The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian Renaissance polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography, he died in which year?
Viola organista The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to how a violin produces sounds), with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard (similar to an organ). Leonardo's design has intrigued instrument makers for more than 400 years. But though similar instruments have been built, no extant instrument constructed directly from Leonardo's incomplete designs is known.
Madonna of the Yarnwinder The Madonna of the Yarnwinder (Italian: "Madonna dei Fusi" , “Madonna of the Spindles”) is a subject depicted by Leonardo da Vinci in at least one, and perhaps two paintings begun in 1499 or later. Leonardo was recorded as being at work on one such picture in Florence in 1501 for Florimond Robertet, a secretary to King Louis XII of France. This may have been delivered to the French court in 1507, though scholars are divided on this point. The subject is known today from several versions of which two, called the Buccleuch Madonna and the Lansdowne Madonna, are thought to be partly by Leonardo’s hand. The underdrawings of both paintings show similar experimental changes made to the composition (or "pentimenti"), suggesting that both evolved concurrently in Leonardo’s workshop.