Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. He is considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Some of his most famous works include the Mona Lisa painting and The Last Supper mural. He made pioneering contributions to various fields including anatomy, astronomy, engineering and art. However, he often struggled to complete his ambitious projects. His notebooks contain many sketches and ideas but few detailed plans. Leonardo da Vinci is renowned as one of the greatest geniuses of all time.

1. Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance Man
O n the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a for-mer
student of Leonardo’s, said: “The
loss of such a man is mourned by all, for it is
not in the power of Nature to create another.”
If you had the opportunity to spend the after-noon
with the smartest, most creative person
to ever walk the Earth, what would you want
to know about? Would you want to know
about his accomplishments? Would you want
to know how and why he did what he did?
Does he have any suggestions for you?
Leonardo died over 500 years ago. He’s not
available for an interview, but we can still try
to find answers to these questions.
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2. 1
The Renaissance Man
Leonardo da Vinci is honoured for his
achievements as an artist, scientist, inventor,
architect and engineer. Born in 1452, he was the
most brilliant star in a galaxy of shining stars
during the Renaissance.
Leonardo possessed an extraordinary
combination of curiosity, thirst for knowledge, and
creativity. No other person who has ever lived
can match the breadth and depth of Leonardo’s
intellectual and artistic work. He is The
Renaissance Man.
• He painted two of the best known paintings
ever: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.
• He sought to understand a wide range of
things in the natural world. His notebooks are
filled with sketches and thoughts about
mechanics, anatomy, motion, optics, the flow
of liquids, and weapons of war.
• He developed a plan for the total redesign of
the city of Milan as the “Ideal City,” although it
was never constructed.
• He sculpted the largest ever statue of a horse
for a monument, but it was destroyed before
being cast into bronze.
• He studied birds in flight and designed a
variety of flying machines, including the
helicopter and the parachute.
Da Vinci was well aware of his genius and once
said: “I wish to work miracles…” but he was also
his greatest critic.
“I have offended God and mankind
because my work didn’t reach the
quality it should have.”
Leonardo da Vinci

3. The Road to the Renaissance
The word “renaissance” means rebirth. The Renaissance in Europe is the
period between the 14th and 16th centuries. It is characterized by the
rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman cultures.
The Renaissance followed the Middle Ages. The term, Middle Ages, was
invented during the Renaissance to describe the centuries between their
time and that of ancient Greece and Rome.
In 200 AD, most of Europe was ruled by the Roman Empire. But more than a
century of civil unrest and invasion by outsiders resulted in a weakened
Rome. It had a new capital in what is now the city of Istanbul in Turkey.
In 330, Emperor Constantine named his new capital “Constantinople.”
Shortly thereafter he declared that Christianity was the favoured religion of
Rome. By 476, the western part of the empire broke up into self-governing
regions known as feudalism.
Over time, regional powers became what we now recognize as nations.
Latin was transformed into modern day languages such as French and
Spanish. The Catholic Church, with its headquarters in Rome, was the one
institution to link the regional powers that had once been part of the Roman
Empire. The Church was very conservative and for a 1,000 years restricted
independent thinking. This began to change in the 14th century.
The Renaissance grew first in Italy, then spread throughout the rest of
Europe. Ordinary people began reading classic literature and experimenting
with new ways of thinking and creating art. Explorers, such as Columbus,
expanded the boundaries of the known world.
Art, culture and trade flourished. A newly wealthy merchant class challenged
the rule of the church. Through a series of wars, city-states merged into
nations that were governed by powerful kings who challenged the authority
of the church. Old ideas of democracy and the rule by law, borrowed from
the Greeks and Romans, began to shape politics. The fundamentals of our
modern world were reborn.
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Greco-Roman: Egyptian
mummy portrait in Greco-
Roman painting style, 130-160
Middle Ages: Madonna and
Child, Giotto, 1320-1330
Renaissance: Lady with an
Ermine, Da Vinci, 1483-1490
Painting in the Middle Ages
was very different from the
previous Greco-Roman style
and that of the Renaissance.
The subjects were mostly
religious and they were painted
flat with little attention to
perspective. Realism returned
in the Renaissance.
Middle Ages: Castles were
built for defence. People were
isolated from one another and
new ideas. The Renaissance
occurred first where large cities
developed, trade increased,
and new ideas could be
expressed openly.
Renaissance: Wealthy
merchants built buildings for
trade.
The invention of the printing
press and moveable type by
Johannes Gutenberg in 1440
opened the way for the first
time to mass production of
books.

4. Leonardo: The Artist
Leonardo was an illegitimate son. He was not
eligible to follow in his father’s trade as a lawyer.
Then, as now, the arts had a broader acceptance
of people who did not quite fit society’s
standards. So, Leonardo became an artist.
Like most artists of the day, Leonardo started as
an apprentice to another artist. More noted as a
sculptor, the artist, Verrocchio, is said to have
quit painting altogether after seeing how well the
young Leonardo painted an angel in his painting
The Baptism of Christ. To this, Leonardo
responded: “It is a poor pupil who does not
surpass his master.”
Painters in the Middle Ages painted everything in
a picture with the same level of detail. To create
more reality, Leonardo developed the technique
of blurring the backgrounds of his pictures. This
soft focus is called “sfumato.” It is one of many
innovations in art introduced by Leonardo.
Although Leonardo was widely recognized for his
unique brilliance as an artist, he developed a
reputation as a person who did not complete his
work. Consequently, when the Pope gathered the
best artists in Italy to help design and create art
for Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Leonardo
was excluded. Michelangelo, however, designed
and painted its magnificent dome.
Rejected in Italy, Leonardo found support in
France, where he eventually died.
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The Mona Lisa (painted by
Leonardo between 1503-1506)
is the most famous painting in
history No one knows who was
the model for Mona Lisa, but
there are those who suggest
that Leonardo, himself, was the
model.
Leonardo’s fresco, The Last Supper, is noted for its brilliance of
design, although the painting has not held up well over time. The
paint began peeling from the wall soon after it was finished.
Leonardo sought to understand
what is beautiful and what is
ugly by drawing both. This is a
Study of Grotesque Heads
from 1490.
The Baptism of Christ by
Verrocchio. The kneeling angel
on the left was painted by his
apprentice, Leonardo da Vinci.
Among the artists who shared
the limelight of the
Renaissance with Leonardo
was the equally famous painter
and sculptor, Michelangelo.
This 13’ high marble statue of
David is said to best all
previous sculptures for its
proportion and beauty.
Michelangelo was paid 400
crowns for his work in 1504.
Notice the hazy background in
this painting by da Vinci. This
is an example of the use of
sfumato in painting.

