(Online) Leonardo da Vinci: The Shaping of an Artistic Genius

“A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.”- Leonardo da Vinci. 

Come be invigorated by the engaging Ms. Cocciardi as she reveals new and little-known aspects of artist Leonardo da Vinci’s life, work, and his passion for interlocking knots. 
Enter Luca Pacioli, the famous Renaissance mathematician, who becomes Leonardo’s apprentice and who plays a major role in his art masterpieces from “The Last Supper” to the “Mona Lisa.” Then there is Isabella d ’Este, patron of the arts and hostess to Leonardo and Luca when, in 1499, fleeing the perils of war, their Covid-19 moment, the men took refuge in her castle. The sojourn creates a sketch by Leonardo of Isabella with a promise to be followed by a 'color portrait' of the Marchesa. Discover the intrigue of the relationships of the apprentice, the master and the Renaissance woman and her unfinished, unpainted portrait that will intertwine their lives forever.

Caroline Cocciardi, writer and filmmaker, began an independent study on Leonardo da Vinci, while living in Rome. Her 20-year research lead to a da Vinci discovery. Overlooked for centuries yet visual to the naked eye Cocciardi detected that the minute interlocking embroidered knot pattern on Mona Lisa’s dress deviated from the decorative embroidery of the day. The Mona Lisa Knot was a mathematical pattern based on its angular crossing patterns. In the process of looking in Leonardo’s codices for his preliminary sketches of The Mona Lisa Knot, she discovered he had dedicated a lifetime to his knot art works. 

Drawing from her newly released art book, Leonardo’s Knots, Caroline Cocciardi  will introduce you to a facet of the Renaissance painter that was overlooked for centuries yet was present in his artworks: his passion great for intertwining knots.
 

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