his notes that he intended to prepare them for publication. In many cases a single topic is covered in detail in both words and pictures on a single sheet, together conveying information that would not be lost if the pages were published out of order. Why they were not published during Leonardo's lifetime is unknown.

Science and inventions

Rhombicuboctahedron as published in Pacioli's Divina proportione (1509)

In the 1490s he studied mathematics under Luca Pacioli and prepared a series of drawings of regular solids in a skeletal form to be engraved as plates for Pacioli's book Divina proportione, published in 1509. While living in Milan, he studied light from the summit of Monte Rosa. Scientific writings in his notebook on fossils have been considered as influential on early palaeontology.

The content of his journals suggest that he was planning a series of treatises on a variety of subjects. A coherent treatise on anatomy is said to have been observed during a visit by Cardinal Louis d'Aragon's secretary in 1517. Aspects of his work on the studies of anatomy, light and the landscape were assembled for publication by Melzi and eventually published as A Treatise on Painting in France and Italy in 1651 and Germany in 1724, with engravings based upon drawings by the Classical painter Nicolas Poussin. According to Arasse, the treatise, which in France went into 62 editions in fifty years, caused Leonardo to be seen as "the precursor of French academic thought on art."

While Leonardo's experimentation followed scientific methods, a recent and exhaustive analysis of Leonardo as a scientist by Fritjof Capra argues that Leonardo was a fundamentally different kind of scientist from Galileo, Newton and other scientists who followed him in that, as a " Renaissance Man", his theorising and hypothesising integrated the arts and particularly painting.

Anatomy and physiology

Leonardo started his study in the anatomy of the human body under the apprenticeship of Verrocchio, who demanded that his students develop a deep knowledge of the subject. As an artist, he quickly became master of topographic anatomy, drawing many studies of muscles, tendons and other visible anatomical features.[citation needed ]

As a successful artist, Leonardo was given permission to dissect human corpses at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and later at hospitals in Milan and Rome. From 1510 to 1511 he collaborated in his studies with the doctor Marcantonio della Torre, professor of Anatomy at the University of Pavia. Leonardo made over 240 detailed drawings and wrote about 13,000 words toward a treatise on anatomy. Only a small amount of the material on anatomy was published in Leonardo's Treatise on painting. During the time that Melzi was ordering the material into chapters for publication, they were examined by a number of anatomists and artists, including Vasari, Cellini and Albrecht Dürer, who made a number of drawings from them.

Leonardo's anatomical drawings include many studies of the human skeleton and its parts, and of muscles and sinews. He studied the mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces that are applied to it in a manner that prefigured the modern science of biomechanics. He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex organs and other internal organs, making one of the first scientific drawings of a fetus in utero. The drawings and notation are far ahead of their time, and if published would undoubtedly have made a major contribution to medical science.

Leonardo also closely observed and recorded the effects of age and of human emotion on the physiology, studying in particular the effects of rage. He drew many figures who had significant facial deformities or signs of illness. Leonardo also studied and drew the anatomy of many animals, dissecting cows, birds, monkeys, bears, and frogs, and comparing in his drawings their anatomical structure with that of humans. He also made a number of studies of horses.

Leonardo's dissections and documentation of muscles, nerves, and vessels helped to describe the physiology and mechanics of movement. He attempted to identify the source of 'emotions' and their expression. He found it difficult to incorporate the prevailing system and theories of bodily humours, but eventually he abandoned these physiological explanations of bodily functions. He made the observations that humours were not located in cerebral spaces or ventricles. He documented that the humours were not contained in the heart or the liver, and that it was the heart that defined the circulatory system. He was the first to define atherosclerosis and liver cirrhosis. He created models of the cerebral ventricles with the use of melted wax and constructed a glass aorta to observe the circulation of blood through the aortic valve by using water and grass seed to watch flow patterns.

Engineering and inventions

During his lifetime, Leonardo was also valued as an engineer. With the same rational and analytical approach that moved him to represent the human body and to investigate anatomy, Leonardo studied and designed many machines and devices. He drew their "anatomy" with unparalleled mastery, producing the first form of the modern technical drawing, including a perfected "exploded view" technique, to represent internal components. Those studies and projects collected in his codices fill more than 5,000 pages. In a letter of 1482 to the lord of Milan Ludovico il Moro, he wrote that he could create all sorts of machines both for the protection of a city and for siege. When he fled from Milan to Venice in 1499, he found employment as an engineer and devised a system of moveable barricades to protect the city from attack. In 1502, he created a scheme for diverting the flow of the Arno river, a project on which Niccolò Machiavelli also worked. He continued to contemplate the canalisation of Lombardy's plains while in Louis XII's company and of the Loire and its tributaries in the company of Francis I. Leonardo's journals include a vast number of inventions, both practical and impractical. They include musical instruments, a mechanical knight, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, and a steam cannon.

Leonardo's drawings of a scythed chariot and a fighting vehicle

Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight for much of his life, producing many studies, including Codex on the Flight of Birds ( c. 1505), as well as plans for several flying machines, such as a flapping ornithopter and a machine with a helical rotor. In a 2003 documentary by British television station Channel Four, titled Leonardo's Dream Machines, various designs by Leonardo, such as a parachute and a giant crossbow, were interpreted and constructed. Some of those designs proved successful, whilst others fared less well when tested. Similarly, a team of engineers built ten machines designed by Leonardo in the 2009 American television series Doing DaVinci, including a fighting vehicle and a self-propelled cart.

In his notebooks, Leonardo first stated the 'laws' of sliding friction in 1493. His inspiration for investigating friction came about in part from his study of perpetual motion, which he correctly concluded was not possible. His results were never published and the friction laws were not rediscovered until 1699 by Guillaume Amontons, with whose name they are now usually associated. For this contribution, Leonardo was named as the first of the 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.

Statue outside the Uffizi, Florence, by Luigi Pampaloni (1791-1847)

Although he had no formal academic training, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the " Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." He is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote." Scholars interpret his view of the world as being based in logic, though the empirical methods he used were unorthodox for his time.

Leonardo's fame within his own lifetime was such that the King of France carried him away like a trophy, and was claimed to have supported him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died. Interest in Leonardo and his work has never diminished. Crowds still queue to see his best-known artworks, T-shirts still bear his most famous drawing, and writers continue to hail him as a genius while speculating about his private life, as well as about what one so intelligent actually believed in.

The continued admiration that Leonardo commanded from painters, critics and historians is reflected in many other written tributes. Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortegiano ( The Courtier), wrote in 1528: "...Another of the greatest painters in this world looks down on this art in which he is unequalled..." while the biographer known as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c.  1540: "His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf..." Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists (1568), opens his chapter on Leonardo:

In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci, by Ingres, 1818

The 19th century brought a particular admiration for Leonardo's genius, causing Henry Fuseli to write in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence: made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius..." This is echoed by A. E. Rio who wrote in 1861: "He towered above all other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."

Art historian Bernard Berenson wrote in 1896:

Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into life-communicating values.

The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts study and translate his writings, analyse his paintings using scientific techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have been recorded but never found. Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967, said:

Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge...Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe.

The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana is a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Leonardo Museum in Vinci, which houses a large collection of models constructed on the basis of Leonardo's drawings

Twenty-first-century author Walter Isaacson based much of his biography of Leonardo on thousands of notebook entries, studying the personal notes, sketches, budget notations, and musings of the man whom he considers the greatest of innovators. Isaacson was surprised to discover a "fun, joyous" side of Leonardo in addition to his limitless curiosity and creative genius.

On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, the Louvre in Paris arranged for the largest ever single exhibit of his work, called Leonardo, between November 2019 and February 2020. The exhibit includes over 100 paintings, drawings and notebooks. Eleven of the paintings that Leonardo completed in his lifetime were included. Five of these are owned by the Louvre, but the Mona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among general visitors to the Louvre; it remains on display in its gallery. Vitruvian Man, however, is on display following a legal battle with its owner, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. Salvator Mundi was also not included because its Saudi owner did not agree to lease the work.

The Mona Lisa, considered Leonardo's magnum opus, is often regarded as the most famous portrait ever made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and Leonardo's Vitruvian Man drawing is also considered a cultural icon.

More than a decade of analysis of Leonardo's genetic genealogy, conducted by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, came to a conclusion in mid-2021. It was determined that the artist has 14 living male relatives. The work could also help determine the authenticity of remains thought to belong to Leonardo.

Location of remains

Tomb in the chapel of Saint Hubert at the Château d'Amboise where a plaque describes it as the presumed site of Leonardo's remains

While Leonardo was certainly buried in the collegiate church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise in 12 August 1519, the current location of his remains is unclear. Much of Château d'Amboise was damaged during the French Revolution, leading to the church's demolition in 1802. Some of the graves were destroyed in the process, scattering the bones interred there and thereby leaving the whereabouts of Leonardo's remains subject to dispute; a gardener may have even buried some in the corner of the courtyard.

In 1863, fine-arts inspector general Arsène Houssaye received an imperial commission to excavate the site and discovered a partially complete skeleton with a bronze ring on one finger, white hair, and stone fragments bearing the inscriptions "EO", "AR", "DUS", and "VINC" - interpreted as forming "Leonardus Vinci". The skull's eight teeth correspond to someone of approximately the appropriate age, and a silver shield found near the bones depicts a beardless Francis I, corresponding to the king's appearance during Leonardo's time in France.

Houssaye postulated that the unusually large skull was an indicator of Leonardo's intelligence; author Charles Nicholl describes this as a "dubious phrenological deduction". At the same time, Houssaye noted some issues with his observations, including that the feet were turned toward the high altar, a practice generally reserved for laymen, and that the skeleton of 1.73 metres (5.7 ft) seemed too short.[failed verification - see discussion] Art historian Mary Margaret Heaton wrote in 1874 that the height would be appropriate for Leonardo. The skull was allegedly presented to Napoleon III before being returned to the Château d'Amboise, where they were re-interred in the chapel of Saint Hubert in 1874. A plaque above the tomb states that its contents are only presumed to be those of Leonardo.

It has since been theorised that the folding of the skeleton's right arm over the head may correspond to the paralysis of Leonardo's right hand. In 2016, it was announced that DNA tests would be conducted to determine whether the attribution is correct. The DNA of the remains will be compared to that of samples collected from Leonardo's work and his half-brother Domenico's descendants; it may also be sequenced.

In 2019, documents were published revealing that Houssaye had kept the ring and a lock of hair. In 1925, his great-grandson sold these to an American collector. Sixty years later, another American acquired them, leading to their being displayed at the Leonardo Museum in Vinci beginning on 2 May 2019, the 500th anniversary of the artist's death.

General

Dates of works

References

Early

Modern

^ "A portrait of Leonardo c. 1515-18". Royal Collection Trust. Archived from the original on 23 November 2020.

Polidoro, Massimo (2019). "The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci, Part 1". Skeptical Inquirer. 43 (2). Center for Inquiry: 30-31.

