Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci was the most famous personality of the 15th and 16th centuries. He is widely known as a brilliant artist and scientist. Fewer people know that he was also an engineer, an inventor, a toymaker, a machine designer, an architect, a singer, a theatre costume designer and an animal lover!
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. The name Leonardo da Vinci can be interpreted as Leonard from the Italian town of Vinci. His father was from a rich family.
From his childhood, Leonardo was a brilliant painter. He took painting very seriously and studied it regularly. He even created his own paints to be used for his pictures. Seeing this, Leonardo’s father took him to a famous painter, Andrea del Verrocchio, who helped Leonardo to develop his extraordinary painting abilities. Leonardo spent several years learning art in his studio. Once Leonardo was asked to draw a painting of an angel. His drawing was so good that his teacher decided to never paint again.
By the age of 25, Leonardo had started his own workshop and had become a famous painter. He was one of the first Italians to use oil paints. According to art experts, his Mona Lisa is considered to be the best known, the most visited, and the most written about work of art in the world. Nowadays this portrait of a woman hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris. People don’t know for sure who the Mona Lisa was. But there have been lots of ideas like it was the real-life wife of a merchant, or even a self-portrait of Leonardo as a woman.
Even though he was a great artist, Leonardo had trouble finishing his work. There were so many interesting things to learn and to do. His remarks and inventions were recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. There were designs for the first parachute, the first helicopter, the first aeroplane, the first tank, the first bicycle, the first swing bridge, and the first motorcar in his diaries. Since Leonardo’s inventions were way ahead of their time, they were never realized during his lifetime. Leonardo also never published any of his notes and drawings. He simply kept personal diaries in which he recorded them.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his notes from right to left. The result of this writing was a mirror script, which was not easy to read. Maybe it was due to the fact that he wanted to keep his writing secret. According to his pupils, Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
Another interesting fact about Leonardo da Vinci was that he was a strict vegetarian! This was an unusual thing for a person who lived in the Middle Ages. Leonardo did this not for any health reasons but because he loved animals and was against killing animals for food. He was also against keeping animals in cages. He used to buy caged animals and birds and set them free.
Leonardo Da Vinci died in France, in 1519 at the age of 67. His diaries were discovered much later after his death. He is known as, without a doubt, one of the greatest painters of all time and, quite possibly, the most talented person that has ever lived. |