leonardo, michelangelo and moi

today's flavor: S L I G H T D E P R E S S I O N
anxiety : 1
agitation : 2

I re-watched this docu on Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci on History Channel which rekindled my interest in the Renaissance Man.

I don't think he's my favorite artist, but he's possibly the one I first got acquainted with in my childhood years.  This is due to the fact that my given name is related to one of his famous paintings and a lot of people were keen to point it out.   I suppose I've developed a liking for the painter because he's been a childhood habit. So yeah, maybe he's sort of a favorite, but I don't really want him to be since he's too obvious a choice.

Anyway.

I've come across some theories that Leonardo, like many geniuses, was bipolar.  Of course there's no way to prove that categorically now, but Leonardo sure exhibited the remarkable symptoms:

• The guy had unpredictable, at times violent, mood swings.  Some people even considered him unbearable.  I can't imagine anyone ever considered him as "nice".
• He was extremely intelligent and multi-talented.  He wasn't highly educated but he was considered a genius.
• It was said he was quite introspective, often self-centered.
• He had spurts of megalomania.
• He had an incredible capacity for focus.
• He had amazing creativity.
• He seemed like a lonely, even miserable kind of person; but he was apparently not self-pitying as seen in the way he was able to push himself to do great things.
• Due to his mood swings, he left a lot of his work unfinished. Paradoxically, he was obsessive about one work in his old age and never stopped working on it.

I'm nowhere close to his level of genius, but it's amusing, even comforting to see that we had the same character weaknesses [snicker].  Particularly those ones that others detest about me / make me feel guilty over.  This guy was a massive jerk but he's a revered gem.  Not that I intend to cement a legacy of jerk-hood, but Leonardo makes me feel better about being utterly despicable.  And not that I'd like to settle for being despicable either, because I don't really think I am, but I can't stop people from thinking that I am.

By the way, Leonardo's contemporary and rival, the much younger artist Michelangelo Buonarotti is also said to have been bipolar.  He had the same quirks; the bulleted list above would apply to him too.  

Michelangelo tended toward sculpture though, while Leonardo was more of an engineer who was appreciated for his paintings.

I guess the above list would fit me too, I mean if you would change the "he" into "she".  Except the part about doing great things, though.  I haven't really accomplished much in my waste-of-cellulose life, though I'd like to think I will in the semi-near future.  Maybe I'll start by making incredibly detailed - thus unflattering - self-portraits to immortalize my broody countenance.