^ Franz-Joachim Verspohl, Michelangelo Buonarroti und Leonardo Da Vinci: Republikanischer Alltag und Künstlerkonkurrenz in Florenz zwischen 1501 und 1505 (Wallstein Verlag, 2007), p. 151.

^ Moffitt, John F. (1990). "Leonardo's "Sala delle Asse" and the Primordial Origins of Architecture". Arte Lombarda (92/93 (1-2)). Vita e Pensiero - Pubblicazioni dell'Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore: 76-90. JSTOR 43132702. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023.

^ "Mona Lisa - Heidelberg discovery confirms identity". University of Heidelberg. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013.

^ Delieuvin, Vincent (15 January 2008). "Télématin". Journal Télévisé. France 2 Télévision.

^ Goldscheider, Ludwig (1967). Michelangelo: paintings, sculptures, architecture. Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0-7148-1314-1.

^ "Achademia Leonardi Vinci". Journal of Leonardo Studies & Bibliography of Vinciana. VIII: 243-244. 1990.

^ Laurenza, Domenico (2004). "Leonardo nella Roma di Leone X". Lettura Vinciana (in Italian). XLIII. Giunti.

^ Sammer, Jan (2009). "L'Invitation du roi". In Pedretti, Carlo (ed.). Léonard de Vinci et la France (in French). CB Edizioni. pp. 29-33.

McMahon, Barbara (1 May 2005). "Da Vinci 'paralysis left Mona Lisa unfinished'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020.

Bodkin, Henry (4 May 2019). "Leonardo da Vinci never finished the Mona Lisa because he injured his arm while fainting, experts say". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022.

Charlier, Philippe; Deo, Saudamini. "A physical sign of stroke sequel on the skeleton of Leonardo da Vinci?" Archived 15 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Neurology. 4 April 2017; 88(14): 1381-1382

^ Antonina Vallentin, Leonardo da Vinci: The Tragic Pursuit of Perfection, (New York: The Viking Press, 1938), 533

Pedretti, Carlo, ed. (2009). Leonardo da Vinci: l'Angelo incarnato & Salai = the Angel in the flesh & Salai. Foligno (Perugia): Cartei & Bianchi. p. 201. ISBN 978-88-95686-11-0. OCLC 500794484.

MacCurdy, Edward, ^ The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci (1928) in Leonardo da Vinci's Ethical Vegetarianism Archived 27 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine

^ Cartwright Ady, Julia. Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475-1497. Publisher: J.M. Dent, 1899; Cartwright Ady, Julia. Isabella D'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474-1539. Publisher; J.M. Dent, 1903.

^ Seracini, Maurizio (2012). "The Secret Lives of Paintings" (lecture). Archived from the original on 18 October 2019.

^ Bean, Jacob; Stampfle, Felice (1965). Drawings from New York Collections I: The Italian Renaissance. Greenwich, CT: Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 81-82.

^ Major, Richard Henry (1866). Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Volume 40, Part 1. London: The Society. pp. 15-16. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Da Vinci, Leonardo (1960). Taylor, Pamela; Taylor, Francis Henry (eds.). The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: New American Library. p. x. ISBN 978-0-486-22572-2.

^ Livio, Mario (2003) [2002]. The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (First trade paperback ed.). New York City: Broadway Books. p. 136. ISBN 0-7679-0816-3. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023.

^ Windsor Castle, Royal Library, sheets RL 19073v-74v and RL 19102.

Baucon, A. 2010. Da Vinci's ^ Paleodictyon: the fractal beauty of traces. Acta Geologica Polonica, 60(1). Accessible from the author's homepage Archived 11 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine

Alastair Sooke, Daily Telegraph, 28 July 2013, "Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy of an artist" Archived 2 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 29 July 2013.

^ Masters, Roger (1998). Fortune is a River: Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli's Magnificent Dream to Change the Course of Florentine History. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-452-28090-8.

^ British Library online gallery Archived 21 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 10 October 2013)

^ Hutchings, Ian M. (15 August 2016). "Leonardo da Vinci׳s studies of friction". Wear. 360-361: 51-66. doi:10.1016/j.wear.2016.04.019. ISSN 0043-1648. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017.

^ Dowson, Duncan (1 October 1977). "Men of Tribology: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)". Journal of Lubrication Technology. 99 (4): 382-386. doi:10.1115/1.3453230. ISSN 0022-2305. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023.

^ See the quotations from the following authors, in section "Fame and reputation": Vasari, Boltraffio, Castiglione, "Anonimo" Gaddiano, Berensen, Taine, Fuseli, Rio, Bortolon.

Marmor, Max. "The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana." ^ The Book Collector 38, no. 3 (Autumn 1989): 1-23.

^ Crow, Kelly (16 November 2017). "Leonardo da Vinci Painting 'Salvator Mundi' Sells for $450.3 Million". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020.

Leonardo da Vinci painting 'Salvator Mundi' sold for record $450.3 million, Fox News, 16 November 2017

Vitruvian Man is referred to as "iconic" at the following websites and many others: ^ Vitruvian Man Archived 2 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Fine Art Classics Archived 9 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Key Images in the History of Science; Curiosity and difference at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 January 2009); "The Guardian: The Real da Vinci Code" Archived 3 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine

Montard, Nicolas (30 April 2019). "Léonard de Vinci est-il vraiment enterré au château d'Amboise?" [Is Leonardo da Vinci really buried at the Château d'Amboise?]. Ouest-France (in French). Archived from the original on 30 April 2019.

Works cited

Books

Arasse, Daniel [in French] (1998). Leonardo da Vinci. Old Saybrook: Konecky & Konecky. ISBN 978-1-56852-198-5.

Bambach, Carmen C., ed. (2003). Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-300-09878-5. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Bortolon, Liana (1967). The Life and Times of Leonardo. London: Paul Hamlyn.

Brown, David Alan (1998). Leonardo Da Vinci: Origins of a Genius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-07246-4. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Clark, Kenneth (1961). Leonardo da Vinci. City of Westminster: Penguin Books. OCLC 187223.

Gasca, Ana Millàn; Nicolò, Fernando; Lucertini, Mario (2004). Technological Concepts and Mathematical Models in the Evolution of Modern Engineering Systems. Birkhauser. ISBN 978-3-7643-6940-8.

Heaton, Mary Margaret (1874). Leonardo Da Vinci and His Works: Consisting of a Life of Leonardo Da Vinci. New York: Macmillan Publishers. OCLC 1706262. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Isaacson, Walter (2017). Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-5011-3915-4. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Kemp, Martin (2006) [1981]. Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920778-7. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Martindale, Andrew (1972). . Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-56006-8.

Nicholl, Charles (2005). Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-029681-5.

O'Malley, Charles D.; Saunders, J.B. de C.M. (1952). Leonardo on the Human Body: The Anatomical, Physiological, and Embryological Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. With Translations, Emendations and a Biographical Introduction. New York: Henry Schuman.

Ottino della Chiesa, Angela (1967). The Complete Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Classics of the World's Great Art. Translated by Jay, Madeline. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Pedretti, Carlo (1982). Leonardo, a study in chronology and style. Cambridge: Johnson Reprint Corp. ISBN 978-0-384-45281-7.

Popham, A.E. (1946). The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-60462-8.

Richter, Jean Paul (1970). The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Dover. ISBN 978-0-486-22572-2. volume 2: ISBN 0-486-22573-9. A reprint of the original 1883 edition Archived 28 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine

Turner, A. Richard (1993). Inventing Leonardo. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-520-08938-9. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.

Vezzosi, Alessandro (1997). Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Man. 'New Horizons' series. Translated by Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra (English translation ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-30081-7.

Wallace, Robert (1972) [1966]. The World of Leonardo: 1452-1519. New York: Time-Life Books.

Williamson, Hugh Ross (1974). Lorenzo the Magnificent. Michael Joseph. ISBN 978-0-7181-1204-2.

Journals and encyclopedia articles

Further reading

See Kemp (2003) and Bambach (2019, pp. 442-579) for extensive bibliographies

General

Works

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect.

# data[].attributes.body
Keanu Charles Reeves

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Keanu Charles Reeves ( kee-AH-noo; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, he made his acting debut in the Canadian television series (1984), before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). Reeves had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and he reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991) and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and (1994).

Following several box office failures, Reeves's performance in the horror film The Devil's Advocate (1997) was well received. Greater stardom came for playing Neo in the science fiction series , beginning in 1999. He played John Constantine in Constantine (2005) and starred in the romantic drama The Lake House (2006), the science fiction thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and the crime thriller Street Kings (2008). Following another commercially down period, Reeves made a successful comeback by playing the titular assassin in the film series, beginning in 2014. named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

In addition to acting, Reeves has directed the film Man of Tai Chi (2013). He plays bass guitar for the band Dogstar and pursued other endeavours such as writing and philanthropy.

Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 2, 1964, the son of Patricia ( née Taylor), a costume designer and performer, and Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr. His mother is English, originating from Essex. His American father is from Hawaii, and is of Native Hawaiian, Chinese, English, Irish, and Portuguese descent. Reeves's paternal grandmother is Chinese Hawaiian. His mother was working in Beirut when she met his father, who abandoned his wife and family when Reeves was three years old. Reeves last met his father on the Hawaiian island of Kauai when he was 13.

After his parents divorced in 1966, his mother moved the family to Sydney, and then to New York City, where she married Paul Aaron, a Broadway and Hollywood director, in 1970. The couple moved to Toronto and divorced in 1971. When Reeves was nine, he took part in a theatre production of Damn Yankees. Aaron remained close to Reeves, offering him advice and recommending him a job at the Hedgerow Theatre in Pennsylvania. Reeves's mother married Robert Miller, a rock music promoter, in 1976; the couple divorced in 1980. Reeves and his sisters grew up primarily in the Yorkville neighbourhood of Toronto, with a nanny caring for them frequently. Because of his grandmother's ethnicity, he grew up with Chinese art, furniture, and cuisine. Reeves watched British comedy shows such as The Two Ronnies, and his mother imparted English manners that he has maintained into adulthood.

Describing himself as a "private kid", Reeves attended four different high schools, including the Etobicoke School of the Arts, from which he was expelled. Reeves said he was expelled because he was "just a little too rambunctious and shot my mouth off once too often... I was not generally the most well-oiled machine in the school". Reeves has dyslexia and has said, "Because I had trouble reading, I wasn't a good student". At De La Salle College, he was a successful ice hockey goalkeeper. Reeves had aspirations to become a professional ice hockey player for the Canadian Olympic team but decided to become an actor when he was 15. After leaving De La Salle College, he attended Avondale Secondary Alternative School, which allowed him to get an education while working as an actor. Reeves dropped out of high school when he was 17. He obtained a green card through his American stepfather and moved to Los Angeles three years later. Reeves holds only Canadian citizenship.

