The Northern California Renaissance Faire opening at Casa de
Fruta this weekend got me to thinking recently about one of the
most intriguing periods of human history
– as well as one of the most exceptional men of that
extraordinary age.
The Northern California Renaissance Faire opening at Casa de Fruta this weekend got me to thinking recently about one of the most intriguing periods of human history – as well as one of the most exceptional men of that extraordinary age.
Without doubt, Leonardo da Vinci is the ultimate Renaissance Man. He lived five centuries ago when European history underwent one of its most dramatic metamorphoses. That revival of art and learning still affects our own modern world.
I’d love to somehow time travel to Leonardo’s Renaissance Italy and have him give me a personal tour. It might be equally as fascinating to have the great genius time travel to our own year and allow me to give him a tour of the South Valley. Our region’s climate and hilly topography would remind him of his own native Tuscany.
Our first tour stop: the art department at Gavilan Community College’s main campus in Gilroy. There, Leonardo would be astonished to witness how our modern concept of “art” differs in many ways from that in his own Renaissance period.
In Leonardo’s time, artists strived to portray a scene or portrait as realistically as possible. When the invention of photography made possible actual depictions of people and places, modern artists were no longer tied so strictly to realism.
I’m sure Leonardo would love chatting with Gavilan’s students to learn how art has evolved since the Renaissance. He might also discuss with them the Renaissance ideals stressing self-discipline in the artist as well as gaining a thorough understanding of scientific principles in creating masterpieces.
Another place I’d take Leonardo on a South Valley tour is a visit to either the Hazel Hawkins or Saint Louise hospitals for an observation of a modern surgery. During his life, the Italian genius was truly absorbed in trying to understand how the human body functioned. He gained a great understanding of anatomy from dissecting cadavers – much to the revulsion of the Catholic Church. I’d tell him how much modern medicine owes to his detailed drawings of the body’s various physiological systems.
In his own time, Leonardo was fascinated by the possibility of human flight. He studied birds on the wing in his efforts to invent a machine that might let people soar. So I would
definitely take him to San Martin to visit the Wings of History airplane museum where he could view some modern wonders of flight – including a helicopter concept he once conceived.
I’d also take him to Hollister’s municipal airport where he’d have a chance to soar at Bay Area Glider Rides. Leonardo’s great genius devised some of the world’s first wings for gliding.
One of the more interesting tour places for me to take Leonardo would be an auto dealership in Hollister, Gilroy or Morgan Hill. Leonardo conceived the concept for one of the world’s first self-propelled vehicles, a three-wheeled cart powered by wound-up springs and steered by a lever.
I’m sure the Renaissance genius would have fun speeding down Highway 101 in a test-drive. He might also enjoy spending time under the hood figuring out how the mechanical marvel worked.
One clear night during his visit to South Valley, I’d drive Leonardo to the top of Fremont Peak to visit the astronomical observatory there. He’d be pleased to see that his notion for a parabolic mirror telescope, which he came up with long before Isaac Newton’s reflective telescope, really did work. He also suggested using parabolic mirrors as solar energy devices.
Theater was another of Leonardo’s keen interests. And in this area, like so many others, he created several inventions, including a rotating stage for the performance of a play called “Orpheus” in Milan in which an on-stage mountain opened up to show the Underworld.
So in our South Valley tour, I’d take Leonardo to watch a performance at Morgan Hill’s Community Playhouse to see the latest production performed by the South Valley Civic Theatre group.
Of course, the South Valley being such an agriculturally focused area, I’d have to give Leonardo a tour of farms growing tomatoes, lettuce, garlic and other crops. He’d likely be impressed by the modern tractors and harvesting machines working the fields. Many of these contraptions today use mechanical ingenuities found in his drawings. Another aspect that might fascinate him about modern farming is irrigation. For much of his life, Leonardo was intrigued by how water flowed.
I’d also take Leonard to retail stores like Best Buy or Target and show him what our modern world offers in electronic gadgets. His jaw would drop if he saw stereos, televisions, MP3 players, computers, cell phones – devices we modern people take for granted. No doubt, he’d be impressed by the concept of the Internet. He’d be floored by our ability to get virtually any information within seconds and communicate with practically anyone on the globe. But I think he’d be a bit disappointed with our modern world’s tendency to use these tools for trivial reasons.
A pacifist, he’d likely be disappointed by how our world tends to use its inventions for purposes of war. Nothing in human nature for the last 500 years has really changed, he might note ruefully.
To top off our time-travel tour, I’d finally take him to Casa de Fruta to the Renaissance Faire. Although the event’s village of “Willington” is set not in Leonardo’s Italy but in the England of Queen Elizabeth I, old Leo would definitely understand the spirit of the fair.
Here, like other visitors, he’d feel the wonder of his own dynamic age. He’d realize how the Renaissance still generates an excitement and vitality of the mind that transcends all borders and all time.
