Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian polymath, regarded as one of the greatest painters and inventors of all time. As a painter, his most famous works include the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. However, he was also a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, and wrote thousands of pages of notes on a wide range of subjects. Though only around 15 of his paintings survive today due to experimental techniques, his notebooks provide insight into his vast intellect and many inventions that were far ahead of their time, such as designs for helicopters, tanks, and bridges. He was without a doubt one of the most diversely talented individuals of the Renaissance era.

1. Leonardo DaVinci
1452-1519

2. Painter, sculptor, architect, musician,
scientist, mathematician, engineer,
inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist,
and writer.
Renaissance Man

3. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
• Born April 15, 1452 in
Vinci (Florence, Italy)
• His name means
Leonardo, son of Piero,
from Vinci
• He is the best example of
a Renaissance Man –
someone who was very
good at many things
• He is considered one of
the greatest painters of all
time and the most
diversely talented person
ever to have lived

4. Annunciation (1475-1480)
• Informal education included Latin, geometry and mathematics, he
was not a stand out student
• Apprenticed to a renowned Painter, he was so good, his teacher
stopped painting because he couldn’t compare

5. The Last Supper, (1490)
Leonardo’s “The Last Supper” was declared a masterpiece immediately,
but it deteriorated quickly, so that within 100 years, it was almost completely ruined.
Leonardo chose a kind of paint that flaked off and grew mold, rather than painting a
fresco as others of his day were doing.

6. John the Baptist (1514)
The model is daVinci’s student Salai
Only about 15 of his paintings
survive today, mostly because he
painted with experimental
techniques, which ended up
peeling, flaking and fading from the
canvas.
But Leonardo also kept notebooks,
drawing in them every day, and his
drawings survive where his
paintings do not.

7. A page from DaVinci’s notebook
DaVinci’s notebooks are packed
with over 13,000 pages of detailed
drawings and notes on an
enormous range of interests, like
designs for wings and shoes for
walking on water. He drew faces,
emotions, animals, plants,
dissected cadavers, war machines,
helicopters and architecture.
DaVinci was left handed, and all of
his writing in the notebooks is
written backwards–in cursive–so
that it reads correctly when seen in
a mirror!

8. Many of his inventions were hundreds of
years ahead of their time. In 1502, he
designed a bridge with a single span of 720
feet for the sultan of Istanbul.
504 years later, in 2006, the Turkish
government decided to build the bridge
according to Leonardo’s plan!

9. While Italy was at war with France in 1502, he created a map for
Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI. Maps were extremely
rare at this time–a new concept and big military advantage. Cesare
hired Leonardo to be his chief military engineer and architect.

10. The Mona Lisa (1503-05)
Leonardo started the most famous
painting in the world, the Mona Lisa
or “la Gioconda” (the laughing one)
in 1503. Its fame rests mostly in her
strange smile. The artist’s subtle
shadowing at the corners of her
mouth and eyes – which came be
known as “sfumato” or Leonardo’s
smoke – was evidence of his
incredible talent in showing human
expression. All who saw it were
awestruck.
One of the few of his paintings to
survive, it lives at the Louvre
Museum in Paris.

11. In 1515, King Francis I of France captured Milan,
Italy and Leonardo entered the king’s service. King
Francis became a close friend.
Legend has it that the king cradled Leonardo’s head
in his arms as Leonardo died on May 12, 1519 at
Clos Lucé, France.
Statue of
Leonardo outside
the Uffizi in
Florence
Self portrait
Clos Lucé
(Leonardo’s final residence)

12. “In the normal course of events many men and women are born
with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that
transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed
by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance
that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem
inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes
from God rather than from human skill. Everyone
acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci,
an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed
infinite grace in everything that he did and who
cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems
he studied he solved with ease.”
— Art Historian Giorgio Vasari, 1568