1984-1990: Early work

In 1984, Reeves was a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) youth television program Going Great. That same year, he made his acting debut in an episode of the television series, called . In 1985, he played Mercutio in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet at the Leah Posluns Theatre in North York, Ontario. He made further appearances on stage, including Brad Fraser's cult hit in Toronto. He also appeared in a Coca-Cola commercial in 1983, and in the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) coming-of-age, short film One Step Away.

Reeves later said that, when he was looking for work in the mid-1980s, his agents advised him to go by a different name because his first name was "too ethnic." He briefly initialized his first and middle name and attended auditions as "K. C." or "Casey" Reeves before reverting to Keanu.

Reeves made a foray into television films in 1986, including NBC's Babes in Toyland, Act of Vengeance and Brotherhood of Justice. He made his first motion picture appearances in Peter Markle's Youngblood (1986), in which he played a goalkeeper, and in the low-budget romantic drama, . He was cast as Matt in River's Edge, a crime drama about a group of high school friends dealing with a murder case, loosely based on the 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad. The film premiered in 1986 at the Toronto International Film Festival to a largely positive response. Janet Maslin of The New York Times describes the performances of the young cast as "natural and credible", with Reeves being described as "affecting and sympathetic".

Towards the end of the 1980s, Reeves starred in several dramas aimed at teen audiences, including as the lead in The Night Before (1988), a comedy starring opposite Lori Loughlin, The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) and Permanent Record (1988). Although the latter received mixed reviews, Variety magazine praised Reeves's performance, "which opens up nicely as the drama progresses". His other acting efforts included a supporting role in Dangerous Liaisons (1988), which earned seven nominations at the 61st Academy Awards, winning three: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. This was followed by Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), in which he portrays a slacker who travels through time with a friend (portrayed by Alex Winter), to assemble historical figures for a school presentation. The film was generally well received by critics and grossed $40.5 million at the worldwide box office. Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 79% approval rating with the critical consensus: "Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are just charming, goofy, and silly enough to make this fluffy time-travel Adventure work".

In 1989, Reeves starred in the comedy-drama Parenthood directed by Ron Howard. Nick Hilditch of the BBC gave the film three out of five stars, calling it a "feelgood movie" with an "extensive and entertaining ensemble cast". In 1990, Reeves gave two acting performances; he portrayed an incompetent hitman in the black comedy I Love You to Death, and played Martin, a radio station employee in the comedy Tune in Tomorrow. He also appeared in Paula Abdul's music video for which featured a Rebel Without a Cause motif, with him in the James Dean role.

1991-1994: Breakthrough with adult roles

In 1991, Reeves starred in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, a sequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, with his co-star Alex Winter. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the sequel was "more imaginative, more opulent, wilder and freer, more excitingly visualized", praising the actors for their "fuller" performances. Film critic Roger Ebert thought it was "a riot of visual invention and weird humour that works on its chosen sub-moronic level [...] It's the kind of movie where you start out snickering in spite of yourself, and end up actually admiring the originality that went into creating this hallucinatory slapstick". The rest of 1991 marked a significant transition for Reeves's career as he undertook adult roles. Co-starring with River Phoenix as a street hustler in the adventure My Own Private Idaho, the characters embark on a journey of personal discovery. The story was written by Gus Van Sant, and is loosely based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and . The film premiered at the 48th Venice International Film Festival, followed by a theatrical release in the United States on September 29, 1991. The film earned $6.4 million at the box office. My Own Private Idaho was positively received, with Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly describing the film as "a postmodern road movie with a mood of free-floating, trance-like despair[...] a rich, audacious experience". The New York Times complimented Reeves and Phoenix for their insightful performances.

Reeves starred alongside Patrick Swayze, Lori Petty and Gary Busey in the action thriller Point Break (1991), directed by Kathryn Bigelow. He plays an undercover FBI agent tasked with investigating the identities of a group of bank robbers. To prepare for the film, Reeves and his co-stars took surfing lessons with professional surfer Dennis Jarvis in Hawaii; Reeves had never surfed before. Upon its release, Point Break was generally well-received, and a commercial success, earning $83.5 million at the box office. Reeves's performance was praised by The New York Times for "considerable discipline and range", adding, "He moves easily between the buttoned-down demeanour that suits a police procedural story and the loose-jointed manner of his comic roles". Writing for The Washington Post, Hal Hinson called Reeves the "perfect choice" and praised the surfing scenes, but opined that "the filmmakers have their characters make the most ludicrously illogical choices imaginable". At the 1992 MTV Movie Awards, Reeves won the Most Desirable Male award.

In 1991, Reeves developed an interest in a music career; he formed an alternative rock band called Dogstar, consisting of members Robert Mailhouse, Gregg Miller and Bret Domrose. Reeves played the bass guitar. A year later, he played Jonathan Harker in Francis Ford Coppola's Gothic horror Bram Stoker's Dracula, based on Stoker's 1897 novel . Starring alongside Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins, the film was critically and commercially successful. It grossed $215.8 million worldwide. For his role, Reeves was required to speak with an English accent, which drew some ridicule; "Overly posh and entirely ridiculous, Reeves's performance is as painful as it is hilarious", wrote Limara Salt of Virgin Media. In a retrospective interview in 2015, director Coppola said, "[Reeves] tried so hard [...] He wanted to do it perfectly and in trying to do it perfectly it came off as stilted". Bram Stoker's Dracula was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning three in Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Makeup. The film also received four nominations at the British Academy Film Awards.

In 1993, he had a role in Much Ado About Nothing, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name. The film received positive reviews, although Reeves was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. The New Republic magazine thought his casting was "unfortunate" because of his amateur performance. In that same year, he starred in two more drama films, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Little Buddha, both of which garnered a mixed-to-negative reception. The Independent critic gave Little Buddha a mixed review but opined that Reeves's part as a prince was "credible". The film also left an impression on Reeves; he later said, "When I played this innocent prince who starts to suspect something when he has the first revelations about old age, sickness and death, it hit me. [...] That lesson has never left me."

He starred in the action thriller (1994) alongside Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper. He plays police officer Jack Traven, who must prevent a bus from exploding by keeping its speed above 50 mph. Speed was the directorial debut of Dutch director Jan de Bont. Several actors were considered for the lead role, but Reeves was chosen because Bont was impressed with his Point Break performance. To look the part, Reeves shaved all his hair off and spent two months in the gym to gain muscle mass. During production, Reeves's friend River Phoenix (and co-star in My Own Private Idaho) died, resulting in adjustments to the filming schedule to allow him to mourn. Speed was released on June 10 to a critically acclaimed response. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune lauded Reeves, calling him "absolutely charismatic [...] giving a performance juiced with joy as he jumps through elevator shafts [...] and atop a subway train". David Ansen, writing for , summarized Speed as, "Relentless without being overbearing, this is one likely blockbuster that doesn't feel too big for its britches. It's a friendly juggernaut". The film grossed $350 million from a $30 million budget and won two Academy Awards in 1995 - Best Sound Editing and Best Sound.

1995-1998: Continued acting efforts

I do love it [Shakespeare]. It's like this kind of code that once you start to inhabit it with breath and sound and feeling and thought, it is the most powerful and consuming and freeing at the same time. Just, literally, elemental in sound, consonants and vowels. What I found out in doing it [Hamlet] was that it brought up for me all the anger that was inside me for my mother. I mean, it surprised me, just what was there, and I hadn't seen that before.

Reeves's next leading role came in the 1995 cyberpunk action thriller Johnny Mnemonic, directed by artist Robert Longo and based on the 1981 story of the same name by William Gibson. Set in 2021, it is about a man who has a cybernetic brain implant and must deliver a data package before he dies or is killed by the Yakuza. The film received mainly negative reviews and critics felt Reeves was "woefully miscast". Roger Ebert opined that the film is one of the "great goofy gestures of recent cinema, a movie that doesn't deserve one nanosecond of serious analysis but has a kind of idiotic grandeur that makes you almost forgive it." As part of the film studio's marketing efforts, a CD-ROM video game was also released.

He next appeared in the romantic drama A Walk in the Clouds (1995), which also garnered mixed-to-negative reviews. Reeves plays a young soldier returning home from World War II, trying to settle down with a woman he married impulsively just before he enlisted. Film critic Mick LaSalle opined that " A Walk in the Clouds is for the most part a beautiful, well-acted and emotionally rich picture", whereas Hal Hinson from The Washington Post said, "The film has the syrupy, Kodak magic-moment look of a Bo Derek movie, and pretty much the same level of substance".

Besides film work, Reeves retreated briefly to the theatre playing Prince Hamlet in a 1995 Manitoba Theatre Centre production of in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Sunday Times critic Roger Lewis believed his performance, writing he "quite embodied the innocence, the splendid fury, the animal grace of the leaps and bounds, the emotional violence, that form the Prince of Denmark ... He is one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he is Hamlet".

Reeves was soon drawn to science fiction roles, appearing in Chain Reaction (1996) with co-stars Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz, Fred Ward, Kevin Dunn and Brian Cox. He plays a researcher of a green energy project, who has to go on the run when he is framed for murder. Chain Reaction was not a critical success and gained mostly a negative reaction; review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 16% and described it as "a man-on-the-run thriller that mostly sticks to generic formula". Reeves's film choices after Chain Reaction were also critical disappointments. He starred in the independent crime comedy Feeling Minnesota (1996), with Vincent D'Onofrio and Cameron Diaz, which was described as "shoddily assembled, and fundamentally miscast" by Rotten Tomatoes. In that year, he turned down an offer to star in Speed 2: Cruise Control, despite being offered a salary of $12 million. According to Reeves, this decision caused 20th Century Fox to sever ties with him for a decade.

Instead, Reeves toured with his band Dogstar, and appeared in the drama The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), based on a 1950 letter written by Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac. Reeves's performance gained mixed reviews; Paul Tatara of CNN called him "void of talent [...] here he is again, reciting his lines as if they're non-related words strung together as a memory exercise", whereas magazine thought "Reeves gives the nearest thing to a performance in his career as the enthusiastic feckless drunk". He starred in the 1997 supernatural horror The Devil's Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Charlize Theron; Reeves agreed to a pay cut of several million dollars so that the film studio could afford to hire Pacino. Based on Andrew Neiderman's novel of the same name, the feature is about a successful young lawyer invited to New York City to work for a major firm, who discovers the owner of the firm is a devil. The Devil's Advocate attracted positive reviews from critics. Film critic James Berardinelli called the film "highly enjoyable" and wrote, "There are times when Reeves lacks the subtlety that would have made this a more multi-layered portrayal, but it's nevertheless a solid job".

