Da Vinci and Square Pegs...

it's funny I was writing and using square pegs today...then, I went to a dear friend's blog today and read about square pegs also.( I hope she'll know that this post isn't direct at her and she is truly wonderful writer and unique with a lot of deep thoughts)

so, I guess it's meant to be that I finally put my thoughts on square pegs on cyber ink

It's something that I have been thinking about throughout a big part of my life.

it all started years ago when I got fascinated with Leonardo (not Leonardo, Decapitated, the actor, it's da Vinci, the genius that I am fascinated with). I mean, who wouldn't BE fascinated with Leonardo da Vinci??

I saw Mona Lisa in person when I visited the Louvre. While it intrigued me, it wasn't my favorite piece or even top 10 of Leonardo's work.

Many of his other works are what intrigue me. One of the main one being, The Vitruvian Man.

I don't want to get into the "Canon of Proportions" of it. There are many more erudites out there that have tons of scholarly qualifications than I am so I'll let them sound off on it...

my own observation(s) has always been the square and the circle that surrounded the dude inside...

the square isn't quite fitted into the circle...yet, it IS considered inscribed in the circle.

I know da Vinci was a bit lonely....all geniuses seem to share that common theme. They are usually very lonely.

don't get me wrong. They are usually very respected and looked up upon. But they seem to share a common theme. They usually are alone...to themselves...

Beethoven is another that comes to mind but that's for another time and another day...

I wonder if da Vinci ever felt like he's a square peg trying to fit into a round circle.

Not that the he knew the term "square peg", mind you....

but does square peg have to be isolated to the English language alone?

In quite a few cultures, I have seen references of people using similar terms (feelings)like a square that don't fit into a circle.

first of all, interestingly enough. I can't recall seeing anybody feeling like they're ROUNDED that can't fit into a square.

it's all about being a square, something with edges and straight line...

very interesting....

I think it's probably because we often associate "perfection" without edges nor lines. And a circle, that is continuous and round and "pretty" is not something that most of us would associate ourselves with.

But what's even more interesting, is that most of us would choose a "Square" to represent ourselves....

not a triangle, nor a pentagon...

but squares.... associated with the number 4...yet 3 seems to be the most popular number in the world....

aha! I just had a lightbulb moment, "3" is popular, and "4" isn't!! Maybe I stumbled onto something???

it begs some deeper thoughts, I guess...I have no answers...just thought it was interesting...

but, the Virtuvian man IS thought to be perfect...shape, form, proportion, and I wonder WHO did da Vinci based that on?? I wonder if THAT particular "model" had thought himself a circle instead of a square? If so, how did he do it?

OK, back to Mona Lisa for a sec...

there's all the debates about if it was a self-portrait, if it was truly the portrait of Lisa Gheradini, if da Vinci was gay, if the painting was a joke, if it had a hidden message.

I'll let the experts debate about that...seeing it in person, I saw a lot of flaws of the painting and to be honest, for me, it wasn't his BEST work...

but it IS intriguing...THAT smile...

it's a bit...squarish...(and we often think of lips being round...)

how about that???