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DaVinci: History's first animal rights activist
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Renaissance man, Leonardo DaVinci is perhaps best known for his jack-of-all-trades genius, having sketches of inventions that precede those which have brought us through centuries of ingenuity, as well as his wealth of mathematical, artistic, and scientific observation. Unfortunately, a lesser-known quality DaVinci was his bold opposition to the killing and cruelty to animals.
In a letter from Andrea Corsali to Giuliano de’ Medici, he wrote of DaVinci, "Certain infidels called Guzzarati [Hindus] do not feed upon anything that contains blood, nor do they permit among them any injury be done to any living thing, like our Leonardo da Vinci."[1]
 "...he would frequently take them from their cages with his own hand, and having paid the sellers the price that was asked would let them fly away in the air, thus giving them back their liberty." |
DaVinci's opposition to the cruelty to animals did not stop at the refusal to consume them. In his actions, he demonstrated a strong opposition to their being the property of humans: In The Mind of Leonardo DaVinci by Edward MacCurdy, MacCurdy writes, "…The mere idea of permitting the existence of unnecessary suffering, still more that of taking life, was abhorrent to him. Vasari tells, as an instance of his love of animals, how when in Florence he passed places where birds were sold he would frequently take them from their cages with his own hand, and having paid the sellers the price that was asked would let them fly away in the air, thus giving them back their liberty."
"That this horror of inflicting pain was such as to lead him to be a vegetarian is to be inferred from a reference which occurs in a letter sent by Andrea Corsali to Giuliano de’Medici, in which, after telling him of an Indian race called Gujerats, who neither eat anything that contains blood nor permit any injury to any living creature, he adds ‘like our Leonardo da Vinci.’ "[2]
Imagine one of the most respected members of society walking through the markets and paying to free the animals. Imagine being such a man in a world with so few vegetarians, DaVinci himself knew of no such term to label himself.
I should also note again the application to animals as property. While not explicitly stated in DaVinci's writings, it is very likely that DaVinci followed what would now be called a vegan diet. According toLeonardo da Vinci Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science by Eugene Muntz, "It appears from Corsali’s letter that Leonardo ate no meat, but lived entirely on vegetables, thus forestalling modern vegetarians by several centuries."[3]
 "...there is a sense in which a fortress is the least warlike of military installations. A fortress is a house defended, peaceful until attacked, and therefore a civilizing influence…" |
Some confusion may be raised, however, of DaVinci's several drawings of warfare instruments. We know of drawings of blade wielding chairots and a structure analogous to a modern tank. Yet in Leonardo by Robert Payne, this conflict is explained, "Although Leonardo invented a large number of military machines and recorded them in his notebooks, nothing came of them. But his study of fortifications was something else altogether. His modifications and suggestions were followed, for he studied fortifications with the same passion with which he studied painting, anatomy, and the theory of flight. He hated war, which he called pazzia bestialissima, most bestial madness, but there is a sense in which a fortress is the least warlike of military installations. A fortress is a house defended, peaceful until attacked, and therefore a civilizing influence…"[4]
Source: http://www.ivu.org/history/davinci/hurwitz.html
References
[1] The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci (3rd Edition 1970, first published in 1883)
[2] The Mind of Leonardo DaVinci, Edward MacCurdy (1928)
[3] Leonardo da Vinci Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science, Eugene Muntz (1898)
[4] Leonardo, by Robert Payne (1978)
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