1999-2004: Stardom with The Matrix franchise and comedies

Reeves promoting The Day the Earth Stood Still in Mexico, 2008

In 1999, Reeves starred in the critically acclaimed science fiction film , the first installment in what would become The Matrix franchise. Reeves portrays computer programmer Thomas Anderson, a hacker using the alias " Neo", who discovers humanity is trapped inside a simulated reality created by intelligent machines. Written and directed by the Wachowskis, Reeves had to prepare by reading Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World, and Dylan Evans's ideas on evolutionary psychology. The principal cast underwent months of intense training with martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping to prepare for the fight scenes. The Matrix proved to be a box office success; several critics considered it to be one of the best science fiction films of all time. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt it was a "wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that is determined to overpower the imagination", despite perceiving weaknesses in the film's dialogue. Janet Maslin of The New York Times credited Reeves for being a "strikingly chic Prada model of an action hero", and thought the martial arts stunts were the film's strongest feature. The Matrix received Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound.

After the success of The Matrix, Reeves avoided another blockbuster in favour of a lighthearted sports comedy, The Replacements (2000). He agreed to a pay cut to enable Gene Hackman to co-star in the film. Against his wishes, Reeves starred in the thriller The Watcher (2000), playing a serial killer who stalks a retired FBI agent. He said that a friend forged his signature on a contract, which he could not prove; he appeared in the film to avoid legal action. Upon its release, the film was critically panned. That year, he had a supporting role in another thriller, Sam Raimi's , a story about a woman (played by Cate Blanchett) with extrasensory perception asked to help find a young woman who disappeared. The film grossed $44 million worldwide. Film critic Paul Clinton of CNN thought the film was fairly compelling, saying of Reeves's acting: "[Raimi] managed to get a performance out of Reeves that only occasionally sounds like he's reading his lines from the back of a cereal box."

In 2001, Reeves continued to explore and accept roles in a diverse range of genres. The first was a romantic drama, Sweet November, a remake of the 1968 film of the same name. This was his second collaboration with Charlize Theron; the film was met with a generally negative reception. Desson Thompson of The Washington Post criticized it for its "syrupy cliches, greeting-card wisdom and over-the-top tragicomedy", but commended Reeves for his likability factor in every performance he gives. (2001) marked Reeves's attempt in another sports comedy. Directed by Brian Robbins, it is based on the book Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Daniel Coyle. Reeves plays Conor O'Neill, a troubled young man who agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of obtaining a loan. Film critic Roger Ebert noted the film's desire to tackle difficult subjects and baseball coaching, but felt it lacked depth, and Reeves's performance was "glum and distant".

By 2002, his professional music career had come to an end when Dogstar disbanded. The band had released two albums during their decade together; Our Little Visionary in 1996 and Happy Ending in 2000. Sometime afterwards, Reeves performed in the band Becky for a year, founded by Dogstar band-mate Rob Mailhouse, but quit in 2005, citing a lack of interest in a serious music career. After being absent from the screen in 2002, Reeves returned to The Matrix sequels in 2003 with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, released in May and November, respectively. Principal photography for both films was completed back-to-back, primarily at Fox Studios in Australia. The Matrix Reloaded garnered mostly favourable reviews; John Powers of praised the "dazzling pyrotechnics" but was critical of certain machine-like action scenes. Of Reeves's acting, Powers thought it was somewhat "wooden" but felt he has the ability to "exude a charmed aura". Andrew Walker, writing for the Evening Standard, praised the cinematography ("visually it gives full value as a virtuoso workout for your senses") but he was less taken by the film's " dime-store philosophy". The film grossed $739 million worldwide.

The Matrix Revolutions, the third instalment, was met with mixed reception. According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus was that "characters and ideas take a back seat to the special effects". Paul Clinton, writing for CNN, praised the special effects but felt Reeves's character was unfocused. In contrast, the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Meyer was highly critical of the special effects, writing, "[The Wachowskis] computer-generated imagery goes from dazzling to deadening in action scenes that favor heavy, clanking weaponry over the martial-arts moves that thrilled viewers of The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded." Nevertheless, the film grossed a healthy $427 million worldwide, although less than the two previous films. Something's Gotta Give, a romantic comedy, was Reeves's last release of 2003. He co-starred with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, and played Dr. Julian Mercer in the film. Something's Gotta Give received generally favourable reviews.

2005-2013: Thrillers, documentaries and directorial debut

Reeves at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2009

In 2005, Reeves played the title role in Constantine, an occult detective film, about a man who has the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons. The film was a respectable box office hit, grossing $230 million worldwide from a $100 million budget but attracted mixed-to-positive reviews. The Sydney Morning Herald's critic wrote that " Constantine isn't bad, but it doesn't deserve any imposing adjectives. It's occasionally cheesy, sometimes enjoyable, intermittently scary, and constantly spiked with celestial blatherskite". He next appeared in Thumbsucker, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. A comedy adapted from the 1999 Walter Kirn novel of the same name, the story follows a boy with a thumb-sucking problem. Reeves and the cast garnered positive critical reviews, with The Washington Post describing it as "a gently stirring symphony about emotional transition filled with lovely musical passages and softly nuanced performances".

Reeves appeared in the Richard Linklater-directed animated science fiction thriller A Scanner Darkly, which premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Reeves played Bob Arctor/Fred, an undercover agent in a futuristic dystopia under high-tech police surveillance. Based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, the film was a box office failure. However, the film attracted generally favourable reviews; Paul Arendt of the BBC thought the film was "beautiful to watch", but Reeves was outshone by his co-star Robert Downey Jr. His next role was Alex Wyler in The Lake House (2006), a romantic drama adaptation of the South Korean film (2000), which reunited him with Sandra Bullock. Despite its box office success, Mark Kermode of The Guardian was highly critical, writing "this syrup-drenched supernatural whimsy achieves stupidity at a genuinely international level [...] The last time Bullock and Reeves were together on screen the result was Speed. This should have been entitled Stop". Towards the end of 2006, he co-narrated The Great Warming with Alanis Morissette, a documentary about climate change mitigation.

Next in 2008, Reeves collaborated with director David Ayer on the crime thriller Street Kings. He played an undercover policeman who must clear his name after the death of another officer. Released on April 11, the film grossed a moderate $66 million worldwide. The film's plot and Reeves' performance, however, were met with mostly unenthusiastic reviews. Paul Byrnes of The Sydney Morning Herald stated, "It's full of twists and turns, a dead body in every reel, but it's not difficult to work out who's betraying whom, and that's just not good enough". The Guardian opined that "Reeves is fundamentally blank and uninteresting". Reeves starred in another science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, a loose adaptation of the 1951 film of the same name. He portrayed Klaatu, an alien sent from outer space to try to change human behaviour or eradicate humans because of their environmental impact. At the 2009 Razzie Awards, the film was nominated for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. Many critics were unimpressed with the heavy use of special effects; The Telegraph credited Reeves' ability to engage the audience, but thought the cinematography was abysmal and the "sub- Al-Gore environment lecture leaves you light-headed with tedium".

Tiger Chen and Reeves at the Fantastic Fest film festival, 2013

Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was Reeves' sole release of 2009, which premiered at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival. The romantic comedy and its ensemble received an amicable review from The Telegraph's David Gritten; "Miller's film is a triumph. Uniformly well acted, it boasts a psychologically knowing script, clearly written by a smart, assertive human". In 2010, he starred in another romantic comedy, Henry's Crime, about a man who is released from prison for a crime he did not commit, but then targets the same bank with his former cellmate. The film was not a box office hit. Reeves' only work in 2011 was an adult picture book titled Ode to Happiness, which he wrote, complemented by Alexandra Grant's illustrations. Reeves co-produced and appeared in a 2012 documentary, Side by Side. He interviewed filmmakers including James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Nolan; the feature investigated digital and photochemical film creation. Next, Reeves starred in Generation Um... (2012), an independent drama which was critically panned.

In 2013, Reeves starred in his own directorial debut, the martial arts film Man of Tai Chi. The film has multilingual dialogue and follows a young man drawn to an underground fight club, partially inspired by the life of Reeves' friend Tiger Chen. Principal photography took place in China and in Hong Kong. Reeves was also assisted by Yuen Woo-ping, the fight choreographer of The Matrix films. Man of Tai Chi premiered at the Beijing Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival, and received praise from director John Woo. A wider, warm response followed suit; Bilge Ebiri of Vulture thought the fight sequences were "beautifully assembled", and Reeves showed restraint with the film editing to present the fighters' motion sequences. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "The brutally efficient shooting style Reeves employs to film master choreographer Yuen Woo-ping's breathtaking fights [...] is refreshingly grounded and old-school kinetic", while Dave McGinn of The Globe and Mail called the film "ambitious but generic". At the box office, Man of Tai Chi was a commercial disappointment, grossing only $5.5 million worldwide from a budget of $25 million. Also in 2013, Reeves played Kai in the 3D fantasy , a Japanese fable about a group of rogue samurai. The film premiered in Japan but failed to gain traction with audiences; reviews were not positive, causing Universal Pictures to reduce advertising for the film elsewhere. 47 Ronin was a box office flop and was mostly poorly received.

2014-present: Resurgence with John Wick

Reeves in 2015

After this series of commercial failures, Reeves' career rebounded in 2014. He played the title role in the action thriller , directed by Chad Stahelski. In the first instalment of the franchise, Reeves plays a retired hitman seeking vengeance. He worked closely with the screenwriter to develop the story; "We all agreed on the potential of the project. I love the role, but you want the whole story, the whole ensemble to come to life", Reeves said. Filmed on location in the New York City area, the film was eventually released on October 24 in the United States. The Hollywood Reporter was impressed by the director's "confident, muscular action debut", and Reeves' "effortless" performance, which marked his return to the action genre. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times praised Reeves' fight scenes and wrote he is "always more comfortable in roles that demand cool over hot, attitude over emotion". John Wick proved to be a box office success, grossing $86 million worldwide. Next, Reeves starred in a smaller-scale horror feature, Knock Knock (2015), a remake of the 1977 film . Described as "over-the-top destruction" by the Toronto Star, Reeves plays a father, home alone, when two young women show up and start a game of cat and mouse. His other releases in 2015 were the documentaries , about crime on the dark web, and Mifune: The Last Samurai, about the life of a Japanese actor ( Toshiro Mifune) famous for playing samurai characters. He narrated both films.

Reeves appeared in five film releases in 2016. The first was , a crime thriller about a detective who investigates his partner's death and discovers police corruption along the way. The film received negative reviews for its confused plot, and Reeves was criticized for displaying limited facial expressions. His next release, the comedy , was better received. In it he voiced the eponymous kitten. Reeves then had a minor role in The Neon Demon, a psychological horror directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. He played Hank, a lustful motel owner who appears in Jesse's (played by Elle Fanning) nightmare. In his fourth release, he played a charismatic leader of a settlement in The Bad Batch. His final release of the year was The Whole Truth, featuring Gabriel Basso, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Renée Zellweger, and Jim Belushi. He played Richard, a defence attorney. Noel Murray of described it as "moderately clever, reasonably entertaining courtroom drama", with a skilled cast but overall a "mundane" film. Reeves also appeared in Swedish Dicks, a two-season web television series.

