Here are 3 possible reasons for Leonardo's mirror writing: 1. He wanted to keep his notes and ideas private to prevent plagiarism. 2. He was hiding scientific ideas that contradicted the Church from persecution. 3. Writing left-handed from left to right caused smearing, so writing right to left prevented this.

1. • Handsome Alone - never married
• Painted great religious works Not a religious person
• Friendly No friends
• Quick to laugh Secretive
• Loved animals No loyalty to any person

2. Legend has it that young Leonardo was
asked by his father to paint a round
shield. Like many teenagers, he thought
it would be cool to paint a really creepy
head, so he brought in all sorts of
vermin -- lizards, bats, maggots, etc. --
and painted a disgusting monster
exhaling smoke and poison gas. He was
so engrossed in his painting that he
failed to notice that his animal
specimens had begun to rot, and when
he finally allowed his father to see it
the man was so startled by its realism
that he knew his son was an artist.

3. • Leonardo was born in 1452, in
the small village of Vinci.

4. • Leonardo was a
curious dreamer, shy
and lonely.
• His earliest fascination
was with birds.
In addition to being just about the smartest person ever,
Leonardo is reported to have been a strikingly handsome
man with great strength and a fine singing voice. And
unlike his fellow 15th-century Italians, he was a vegetarian
and followed strict dietary rules. In fact, he loved animals
so much that he would often buy caged animals at the
market just to set them free.

5. • Apprenticed to the artist
Verrocchio, he learned sculpting
and painting.
Verrocchio's best-known painting is the famous
Baptism of Christ, famous because the youthful
Leonardo is said to have painted the dreamy and
romantic angel on the far left, who compares more
than favorably with the stubby lack of distinction
in the master's own angel immediately beside him.

6. • Leonardo
studied and
used
mathematics
and anatomy
in his art.

7. Between 1490 and 1495 he recorded his studies in meticulously
illustrated notebooks. His work covered four main themes:
painting, architecture, the elements of mechanics, and human
anatomy. These sketches were collected into various
manuscripts, which are now collected by museums and
individuals (Bill Gates recently plunked down $30 million for the
one of these notebooks!).

8. Characteristics of Leonardo’s art
• Posing figures in
triangles
• Hazy or
indistinct
backgrounds
• Heavy shading

9. • “Mona Lisa”
- the world’s
most famous
face.

10. • Who was she?

11. • The world’s most famous religious
painting “The Last Supper”

12. Instead of showing the 12 apostles as individual figures, he
grouped them in units of three, framing the figure of Christ,
isolated in the center of the picture. Seated before a distant
landscape seen through a rectangular opening in the wall,
Christ - who is about to announce that one of those present will
betray him - represents a calm nucleus while the others
respond with animated gestures.
He experimented with a new
It is agreed by most art historians
technique and painted onto
that the second man from the right
drywall rather than using the
in that fresco is Leonardo himself in
more typical "Fresco" technique
the guise of Thaddeus.
of applying paint to wet plaster.

13. • Only about
12 of
Leonardo’s
paintings
survive
today.

14. • Inventions of flight include
the helicopter, parachute,
and glider.

15. • Inventions of war included
tanks...

16. • …and the machine gun.

17. • Everyday inventions
included the wheelbarrow
and the handkerchief.

18. In his time he is
remembered, and in our
time he is recognized, as
an inventor, scientist,
engineer, architect,
painter, sculptor,
musician,
mathematician,
anatomist, astronomer,
geologist, biologist, and
philosopher…a true
Renaissance man.

19. This is what his
This is what his
signature looked like if
signature looked like
he wanted you to be
backwards.
able to read it.
Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind
of shorthand that he invented himself.
He usually used "mirror writing", starting at the
right side of the page and moving to the left.

20. People who knew Leonardo left records that they saw him
write and paint left handed. He also made sketches showing
his own left hand at work. Being a lefty was highly unusual
in Leonardo's time. Because people were superstitious,
children who naturally started using their left hands to write
and draw were forced to use their right hands.

21. 1. Your teacher will give you a piece of
paper. Try writing your name backwards
in cursive. Once you are comfortable
with this, try writing a sentence to a
friend and see if they can read it.
2. Hold a pen or pencil in each hand.
Write backwards with your normal writing
hand and at the same time, write forwards
with the opposite hand, having one hand
mirror the other. Is this easier?
Why do you think Leonardo wrote backwards (mirror writing)?

22. No one knows the true reason Leonardo used mirror writing,
though several possibilities have been suggested:
He was trying to make it harder for people to read his
notes and steal his ideas.
He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful
Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes
disagreed with what Leonardo observed.
Writing left handed from left to right was messy
because the ink just put down would smear as his hand
moved across it. Leonardo chose to write in reverse
because it prevented smudging.