Mariano di Jacopo also known as Taccola - Wikipedia could hold the most important secret in the life of Leonardo DaVinci. Unlike the secret societies and hidden religious mysteries in the DaVinci Code, the real secret from DaVinci was his predecessor. This lesser known influence is now fairly well documented although still not even mentioned in many discussions of DaVinci’s life. So while DaVinci defined the quintessential role of genius for the West, as is often the case in discovery, Taccola provided the shoulders that DaVinci was able to stand on. This suggests that many of DaVinci’s greatest contributions were not necessarily originating new ideas but refining and polishing them thus pointing us again to the lesson that scientific advances do not occur in isolation. Below Taccola’s earlier design of a paddle propelled boat.
What may be even an even more interesting twist is Taccola’s own potential source of influence: the Chinese. Although it has not yet been well established there is the tantalizing possibility that Taccola and hence DaVinci were influenced by a Chinese manuscript. There are still plenty of lingering questions and alternatives on this connection and but it remains a possibility. Unfortunately this possibility has already blown way out of proportion by Gavin Menzies claiming it was brought by an entire Chinese fleet around this time, however it remains possible that drawings had in fact been brought by the likes of Chinese traders, Marco Polo or other traders and ended up in the hands of Taccola and DaVinci. The implications to Western history would be huge including a revised narrative re-emphasizing the role of cooperation across diverse cultures. Thus, the most important and potentially controversial secret from DaVinci was not about religion or any secret societies beyond the role they played in early global exchange.
Were these the source of DaVinci’s ideas or did they occur independently?
https://www.quora.com/What-secret-behind-the-Leonardo-davinci