In 2017, Reeves agreed to reprise his role for a sequel in the John Wick franchise, John Wick: Chapter 2. The story carries on from the first film and follows John Wick as he goes on the run when a bounty is placed on him. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $171.5 million worldwide, more than its predecessor. Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine praised Reeves' performance, which complemented his previous action roles ( Point Break and Speed). However, Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times described the picture as "a down-and-dirty B-picture with a lustrous A-picture soul". Besides to this large-scale feature, Reeves starred in a drama, , in which he plays a doctor helping a young woman with anorexia. It premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, followed by distribution on Netflix in July. Early reviews were positive, with praise for its non-glamorized portrayal of anorexia, although the New Statesman magazine thought it was irresponsible. That year, Reeves also made cameo appearances in the films A Happening of Monumental Proportions and .

Guillermo Amoedo and Reeves on the set of Knock Knock, in 2014

Reeves reunited with Winona Ryder in the 2018 comedy Destination Wedding, about wedding guests who develop a mutual affection for each other. They had worked together previously in Bram Stoker's Dracula, A Scanner Darkly and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Reeves also co-produced and starred in two thrillers. , in which he plays a diamond trader who travels to Siberia to search for his Russian partner, and , which tells the story of a neuroscientist who violates laws and bioethics to bring his family back to life after they die in a car crash. Siberia was critically panned; reviewers thought the plot was nonsensical and Reeves had little chemistry with co-star Ana Ularu. Replicas did not fare well with critics either; The A.V. Club praised Reeves' performance, but gave the film a grade D−, adding it is "garbage". It was also a box office failure, earning $9.3 million from a budget of $30 million.

Returning to the John Wick franchise, Reeves starred in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019), the third feature in the series directed by Stahelski. The film takes place immediately after the events of John Wick: Chapter 2 and features new cast members including Halle Berry. The film was another box office hit, grossing $171 million in the United States and more than $155 million internationally. The Globe and Mail's reviewer gave the film three out of four stars, praising the fight scenes, but felt there was "aesthetic overindulgence" with the cinematography. The Guardian's Cath Clarke questioned Reeves' acting; she wrote that "he keeps his face statue-still [...] three movies in, franchise bloat is beginning to set in". Reeves was nominated for Favorite Male Movie Star of 2019 in the People's Choice Awards, and the film itself was nominated for Best Contemporary Film in the Art Directors Guild Awards. Reeves then voiced Duke Caboom in 2019's , the fourth instalment of Pixar's Toy Story franchise. In that same year on April 27 and 28, a film festival was held in his honour, called KeanuCon, hosted in Glasgow, Scotland. Over two days, nine of his films were screened for guests.

As early as 2008, Reeves and Alex Winter had shown enthusiasm for a third film, but the project went into development limbo. Finally in 2020, Bill & Ted Face the Music, the third film in the franchise was released. The critic from magazine was disappointed in Reeves' performance, but praised the film for its message that "music has the power to unite the world". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade B, and complimented the onscreen chemistry between Reeves and Winter. He also appeared in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run as a tumbleweed named Sage. Reeves appears as Johnny Silverhand in the video game Cyberpunk 2077. In December 2021, Reeves returned to the screen for the fourth film in The Matrix franchise: The Matrix Resurrections. Carrie-Anne Moss also reprised her role as Trinity. The Matrix Resurrections was a box office disappointment; one critic praised Reeves' and Moss' performances, but thought the film was "no game-changer".

Lionsgate's John Wick: Chapter 4 premiered on March 24, 2023; Reeves reprised his role as the title character. He also reprised his role as Johnny Silverhand in the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, Phantom Liberty.

Upcoming projects

In 2019, Reeves travelled to São Paulo to produce a Netflix series, Conquest. Details are being kept secret. A comic book series, , co-written by Reeves was published in March 2021. He is expected to star in a film adaptation of it. A fifth sequel to John Wick was planned, but Stahelski said he would like to give the franchise a "rest" for the time being.

Personal life

In 1998, Reeves met director David Lynch's assistant Jennifer Syme at a party thrown for his band Dogstar, and they started dating. On December 24, 1999, Syme gave birth eight months into her pregnancy to the couple's child, who was stillborn. The couple broke up several weeks afterward, but later reconciled. On April 2, 2001, Syme was killed when her vehicle collided with three parked cars on Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles. Syme was impaired, and also not belted in. Reeves told investigators that they were back together, and had brunch together in San Francisco the day before the accident. Reeves acted as a pallbearer for Syme, who was buried next to their daughter. He was scheduled to film the sequels to The Matrix the following spring, but sought "peace and time", according to friend Bret Domrose of Dogstar.

Reeves has also been romantically linked to longtime friend and filmmaker Brenda Davis, whose child he is godfather to, and model-actress China Chow. In 2009, Reeves met Alexandra Grant at a dinner party; they went on to collaborate on two books together. They went public with their relationship in November 2019.

Reeves is discreet about his spiritual beliefs, saying that it is something "personal and private". When asked if he was a spiritual person, he said that he believes "in God, faith, inner faith, the self, passion, and things", and that he is "very spiritual". Although he does not formally practice Buddhism, the religion has left a strong impression on him, especially after filming Little Buddha. He said, "Most of the things I've come away with from Buddhism have been human-understanding feelings, impermanence, and trying to understand other people and where they're coming from."

When asked on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2019 about his views on what happens after death, Reeves replied, "I know that the ones who love us will miss us".

In 2023, the lipopeptide Keanumycin, a substance deadly to fungi, was named in honor of Reeves.

Business and philanthropy

Mural of Reeves in Santiago de Chile

Reeves supports several charities and causes. In response to his sister's battle with leukemia, he founded a private cancer foundation, which aids children's hospitals and provides cancer research. In June 2020, he volunteered for Camp Rainbow Gold, an Idaho children's cancer charity. Reeves has said, "Money is the last thing I think about. I could live on what I have already made for the next few centuries". It was rumoured that Reeves gave away a substantial portion, estimated to be $35-$125 million, of his earnings from The Matrix to the special effects and makeup crews. However, this has been significantly embellished; Reeves negotiated a smaller deal, relinquishing his contractual right to a percentage of the sequels' profits in exchange for a more extensive special effects budget.

After filming John Wick: Chapter 4, Reeves, Chad Stahelski and Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor Dave Camarillo, signed an exclusive training uniform that was put up for auction in March 2023 to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Reeves co-founded a production company, Company Films, with friend Stephen Hamel. In 2011, Reeves, an avid motorcyclist, co-founded Arch Motorcycle Company, which builds and sells custom motorcycles, with Gard Hollinger. In 2017, Reeves, Jessica Fleischmann, and Alexandra Grant founded book publisher, X Artists' Books (also known as XAB). He has written two books: Ode to Happiness and Shadows, both of which are collaborations with Grant; he provided the text to her photographs and art.

Censorship

In 2022, Reeves's recitation of the Beat poem " Pull My Daisy" for a virtual benefit concert for Tibet House US, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, angered Chinese nationalists. Reeves's films have been banned from streaming platforms in China such as iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku.

In the media

Reeves' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

In a 2005 article for magazine, Lev Grossman called Reeves "Hollywood's ultimate introvert". He has been described as a workaholic, charming and "excruciatingly shy". During the production of Constantine, director Francis Lawrence commented on his personality, calling him "hardworking" and "generous". His co-star Shia LaBeouf said, "I've worked with him for a year and a couple of months, but I don't really know him that much". Erwin Stoff of 3 Arts Entertainment has served as Reeves's agent and manager since he was 16, and produced many of his films. Stoff said Reeves "is a really private person" and keeps his distance from other people.

In 2010, an image of Reeves became an internet meme after photographs of him were published, sitting on a park bench with a sad facial expression. The images were posted on the 4chan discussion board and were soon distributed via several blogs and media outlets, leading to the "Sad Keanu" meme being spread on the internet. An unofficial holiday was created when a Facebook fan page declared June 15 as "Cheer-up Keanu Day". He would later downplay the photo, saying, "Man, I was eating a sandwich. I was thinking-I had some stuff going on. I was hungry."

Reeves's casual persona and ability to establish rapport have been observed by the public, leading him to be dubbed the "Internet's boyfriend". In 2019, cited Reeves's unorthodox filmography and ability to appeal to nerd culture as the primary reasons for his internet popularity. While filming Bill & Ted Face the Music in July 2019, Reeves and other cast members came across a house with a banner reading "You're Breathtaking" and "Mini Keanu", two memes that had come out of Reeves's appearance at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 for the game Cyberpunk 2077. Reeves took time to sign the banner, and talk to the family.

Reeves appeared on ' annual Celebrity 100 list in 2001 and 2002, at number 36 and 49, respectively. In 2005, Reeves received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture industry. In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter calculated that Reeves had earned $250 million for The Matrix franchise, making him one of the highest-paid actors. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him at number four on its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.

Filmography and awards

Prolific in film since 1985, Reeves's most acclaimed and highest-grossing films, according to the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, include: River's Edge (1987), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Speed (1994), The Matrix (1999), John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter2 (2017), John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019), and Toy Story 4 (2019). Reeves has won four MTV Movie Awards, and received two Best Actor nominations at the Saturn Awards. He was nominated twice for a People's Choice Award: Favorite Male Movie Star and Favorite Action Movie Star, for his performance in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019).

In September 2021, Tae Kwon Do Life Magazine deemed Reeves the "#1 Martial Arts movie star in the world" based upon his multiple films in the genre, their popularity, and sheer box office gross.

Bibliography

Reeves, Keanu (text by); Grant, Alexandra (drawings by, book design by) (2011). Bergam, Janey (ed.). Ode to Happiness. Göttingen: Steidl Publishers. ISBN 9783869302096. OCLC 756797130.

Reeves, Keanu (text by); Grant, Alexandra (photographs by) (2014). Shadows: A Collaborative Project by Alexandra Grant and Keanu Reeves. Göttingen: Steidl Publishers. ISBN 9783869308272. OCLC 965117169.

(with Matt Kindt and Ron Garney, 12-issue mini-series, Boom! Studios, 2021, ISBN 9781684156856)

References

Further reading

DeAngelis, Michael (2001). Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom: James Dean, Mel Gibson, and Keanu Reeves. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-2728-7.

Ong, Soh Chin (May 15, 2003). "A Man of Many Faces". The Straits Times. Singapore.

"Pondering the mysterious Keanu Reeves". CNN. November 5, 2003. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008.

Smithey, Cole. "Seven magazine interview with Keanu Reeves". Seven magazine. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011.

External links

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Keanu Charles Reeves ( kee-AH-noo ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, he made his acting debut in the Canadian television series (1984), before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986).

# data[].attributes.body
How great leaders inspire action

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership -- starting with a golden circle and the question: “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Wright brothers…

# data[].attributes.body
Can the Arts Inspire Better Leadership?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Željko Katušin, PMBA 2004

As I read through the articles on art and leadership, and in my reflections afterwards, I began relating the material to my past experiences and my personal opinions. The articles really made me think.

