The removal of the Christopher Columbus statue sparks a new conversation about a
potential replacement. As a future art student, I believe that art is one of the most influential parts
of a culture, and the renaissance perfectly supports that. During the renaissance there were many
great artists, inventors, philosophers, and so many more talented scholars, but one of the most
recognizable figures of the renaissance is Leonardo Da Vinci.
Da Vinci, born in Italy, was a brilliant polymath who specialized in art, theory,
engineering, science, and architecture, earning himself the title of “the founder of the High
Renaissance”. He is widely known as one of the most admirable and influential artists in history,
contributing to the renaissance humanist ideal and the studies of human anatomy. Even today his
iconic paintings like the Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper are immediately recognizable, proving
his long lasting impact.
In his 13,000 page journal, he included lots of sketches and designs for machines and
inventions which later proved extremely useful, giving us things like the parachute, and the giant
crossbow. Those sketches were the first form of modern technical drawings. Many of the
concepts in his journal are considered to be ahead of his time, with many of those concepts being
later revisited and expanded upon. A great example of this would be his laws on friction, which
were later rediscovered by Guillaume Amontons.
Leonardo Da Vinci is undeniably one of the most brilliant scholars and artists of not only
just the Renaissance, but of all time. A memorial for him would make for the perfect edition to
Little Italy, celebrating Italian culture and his plethora of intellectual and artistic advances