Die Romantisierung Da Vincis - Ein Blick auf seine Werke im Kontext romantischer Kunst

In this essay, I delve deeply into the "romantic" attitude of Leonardo da Vinci in his engagement with nature. The term "Romanticism" was coined in the 19th century but is retrospectively used since during the Renaissance, there existed no other terminology to describe aestheticized and emotional themes. Da Vinci engaged with sensibilities, melancholic phenomena, and transcendental contents that can only be regarded as romantic. Therefore, Da Vinci cannot solely be considered as an artist interested in science and reason, but also as a "biosoph" and "anthropologist" who maintained a sensitive spiritual relationship with nature and the human being. Furthermore, Da Vinci's work reveals an aesthetic stance addressing the dark side of the human mind and the mistreatment of the human soul – this has led me to invoke the romantic concept of "Gothic Romanticism." By comparing Da Vinci's landscape and human representations with the romantic depictions of the 19th century, I aim to further deepen this theme.