The arts are among the most popular and powerful phenomena of humankind. Art has existed since the beginning of civilization and has been a defining part of humankind ever since. The drivers of the arts are individual and group needs to express feelings and thoughts, document them in abstract or realistic forms, capture the sense of related phenomena, communicate with others and affect the senses. The arts are, at the most basic level, ways of experiencing, interpreting and representing our experiences of life.

On the other side, leadership is an integral part of organizational life and management. It too appeared at a very early stage of humanity. It is an outgrowth of the need to organize. Organizing has improved an individual's (and a group's) chances for survival and enables further growth on the evolutionary ladder. Leadership became an important aspect of this organizing behavior which provides one of the successful ways to compete and grow.
Arts and leadership, both having historic origins have been interacting with each other in the past, as well as today. Both disciplines depend on creativity for survival and progression.
The arts have often led as part of the avant-garde of human thinking and can therefore provide innovative and even inspirational ideas for the leadership of organizations.

On the surface, the fundamental concepts of the arts and business leadership seem different. The arts are seen as free, intuitive thought, whereas traditionally business has been seen as more disciplined, rational and organized.

Due to its variety, complexity and abstractness we can surely use the arts as an example, inspiration and model for eventual solutions for contemporary leadership issues. Studying arts issues can provide us with ideas to build new techniques, approaches and methods we can use in our managerial work. It can increase abilities and creative skills to find solutions to real life problems {Austin and Devin, 2003; Darso, 2004; Ibbotson, 2008; Reckenrich, Kupp& Anderson, 2010).

In short, examining the arts increases our ability in creative analyses of real life situations, for making sense of the complexity, taking decisions and providing us with action (Barry&Meisiek, 2010; Springborg, 2010). Through art one individual can, by using one's senses along with one's mind, come to common understandings of the environment in which one acts and therefore come to better decisions and actions.

The arts relate to the sensory-emotional aspects of human experience. Anyone can engage his/her senses, intuition and interpretation to interact with art. There is great potential in these human resources, a potential to engage people to use their senses, intuition and interpretive abilities to think differently. How do we mobilise this?

Thinking differently is a very important issue. For example, Albert Einstein held that we cannot solve today's problems with the same way of thinking used to create the problems. This highlights a central question for all responsible leaders: Do you dare to think differently and take the "other" way?

Reality beyond the obvious is many times "hidden" to the eyes of normal spectators. Daring to see, admit and deal with the whole subject opens the way to new solutions. For example, remember the old story about the Emperor's New Clothes. Here the writer, a creative artist, reminds us of the daring to think differently and presents the idea that it took a "naive" child to see that the Emperor was really naked.

The arts provide alternative ways to see and make sense of our world (Barry &Meisiek, 2010; Taylor & Ladkin, 2009). There are intuitive and qualitative skills, coming from different kinds of arts, available for leaders and their teams. Approaches from theater (Biehi-Missal, 2010; Stevenson, 1996; Wood, 2002), orchestras and bands (Atik, 1994; Koivunen&Wennes, 2011; Drucker, 1992) provide new ideas for team-building skills such as creative teamwork, discipline, focus on common goals, and acquisition of inspiration for repetitive actions - issues all very important for business success.

Just imagine the performance and perception skills of the orchestra musician, simultaneously playing his/her instrument and carefully observing and listening to the others as well as following the conductor's lead - wouldn't that kind of situation perfectly fit an ideal business environment? Why not try to learn and fit it into your team?

There are several practical examples of how to introduce arts methods into leadership practice. Taylor and Ladkin (2009) have suggested four methods in particular. The first is to transfer performing skills from the arts into organizations. The second is to use art's 'projective techniques' in order to express and reflect inner thoughts and feelings. Thirdly, they suggest the use of art's presentation and representation capacities for illustrations of the key ideas and essence of concepts. Finally they suggest getting engaged in the arts yourself by 'making', in order to express your inner self and enhance your creativity, something that can be a cathartic experience.

Business study related to arts increases development of the imagination, spatial thinking and abstract reasoning, which are all essential skills for today's students and future business professionals.

The question is whether the arts can, in reality, definitively help and inspire leadership for a better performance. The answer is vague as it all depends on an individual's beliefs, hopes, commitment and an organization's ability to introduce new methods and goals into organizational life.

The goals that are set in the organizations must go beyond the limits of tradition and profit margins. Art suggests that not only profit is enough to fulfill the needs of individuals and successfully complete the mission of an organization. There are more values behind the economic gains. The organizations who are ready to commit to the utilization of creative abilities and serve social good and ecological responsibility will evolve into desirable, modern organizations delivering innovations which will in turn increase their competitive advantage.

During my personal experience with art and leadership development I have often noticed how interconnected they are and how they can positively impact each other. In any respect I think it is worthwhile to stay in touch with art. Even if there is no direct interaction with management and leadership, art's ability to relax, inspire and encourage creative energy serves perfectly to diffuse the everyday stressful and exhausting work of managing.
I have benefited from arts experiences in film making, painting and playing music in a band. All these experiences have informed my work. What about my leadership experience?
My leadership perspective has changed over the past few years, due to several internal and external conflicts. I have grown personally and through my work experience, so did my perspectives change. Additional education in management has brought knowledge and skills, some of which I have implemented in my work. The company where I work has grown and evolved. Most importantly, the world has changed and requires innovative perspectives. The times are different and we have to cope with new situations every day.
Economics and the economy are known for their uncertainties and unpredictability. The present times in particular can be described, as Slovene economist Jože Mencinger has recently done, as to Columbus discovering the New World: when starting his journey he did not know where he was heading, when landing he did not know where he was.

Vision and hope were the main drivers that guided Columbus on his path through unknown territories. Following his innovative idea he was rewarded by additional discovery, which nobody predicted or expected. It isn't rare in life that brave and innovative acts are accompanied with additional unexpected gains and discoveries. "Those who dare, win", the motto is used also for extreme situations in order to ensure maximum faith and motivation of participants.

So much for the past experience, what about future benefits from my arts and leadership studies?

There are several trends that can be recognized in the modern world. The structure and relations of the world have changed through increased global interconnectedness and increased domination of market forces (Adler, 2006). Most important is the recognition that due to modern world changes we need to rethink who we are as human beings.

The standard models cannot cope anymore with the complexities of the present. The world of complexity is driven by discontinuous change, within the network of interconnected teams, acting simultaneously. Creative action is required for adequate strategies to deal with these problems. What needs to be done and how can we do it?

It is important for leaders to recognize, describe and implement the present seeds that will flower in the future, by using their imagination, creative and intuitive abilities without waiting for all the evidence to appear on their desks.

Business organizations shall need to embrace flatter systems, more networked, multi organizational structures including global strategic alliances, joint ventures and partnerships following the leaderless chamber orchestra model.

Managerial approaches shall move from planning-then-doing to simultaneous listening-and-observing-while-doing skills, first ensuring that atmosphere in the team is ready for improvisation and team members do trust their colleagues that they are taking care of the team's best interests.
(Adler, 2006)

Advanced computer technologies have changed the ways of creating new products, services and market relationships. The use of computerized models has enabled rapid and cheap iteration allowing creative leaders to dream new ideas worthy of testing, in that way substituting costly and time consuming experimentation for planning (Adler, 2006; Austin & Devin, 2003).

The most important is the trend of economy-focus change from efficiency oriented towards one based on significance and meaning (Adler 2006; Austin & Devin, 2003). The needs and expectations of the people have changed and economic success alone is no longer enough. There is a strong urge for contributions that make genuine and positive differences in all our lives.

The roles of leaders have changed and they need to be supported by their abilities based on courage and creativity. This courage is to envision new possibilities and challenge and inspire others - just like artists do.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can the arts really help and inspire better leadership performance?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Željko Katušin, PMBA 2004 As I read through the articles on art and leadership, and in my reflections afterwards, I began relating the material to my past experiences and my personal opinions. The articles really made me think. The arts are among the most popular and powerful phenomena of humankind.

# data[].attributes.body
Art and Leadership

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I was raised in a home which held art in high regard. Both my grandfathers were artists - one a professional photographer and the other an architect and painter. My parents used to take me to art galleries when I was little and our flat was always full of pantings and albums full of paintings were all over our house. My father played music as a hobby and my mother has been into photography since I can recall.

As a kid I used to invent new songs and tape-record them. I wrote poetry. Later on I took drawing and painting lessons and was granted access to an art high school. I decided to leave myself more options and not focus on arts. In the mid-90's I became fascinated with the hip hop culture. For a few years I was a graffiti artist and rapped in a local band.

Art is a waste of time

I gave it all up when I landed my first job at the age of 19. Suddenly everything had to be „reasonble", „make sense" and „make ends meet". I put the artsy part of myself on the shelf and focused on learning how to do business. I gave up what was dear to me as I thought it was „useless".

Is that true? Looking from another perspective I realize that my early fascination was not only useful in my later career, but giving it up didn't make sense at all. Maybe I just lacked a good mentor at that time. If you are still reading this it means that you either experienced a similar dillema or you have not been into art that much, but consider getting into it from curiosity. There is a number of reasons it is worth a try, so let's dig into them.

Why art may matter to a leader

Courage to make new, imperfect things that nobody will understand.

When you write a poem or draw something with no intention to publish you can hush your internal self-critic. There are no limits to creativity and experiments. It is an excerise of courage. There is no need to worry if it fits the rules, if it is good or bad, it it is off the limits or not. You art is as it is. Doing so you can become more self-confident and willing to show your own style. This translates to your behavioral patterns in your professional life.

Openness to different perspectives.

If you go to a gallery and see a fridge standing in the corner painted with blue and yellow car spray. You may like it or not but as you are already there, you face it and may develop an opinion or just observe with curiosity. What is amazing about art is that it knows no boundries. It feeds on breaking the rules and the element of surprise. Interacting with it may help you develop openness.

Creativity helps in problem solving and programming.

To copy something that exists already is not easy but may require diligent work to reverse engineer an established process. To build something that has never existed is a challenge not only writers but also programmers or product managers face every day. And this is what art is all about - creating new objects in a World where „everything has already been told". Embracing the ability to come up with new ideas is invaluable.

Try painting an object and thinking about something else at the same time. Impossible. One of the reasons why doodling is believed to increase productivity is that it attaches you to the here and now. It turns off the busy mind and improves focus on the thing at hand. Writing or drawing can be the way to pause while your mind is overwhelmed with problems and cannot find a solution.

Hardly anyone can learn how to paint overnight. It requires hours of work and tons of paper to draw an apple that will resemble a real one. Imagine playing Bach after a few piano lessons. Art - as any skill - requires practice. I believe that great artists, just like athletes, build an artistic muscle that can help them overcome challenges in their career in business.

