Da Vinci and his Dragons

As others have already pointed, DaVinci may have drawn the dragon just for fun, or as a simple exercise: something like "i'm drawing cats, let's see if i manage to transform them into a dragon".

Or it could have been some kind of symbol: he used, as many other artists do, to put "secret" symbology in his works, so why shouldn't he have done the same in some sketches?

Just to have an idea about his knowledge and "finesse" in using secret symbols, give a glance ad Dan Borwn's "DaVinci Code" (dunno if the original title is this one, this is a translation of the title in my language). I'm not meaning this book is 100% true, but it may give a brief insight about how many meaning and symbols may be found in a painting.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
A quick question... Those who read Da Vinci's Code (it's on my to do list): Any mention of dragons in the book? I know it's just fiction, but it's worth a thought...

I can't remember him having made any references to dragons, but Dan Brown did use the anagram "O, Draconian devil! oh, lame saint!" for Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!

I've always wondered about that line. Maybe Dan Brown just made it up, but it still begs the question, Who is the Draconian devil? And what was it that Leonardo knew?

Dunno if that quote from Dan Brown could be used as a reference, since if i remember correctly, it was used for a riddle. So, it is possible that's just fiction.
Still it can be worthy of some research...

I'll have to look up the Brown quote to get the context. Draconian means severe and derives from the strict law system of the Athenian first law scribe Draco. A Draconian Devil would be someone very regimented and clever, I think. Of course the use of Draconian could be a purposeful punning as it so obviously refers to dragons. As said earlier there are numerous symbolic connotations for dragons including alchemical symbolism and astronomy, specifically the major constellation Draco as well as several important axis called dragons.

Although Dan Brown uses some very accurate facts for fiction, it remains nothing more than fiction. I must confess that the book is still on my to-do list, but Dan Brown himself stated that the book is nothing more than fiction. Thus I don't know how much in the book can be used to illustrate fact...?

Originally posted by Jeremiah25
You might also want to look at the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon. It bears a depiction of dragons, alongside lions and bulls. What do you think the link was between Da Vinci's lions or other cats and dragons?

The Ishtar dragons, lions and bulls are actually depictions of the gods that supposedly protected the city.

Dragons are prevalent in almost every civilization, and as they are seen as strong and powerful animals, it only makes sense that they should be depicted with other strong, powerful animals, no?

Personally, I believe that Leonardo's dragon studies were probably mostly him trying to figure out how to draw a dragon for his St. George project. He probably drew them based on lions (in the first picture presented in this forum, you can see a clear lion influence in the face - particularly the snout) because of the connection that both are powerful, strong, and "fearsome" animals.

I realize this is an 'old' thread, but discovered it and this forum by accident while doing a da vinci and dragon search.

Understand tht in Da Vince's time dragons were still widely held to be real creatures, and eyewitness accounts of them around Europe were not infrenquent. Supposedly a small winged dragons was killed in Italy around this time, and was on exhibition. I could imagine Leonardo going to see such a wonder.

While it was not common knowledge in the general population dragons were also considered heavenly creatures that would be loosed to inflict retribution on the wicked on Judgement Day. Although they are rarte today because of changes in Church policy, Leonardo would have been intimately familiar with Religous scenes that portrayed God flanked by "seraphim dragons" swallowing sinners, and illuminated bibles of God riding on the back of one.

There were even rumors of living dragons in the Vatican. Weither they were considered "pets"' of the pope, , messengers from heaven, or the pope was a dragon's puppet is not clear. Perhaps Leonard met one, and sketched them evcer since.

As for Satan, he was considered one of these highest of heavenly creatures, known in Leonardos time as dragons, though today the Seraphim are more commonly conceived as winged humanoid angels.

St. Thomas Aquina's in his Summa said this of Satan, "This Dragon which thou hast formed, he is more excellent than all the rest in nature, became the greatest in malice". This alludes that Satan was but one of several such created creatures, the rest still being 'good'. Even today, dragons decorate fountains and other buildings in the Vatican, and not being slain by a Saint. Some of the Chruch's most beautiful objectrs are decorated with dragons.

While I am new to this forum, I have written quite a bit aobut dragon in religon and cryptozoology on the Unsolved Mysteries Forums. I am currently completely a book that proposes that dragons really existed, and that creatures like Nessie, Champ, M. Mokembe, etc. are dragons. This is why they are seen but never caught or cornered. The researchers do not understand they are dealing with intelligent creatures that can freely leave the water if they wish.

reply to post by Gemwolf


None of your links work anymore. Too bad. Interesting time in Da Vinci's life.

Reno

Hmm...This is quite a mystery. I don't really know much about DaVinci, but this dragons thing seems to blend in with his personality somehow...It's in the back of my mind, nagging me, but I just can't seem to reach it. I've written a book about dragons and something about them intrigues me, and I am a bit of a scientist, artist, writer, etc. The answer is just begging to be uncovered, but we have yet to find it. Most of the links for the images are dead, so I'll go search for the images and post the links.


-K. (Fire-breathing Dragon-:flame

Originally posted by Yarcofin
That first image is on a tripod site and won't let you remote link to it.

I had never heard about him drawing dragons. Quite an interesting find. He sure drew lots of crazy stuff, and most of it ended up getting made actually (like the bicycle, planes, etc). Also some more adventurous ideas like "walk on water shoes". I don't know why he drew dragons though... whether he was seeing them in real life or just imagining them through mythology. You can draw random things, but most people draw what they know. You probably won't sit down and just start randomly drawing a bigfoot one day. But I guess it's still possible. I don't know what to make of it though really. Are there any more pages, with writings and descriptions by him about the dragons?

And where did he get his walking on water shoes idea from? Hmm...hmmm!?!

Intersting, especially since large cats and dragons are still featured together.
I wonder if it has to do with the differences between the two.
For a lot of people, lions or tigers are the fiercest creatures of the animal kingdom. At the same time they are regarded as being noble, and the kig of beasts.

Dragons are held as the ultimate beast in fantasy. They also tend to share some of the same characteristics as the big cats; come to think of it, thy were often placated by milk.
It depends on your views on which was more impressive, of course.
As for Leo wassting his time... I think that's up to Leo. He used a lot of what he studied and learned and applied it to later ideas.
My .o2 cents here, and yeah I know it's a old thread.

a reply to: Gemwolf

Just a quick possibility I thought of when I saw the first pic, of cats. Look at that dragon body in about the middle of the page. (EDIT: I meant the "below-right" dragon. I did not notice the lion in the center right away) Remove/cover the head and tail. That body looks like a cat body.

Maybe (for whatever reason, if he saw one, heard of one, saw a pic and wanted to do a better version, or wondered if they existed what would they look like using his knowledge of biology and anatomy) he was doing the cat study as a proto-dragon study.

In other words, his goal from the beginning was to draw a dragon But you cannot just study some local dragons.

For some reason he believed their movement would be cat-like. They do have a tail. A dragon is obviously very wise, so it's not all slobbery and rambunctious like a dog... no, it is sleek and graceful, like a cat.

It is a shame about the missing sketches. Thank you for sharing this now I will finish the OP.

a reply to: RuneSpider

Maybe He saw them (dragons and lions/big cats) on Coats of Arms, and Standards, and thought of possibly designing something nice for a wealthy, noble family to fund his work?