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James K. Baxter Complete Prose Volume 1

Renaissance Man

Renaissance Man

The genius of Leonardo da Vinci has been held to be representative of the spirit of the Renaissance – diverse, vital and emphasising the dignity of humanity. The first two qualities are certainly apparent in this selection from his notebooks; but the bent of his mind would seem to be, if anything, anti-humanist. As in Chinese and Japanese painting, humans occupy a minor functional position in the order of things. The laws which govern the movements of air and water interest him more than the actual fate of people swept away by a deluge; the balance of stresses in the arch of a bridge, more than the peasants who walk across it. He invented diving suits, helicopters, machine guns; but their function concerned him more than the social use, good or bad, to which they might be put. In this, he is undoubtedly representative of the main tradition of modern thought. The kind of comment he does make on human nature is clearest in negative matters: ‘Avarice: The toad feeds on earth and always remains lean, because it never satisfies itself – it is so afraid lest it should be without earth.’

His preoccupation with imminent apocalyptic disaster seems to lie at the centre of his study of natural phenomena: I venture that opinion. But however repellent and strange the gist of his arguments there is no doubt thatpage 124 his cold curiosity and scientific objectivity give an unequalled range to his understanding of natural order. In a time when people imagined that fossil shells were created by the agency of the stars he argues cogently for a different origin; he develops theories of perspective, of precipitation and evaporation, of flight and motion, all from strict observation of Nature. Nature is his deity, benignant or malignant. This selection from his works, cheaply priced, is likely to be a source of interest and admiration to many readers.

1953 (69)