Hitting deadlines and crossing out tasks on the to-do list is obviously everything. Unfortunately, sometimes we may get in the mode when we feel as if nothing except work matters. As if tangible results are the only good reason to live. Doing something that „makes no sense" eg. doesn't give you fame or money, but just pure fun, may seem like a waste of time. Engaging in singing or knitting can bring just pure fun. The fun of creating for the sake of creating. That can bring true relief to a goal-oriented mind.

Is art for you?

Some of the benefits are available just by interacting and being curious about art. Some require becoming an artist. Anyone can become an artist - even if this means making one drawing a year and putting it at the bottom of a drawer. In my opinion it is the state of mind and openness to experiment that make an artist.

Nowadays I go to a gallery wherever I travel. This year I am going to take caligraphy classes and plan to use my own drawings to illustrate some of my writing (eg. the one above). I find it difficult to rewire myself for spending time with this „impractical" state of mind.
If you want to read more on this topic, the following books gave me a lot of joy and were of inspiration:

„What is Art" by Leo Tolstoy
„Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott
„If You Want to Write" by Brenda Ueland

How do you feel about art?

WRITTEN BY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Art and leadership - what does it have in common? - Greg Albrecht

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Art is a waste of time...Is that true? Looking from another perspective I realize that my early fascination was not only useful in my later career, but giving it up didn't make sense at all. Why art may matter to a leader? There is a number of reasons it is worth a try, so let's dig into them.

# data[].attributes.body
Why people believe they can’t draw - and how to prove they can

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why people believe they can’t draw - and how to prove they can | Graham Shaw | TEDxHull

# data[].attributes.body
Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a masterpiece?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a masterpiece? - James Earle

# data[].attributes.body
Follow the Leader Suli Breaks

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Follow the leader | Suli Breaks | TEDxHousesofParliament

# data[].attributes.body
How Leaders Create a Compelling Vision to Inspire

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lead With Vision

Leaders create a vision and engage a community to achieve it.

What does it mean to lead with vision?

It's a question that authors Bonnie Hagemann, Simon Vetter, and John Maketa researched extensively, surveying over 400 companies in search of the answer.

I recently spoke with the authors about their new book, LEADING WITH VISION: The Leader's Blueprint for Creating a Compelling Vision and Engaging the Workforce.
Would you share the story about "going up the stairs two steps at a time" and how it impacted your view of leadership and culture?
Yes, of course. Back in 2006 I had a meeting with Jim Bolt, the founder of Executive Development Associates (EDA), to discuss how I would run the company. Jim had been developing senior leaders since the early 1980s and was a renowned expert in the field. I knew I had much to learn from Jim and hoped we could work together. I didn't know at the time that the very first piece of advice he would give me would shape and inform every leadership decision I have made since. Before I left that meeting, Jim handed me a book from his shelf called Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, founder and CEO of Patagonia, a sports clothing company.

The book is the story of Patagonia with an emphasis, almost a plea, for sustainability. Jim wanted me to start thinking about how we could help with this effort, I read the book but it was something else within that captured my attention. The CEO of Patagonia wanted to build an organization where employees were compelled to come to work. Yvon Chouinard wanted a company where employees were a part of their environmental mission. He wanted employees to be wholly engaged and committed. He said, "Work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis. We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two steps at a time" (Chouinard 2005, 45).

That statement struck me as extremely important. Imagine the creativity and courage and productivity that would come from a workforce like that. The power of it is immeasurable. That is what visionary leadership can do. It can unleash the power of the workforce.

The 4 C's of a Visionary Leader
What's your definition of a visionary leader?
A visionary leader is a person who steps out and creates a clear picture of a positive future state. It takes a lot of courage because creating a vision for the future is basically imagining what could be and what should be. That feels very risky for leaders. It is stepping out of the norm. There are certain things they will need to do. In the book we explain further by putting it into 4 Cs. They must:

Embody courage,

Forge clarity,

Build connectedness, and

Shape the culture.

What advice do you have for a leader struggling with creating a compelling vision?
Most leaders struggle to create a compelling vision. They must first push past their limbic brain system which will naturally do its job of keeping the leader "safe" by trying to keep them from stepping out in this leadership capacity. This is a significant struggle for many, so we spend some time in the book helping leaders overcome this.

Then they must bring others along. There are specific actions to each step, but here are the high points:

Imagine the invisible - paint the picture of a positive future state

Vet the vision - ensure it is the right vision for the organization

Create options - ensure that you will not be made or broken by having only one option on how to get there

Decide for change - a compelling vision will require changes, so determine what they are and think through the best method to get there

Communicate thoroughly - make the messaging around the vision as clear as a well-played music note

Foster understanding - ensure that every person understands his or her role in making the vision a reality

Overcome the Common Obstacles
What are some of the most common obstacles to leading with vision? Would you share one and what to do about it?
Every leader will experience his/her own unique obstacles, but we did find some that were common. They include

A lack of unity in the workforce,

Preconceived notions about how things should be

A lack of buy-in throughout the organization

A lack of urgency, and

A lack of personal development by the leader

Creating a compelling vision means that it is compelling for the employees. This is a core message in the book. The leaders must capture the hearts of the employees. Every company is a story, and every employee wants to feel like an important part of that story. Visionary leadership means that everyone knows their part in the story, and they feel like their part is important to achieving the vision.
What's a Makahiki and how can leaders everywhere benefit from it?
That word comes from a story we share in the book about OluKai, a Hawaiian-inspired premium footwear company. They believe that connectedness extends to everything, particularly the brand's relationship with its employees. Everyone who works at or with

OluKai comes together as a true family. When they have sales meetings, they don't call them sales meetings. Instead, they call them Makahiki, which is a Hawaiian word for reunion or gathering. It's a way that they create connectedness for the employees, and connectedness is one of the key ingredients for visionary leadership.

Skip, there's another important word in the Olukai story.

They take their vision beyond the employees all the way to those who wear their shoes with the spirit of Aloha. Most of us have heard this word but had little understanding of its depth. It is a Hawaiian word and means a lot of things. It means life, love, hello, and it also means goodbye. It's a very complex word. The literal meaning of Aloha is 'the breath of life.' It comes from Alo, meaning presence, and ha, meaning breath. Aloha is a way of living and treating each other with love and respect.

"At OluKai, our vision is grounded in our belief that everybody, no matter where you are, you can live Aloha, a life full of love and happiness."

They use their brand as a way to unlock that spirit in all of us.

"We want people who wear a pair of OluKai sandals to connect emotionally to a place and a lifestyle to which they aspire. Maybe they may have never been to a beautiful beach in Hawaii, but they know they want to go. Our footwear brings people one step closer. It's a highly aspirational message that we are delivering."
Toward the end of the book, you talk about the power of storytelling. How do you coach leaders on becoming better storytellers? What's the role of positivity?
I think our biggest challenge with leaders is to help them understand the power of storytelling. Think about it, visionary leaders move us. Some of the greatest, most energizing, and best visionary messages of all time are from United States presidents. We remember some of these messages more than others, just as we remember some presidents more than others because some of them-including Lincoln, Kennedy, and Reagan-touched us all. They were masters at painting a picture of where we needed to go and inspiring others to come along.

Storytelling makes the message stick. That is why we used this method ourselves in the book by including very interesting stories that are tied to our key points.

We coach leaders to do the same. We tell them to:

Put things in motion. They stir things up, agitate the status quo, and create a sense not only of "can do" but also of "want to."

Excite others through their lively thoughts and behavior. Their energy motivates and inspires people to excel, and

Pull others together and propel them in the same direction.

This is not a sidebar for leaders. Visionary leadership is part of their job. It takes time, careful thought, creativity, energy, and passion, but when it's done well, it has incredible returns.
When you work with an executive team, and you sense immediately that they are firing on all cylinders and doing most everything right, what do you notice about them? What qualities of leadership are driving the team?
We love to see executive teams getting it right. One of the first indicators that a team is on the right track is passion. If the leaders are passionate about where the company is going, the rest of the workforce is likely to follow. They know the vision and are crystal clear about who they are as a company. They have a strategy to achieve the vision, and they put their decisions through a filter of whether or not it will advance their strategy. They value each other as team members and value the employees who bring their talents to the company. They care about each other and have respect for each other. This gives them the safety to have healthy debates and vet decisions thoroughly with diverse viewpoints. They succeed and fail together. They take calculated risks. They keep the organization and the employees moving forward.

For more information, see LEADING WITH VISION: The Leader's Blueprint for Creating a Compelling Vision and Engaging the Workforce.

Do you have a VISION for YOU? What type of leader do you want to be? By signing up for FREE to Leadership Insights, you will have a positive stream of insights to reimagine your future! Plus get Skip's free leadership book and digital seminar on creativity.subscribe]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Leaders Create A Compelling Vision to Engage & Inspire

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leaders create a vision and engage a community to achieve it. What does it mean to lead with vision? It's a question that authors Bonnie Hagemann, Simon Vetter, and John Maketa researched extensively, surveying over 400 companies in search of the answer.

# data[].attributes.body
Street Art, Innovation and Leadership

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I admit I like graffiti. I see it as a form of innovation, creativity and art.

I'm not talking about gang-related markings. Or hate messages. I'm talking about art - street art.

People either see art. Or they see crime.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, you can learn principles of innovation from graffiti and street art.
Street artists have to operate under high-speed conditions, as you can imagine.

The artist may choose to distill the image to only the most critical lines. The dude on the back of the billboard is drawn with only 20 lines (not counting the artist's tag), but you get a sense for what kind of guy he is.

I watched an interview with Ralph Gillies, Head of Design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, where he talked about one of his college design classes. The students were challenged to depict an automobile design with only three lines.
Three lines.
Great exercise!

What is the essence of your design?

How can it be simplified? Streamlined?

The original iPhone is a perfect example of a design made simple and clean.

Even the value proposition was a single line:
Innovation Principle #1 - Keep your ideas simple, clean, concise. Let their beauty and strength shine.
When I'm in innovation mode, I create fearlessly. I throw in whatever I think makes sense. Then I step back. I determine the central idea or story that I'm trying to convey. And then I edit ruthlessly. I strip away all extraneous elements.

I do this in my marketing consulting work.

I do this when I'm writing a chapter in my book.

I do this when I'm preparing a presentation.

The strength of this piece is the integration with the architectural elements - the staircase. I did a double take when I first saw this, and then I realized that this was intentional.

Fine artists tend to think this way.

They design for composition, meaning they use principles of design to create an aesthetic placement. Some of these principles include center of interest, balance, harmony, directional movement.

Frank Lloyd Wright's home design, Fallingwater, is a pristine example of design in harmony with the elements.

The design, the materials, the placement - everything contributes to the success of one of America's most famous houses.

