Paradoxically, the most direct applications of da Vinci's researches outside art are to be found within his art. His understanding of physics, botany and geology vastly enhanced his painting. His study of light enabled him to develop sfumato, the technique that gives the outlines of his subjects their naturally undefined quality. “And if he hadn't studied anatomy, he wouldn't have been able to paint the most enigmatic smile in the history of painting,” says Fiorenzo Galli, the director-general of the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan.
矛盾的是，达·芬奇在艺术之外的研究最直接的应用是在他的艺术中发现的。他对物理学、植物学和地质学的理解大大提高了他的绘画水平。基于对光的研究他发展了渲染层次，这一技术赋予其画作自然而又与众不同的品质。“如果他没学过解剖学，他就他不可能画出绘画史上最神秘的微笑，”米兰达·芬奇科技博物馆馆长菲奥伦佐·加利表示。
The “Mona Lisa” has become the world's best-known painting. Da Vinci's “Vitruvian Man” is the world's best-known drawing. Does that make him the greatest artist in the Western tradition? Even Professor Kemp, who has spent a lifetime studying da Vinci's achievements, hesitates to go that far, stressing instead the Tuscan master's huge influence on other painters.“If you were looking for someone who did as much to divert the stream of art, then you would have to keep searching until you came to Picasso,” he says. Da Vinci revolutionised Madonna and Child compositions, and altered the portrayal of narrative subjects and the way portraits were composed. Jonathan Nelson, who teaches art history at Syracuse University in Florence, notes that he was also the first artist to give women realistic bodies “with anatomically identifiable musculatures, but looking soft and feminine”.
《蒙娜丽莎》已成为世界上最著名的画作。达·芬奇作品《维特鲁威人》是世界上最著名的素描。这是否使他成为西方历史上最伟大的艺术家？即使是他花了一生的时间研究达·芬奇成就的坎普教授，也不愿说得太满，反而强调这位托斯卡纳大师对其他画家的巨大影响。“如果你要找的是一个同样能改变艺术潮流的人，那么你就得继续寻找直到找到毕加索，”坎普教授如此表示。达·芬奇彻底改变了《圣母子》的构图，改变了叙事题材的刻画和肖像的构图方式。在佛罗伦萨雪城大学教授艺术史的乔纳森•纳尔逊指出，他也是第一个赋予女性逼真身体的艺术家，“具有解剖学上可辨认的肌肉特征，但看上去柔软而女性化”。
The notion that da Vinci stands alongside Michelangelo and Raphael at the very pinnacle of artistic achievement is nonetheless relatively modern. Until well into the 19th century, he was seen as a genius, but on a level below the others. As Donald Sassoon, a British historian, has recounted in his book, “Becoming Mona Lisa”, published in 2001, it was anti-clerical French historians who initiated the “cult of Leonardo”, seeing in him an ally in the fight against religious obscurantism: “He was not afraid to dissect corpses; he did not paint halos on his religious figures…Unlike Raphael and Michelangelo, he was never the servant of popes. He put Man at the centre of creation.”
尽管如此，“达·芬奇与米开朗基罗和拉斐尔一样站在艺术成就之巅”这种观点还是相对现代的。19世纪之前，他一直被认为是天才，但水平在米开朗基罗和拉斐尔之下。正如英国历史学家唐纳德•沙逊在2001年出版的《成为蒙娜丽莎》一书中所述，正是反宗教的法国历史学家发起了“达·芬奇崇拜”，认为他是反对宗教蒙昧主义的盟友：“他不畏惧解剖尸体；他没有为宗教人物画光环……与拉斐尔和米开朗基罗不同，他从来不是教皇的仆人。他把人放在创造的中心。”
Those and other factors have endeared him to a wider, contemporary public. Da Vinci abhorred the slaughter of animals and was probably a vegetarian. He satisfies the modern requirement for artists to be outsiders with an eccentric streak. And his creative record chimes perfectly with the spirit of an age that tolerates, even venerates, unfinished work—all the more so if it is cryptic. Surveying the events this year to celebrate da Vinci's genius, Professor Nelson says “I think these shows tell us more about us than about him.”
上述等因素使达·芬奇受到更广泛的当代公众的喜爱。达·芬奇憎恶屠杀动物，他可能是一个素食主义者。他以一种古怪的气质满足了现代艺术家作为局外人的要求。他的创作记录与这个时代的精神完美契合。这个时代容忍，甚至崇敬未完成的作品，如果作品是神秘的，那就更是如此。纳尔逊教授在调查了今年为庆祝达·芬奇的天才而举办的活动后表示：“我认为这些展览向我们展示的更多的是我们自己，而不是达·芬奇本人。”
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