Wright believed that human life was part of nature, so he took an organic approach to his designs.
Innovation Principle #2: Consider all key "ingredients" available and then determine how to let them interact with and enhance each other.
In my marketing consulting work, some of the strongest designs I've seen - whether product innovations, customer experience design, marketing strategy, messaging, or advertising - leverage the neighboring elements.

Part of the reason I employ ethnographic research in my consulting work is that the results are stronger if we understand the environment in which our customers might use the product or service.

We consider the setting. For example, if the point of usage is a restaurant, we head over to a restaurant and watch. And smell. And listen. Yes, listening includes eavesdropping. (Don't judge!)

We gather as much data as we can, and then we can start to visualize the harmony of the key components.

Unlike line drawings, the artist brings depth to this piece through the use of highlights and shadows.

So what is the equivalent of depth in a business setting? Story.

Leaders and innovators use story to motivate.
Stories evoke emotion.
Walt Disney brought stories to the screen and then created a world in which families could create their own stories.
Stories rally people.
Martin Luther King, Jr. painted a picture for his audience in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech that decades later still rallies people.
Stories elevate people.
Jesus Christ used story telling through parables to teach his followers principles and values that millennia later still inspire people.
Innovation Principle #3: Determine the "story" you are trying to convey. Make sure the components progress the story, not detract from the story.
What is the story of your product or design? If you cannot articulate the narrative, then I would argue that the design is not yet complete.

Identify the story to tell.

Then let the story express itself through the design, the composition.

Strip away anything that diminishes the story. If it's not advancing the story, then I seriously question whether it has staying power.

I find that the hard part is determining the story to tell that will move people. Once you do that, then everything else falls into place.

I admit it. I have difficulty deciphering graffiti writing, which is called Tagging if it is the identifier or logo of the artist.

Regardless, I like the colors and the shapes. I find some of them pleasing to the eye. The bubble font, the stylized lettering - all can be visually appealing.

Shapes and style have a big impact on an audience. Done right, these can create powerful emotions in people.

I remember the first time I saw a Corvette.

I didn't know cars could look like that. It was far cry from our family's boxy Toyota Corolla.

That long engine compartment conveys power, doesn't it?

What is the "shape" of your innovation?

Don't be afraid to rework a piece - no matter what it is - to fine tune the shape.
Innovation Principle #4: Sometimes the shape or "silhouette" of the idea is the way to engage the audience. Don't be afraid to reshape it to make it stronger.
When we are creating recommendations for our clients, we sometimes find that we can help them more by paying just as much attention to the visual impact of the recommendations as to the content itself. The difference in their reaction is palpable.

Shape. And then reshape.

Graffiti artists do this. Most work in sketchbooks until they get their designs right, before taking them to a wall.

Whether you are writing, drawing, building a business, creating buildings, innovating products, solving problems, composing music, designing fashion...

Run your ideas through these principles.

When Simplicity, Symbiosis, Story and Shape come together, the results can be powerful.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I admit I like graffiti. I see it as a form of innovation, creativity and art. I'm not talking about gang-related markings. Or hate messages. I'm talking about art - street art. People either see art. Or they see crime. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, you can learn principles of innovation from graffiti and street art.

# data[].attributes.body
Success in Design by being More Persuadable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Design Leadership

In the book " Persuadable," Al Pittampalli argues that people must be open to persuasion in order to become great leaders. He dispels of some long-held notions we have about leadership, particularly the ideas that leaders are resolute and unwavering. I couldn't help but think about designers as I was reading this book because many of the myths we believe about leadership, we often believe about design leaders as well.

As I reflect on my own time as a junior designer (and in conversations with junior designers today), I used to believe similar myths surrounding what it means to be a design leader.
If I were to sum up what I felt a design leader, it would be something like:

"You have to push back on dev so they respect design."

"Make a design decision and follow through."

"You're the expert so it's your responsibility to teach others about the value of design."

"You've got to be aggressive to earn a seat at the table."

Any of these sound familiar?
Designers often conjure images of a confident person walking the stage presenting a beautiful design with utter confidence, or a design director asserting design's role in the upcoming product roadmap. Or maybe we imagine a design manager going to bat for their design team when development didn't implement the agreed-upon designs. In fact, behind most strong design leaders is someone who is actually much more persuadable than you'd realize.

I'll be the first to admit that my journey to design leadership started by believing these myths and compensating for my own insecurities by engaging in battles with developers, or arguing against points counter to my own.

Before I felt like I was a design leader, I needed to act the part. But the reality is much different, and I think Pittampalli's points about leadership are perfect for design where we're usually thrust into feeling the need to persuade others even at the expense of getting closed off to others' ideas.

The key to being a great design leader is less about being persuasive and more about being persuadable.

In this article I'll break down his seven practices of persuadable design leadership (I consolidated down to just six). My hope is to dispel the myths we buy into and chart a course for avoiding the pitfalls I've encountered in my journey to design leadership. I hope that design leaders, and those aspiring to lead through design, find this useful.

1. Consider designing the opposite

This is a simple exercise that any designer can start with. Before digging your heels into convince your design team that your idea is great, start considering the opposite. I think this is a trap junior designers can easily fall into because as you put your design forth to more senior people, it's easy to project an air of confidence. And if you have your own feelings of self-doubt (like yours truly), then you might feel that you have to protect your design from any and all opposition. Instead, embrace this as you hone your design because it will make it stronger.
Tactics

Imagine you're designing your feature for a competitor. Designers have a nasty habit (me included) of assuming all competitors are wrong. We feel bolstered in our own work by designing something different. But what if the competition did it for a reason? Allow yourself to open up to what competitors are doing.

Think how another company would solve it. In a similar approach, imagine an entirely different company's solution. There's always the whole, "How would Apple do it?" But you can find better analogous examples to influence your work.

2. Gradually refine your design philosophy or strategy

Pittampalli references one of my favorite books, " Superforecasting," which references how there are two different ways of viewing the world: 1) as a hedgehog that sees everything through one overarching idea, or 2) as a fox that rely on diverse opinions and data (it's actually based on an Isaiah Berlin essay, but Superforecasting gives a lot more detail on studies done since then which validates the concepts). As you can imagine, hedgehogs (which make great/awful political pundits on TV, are much less effective leaders than foxes.

The field of design is rooted in finding inspiration but it's no less susceptible to buying into dogmatic views. These can take the form small things "all apps should have a top nav rather than a side nav," or larger concepts like, "all great design must start with a design system," or "designers should code." But to be successful, it's more important to remain flexible rather than buy into one idea.
Tactics
Read (articles and books). Never stop continuously learning. As much as I bash discussions like "designers should code," I still check in on the debate now and again because I know my views can change.

3. Destroy your concepts

The book uses the oft-used, "kill your darlings" and uses this to explain higher-level business decisions (e.g. Bezos' decision to disrupt Amazon's bookselling business with the Kindle). But this same philosophy can easily be used in design itself.
Tactics

Delete old artboards. Or at the very least burying them in a graveyard page. As you refine your designs, don't be afraid to start fresh.

Let old ideas die. Maybe it's all the Marie Kondo sweeping the nation, but I think having old ideas linger can be detrimental because it adds clutter to your brain. I've heard too many designers say things like "I had this idea years ago," or remain closed off to new ideas because they like their old one better. Remember that ideas are easy and if they come back around again, that means they'll be even stronger. If they don't, then leaving them behind was for the best.

4. Empathize with your broader team members

Empathy with users is considered a key attribute to being a successful designer but we often forget to employ that same mentality when it comes to our team. In the past I've advocated that being a truly successful designer will require that you understand the motivations and incentives for the other functional areas on your team. For example, while I often sparred with QA, I did so because I was irritated they were infringing on my turf. But what I learned was that while I felt I owned design quality, they felt the same way. Their job is to ensure the product has as few defects as possible and sometimes that meant questioning the design itself.
Tactics
Preview your work with functional areas early and often. The longer you wait, the less receptive you'll be and the worse off your design (and relationships will become).

5. Avoid analysis paralysis

In a book about being persuadable, Pittampalli also cautions against being too persuadable. In design this is the tendency to weigh different options endlessly, often to the detriment of your own success. Either weighing other people's feedback, or simply staring at two art boards for the user preferences page you have to finish tomorrow but not knowing whether to go with a side nav, or top nav (not that it's ever happened to me or anything).
Tactics

Match the communication strategy to the design scope. Handle small decisions in lightweight ways. You don't need a meeting to discuss button placement, simply send a slack or have someone stand over your shoulder. Conversely if it's a big foundational concept, a meeting could be warranted.

Match your effort to value. How impactful is the design detail you're poring over? If it's small then save energy. If it's big - either because it affects other parts of the design or it's important to the business - then spend more time on it.

Remember there is no certainty in design. You can avoid over-analyzing or over-weighing others' opinions by understanding that in the end there is no way to be 100% whether your design will work as expected.

Don't use analysis as a comfort blanket keeping you from making tough decisions.

6. Set the standard

I consolidated the final two practices into one because they both pertain to a leaders role in establishing a precedent for others to follow. Leaders must help bridge the gap between their own cohort and ideas that exist outside their group. In design I think this has tremendous importance for two reasons. 1) Design has a unique role in touching many users' lives so the impact of what goes in the design is exponential. 2) Designers' "peers" are often more than just other designers but the broader product team so they can impact more functional areas.

Design leaders will regularly adopt new ways of doing things. In doing so, you will influence others around as a legitimizing reference point. For example, a couple years ago you may have been the one spearheading the creation of your organization's first design system. That may not seem on the surface a very dramatic position to take but make no mistake, it's a big shift you are trying to create in your org, no matter how obvious it seems to implement. Ultimately, being a design leader is about how you can delicately balance the status quo while setting an example for how to evolve.
Tactics

Lead by example in your own work. Something as small as using diverse names and profiles in mockups can set a strong standard. Designers aren't inherently more influential than other roles but the unique position of designs in prototypes, marketing materials, and simply as internal vision pieces can give a platform to lead by example.

Be an ambassador. To be a great designer, you have to balance the views of many people, both internal and external. Designers must fight the urge to be dogmatic in how we create change in our product teams from the outside. For example, it's easy to criticize a product's legacy UI and propose sweeping changes, but if you do this without understanding why it's there to begin with then your ability to change it will be small. Being an ambassador means you are bridging the gap between two ways of thinking.

Being a designer is inherently a leadership position. Whether you are leading the product team with a vision, leading junior designers, or simply designing things that lead users to do something, leadership is a fundamental component. I hope that becoming more persuadable can help guide you to be a great design leader.
When I'm not helping UX designers become more persuadable, I'm helping them with Sketch design tools at Follow UX Power Tools on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn UX Power Tools and leading design at Innovatemap.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Become a Successful Design Leader by Being More Persuadable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Design Leadership In the book " Persuadable," Al Pittampalli argues that people must be open to persuasion in order to become great leaders. He dispels of some long-held notions we have about leadership, particularly the ideas that leaders are resolute and unwavering.

# data[].attributes.body
Lead Like the Great Conductors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.