5. Leonardo: The Scientist
During the Middle Ages, most things that people
did not understand were explained through
religion. The Catholic church sought to silence
those who tried to understand and explain the
world in natural terms. The Pope banned
dissection of humans.
Leonardo was one of the first people of the
Renaissance to use the modern scientific
method. He carefully observed nature, conducted
experiments, and arrived at logical conclusions.
His research inevitably brought him into conflict
with the Church.
Leonardo spent his life studying the world around
him and filled many notebooks with drawings and
ideas stimulated by nature. He studied human
anatomy by dissecting cadavers, made detailed
notes, and drew numerous illustrations.
He studied the flight and anatomy of birds in
order to design a flying machine. He was not
successful, although he tried out several
contraptions.
As a scientist, Leonardo made significant
contributions in the fields of anatomy, botany,
geology and physics.
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Leonardo was
the first person
to note that the
number of
rings of a tree
were the same
as its age. He
was also the
first person to
describe the
arrangement of
leaves in
plants.
Leonardo was
the first
person to
draw parts of
the body in
cross-section.
Studies of birds in flight.

6. 5
Drawing of a flying machine
frame.
Leonardo: The Inventor
Leonardo did not seek simply to better
understand the world. He wanted to
change it through the invention of new and
useful machines. His curiosity took him in
many directions.
Although some of his inventions, like the
extendable ladder, were practical in his
time, others, such as the helicopter, would
be useful only after hundreds of years
later. They required new technologies,
such as the internal combustion engine.
The long list of Leonardo’s inventions
includes:
• Car and Bicycle
• Various flying machines
• Helicopter
• Adjustable monkey wrench
• Snorkel and undersea diving suit
• Folding furniture
• Olive press
• Folding boat
• Revolving stage
• Three-speed gear shift
• Machine for cutting screw threads
• Automated loom and other machines
Leonardo lived hundreds of years before many of
his ideas were fully implemented. He was both a
man of his time and a man of the future.
From flight to
deep sea
exploration,
much in our
modern world
was first
visualized by
Leonardo.
Helicopter.
This drawing was found
scribbled in one of Leonardo’s
notebooks. It is generally
agreed that it was not drawn by
Leonardo. Some believe it was
drawn by a student of
Leonardo’s. Others believe it is
a hoax, drawn by someone
else years later. It is known
that Da Vinci conceived of a
two-wheeled, self-propelled
vehicle.
Da Vinci designed the first car.
It was to have been powered
by springs. 500 years after his
death, a group of engineers
built a model of the vehicle. It
worked.

7. 6
The Multi-Barrel Gun,
Leonardo’s version of a
machine gun.
Leonardo: Engineer and
Weapons Designer
In 1482, at the age of 30, Leonardo needed a job.
His application letter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of
Milan, leads with the statement:
“I am emboldened without prejudice to anyone
else to put myself in communication with your
Excellency, in order to acquaint you with my
secrets…”
Leonardo listed among his capabilities:
“I know methods of destroying any citadel or
fortress, even if it is built on rock.
“I can make covered cars, safe and unassailable,
which will enter the serried ranks of the enemy
with artillery, and there is no company of men at
arms so great as not to be broken by it.
“I can make cannon, mortars, and light ordinance,
of very beautiful and useful shapes, quite
different from those in
common use.”
At the end, almost as an
afterthought, Leonardo
states: “Also I can execute
sculpture in marble, bronze,
or clay, and also painting, in
which my work will stand
comparison with that of
anyone else whoever he
may be.”
Although Leonardo got the
job, he spent most of his
time designing pageants, balls and costumes.
Such was the lot of the most brilliant person to
walk the Earth, that for some amount of time, he
was employed by the 15th century’s version of
the entertainment industry.
Giant cross-bow.
Tank or armoured car.
Device for resisting attacks on
walls.
Many of Leonardo’s weapon designs were fanciful, like this
horse-drawn chariot with rotating scythes. It is not clear whether
they would have worked.
Duke Sforza commissioned
Leonardo to create an
enormous bronze horse for a
monument. This is a
preliminary sketch for the
monument. Leonardo sculpted
the 24’ high horse from clay,
but we do not know exactly
what it looked like. Sforza
became embroiled in a war
and used the bronze for the
horse to make weapons. The
full-scale clay model of the
horse was destroyed by
opposition soldiers.

8. Leonardo: The Man
Leonardo became the symbol for an age of extraordinary intellectual and
artistic accomplishment, the Renaissance. He was the most brilliant artist,
scientist, and inventor of his time and perhaps of any time. But he was, of
course, also a real man—and he was definitely not a perfect man.
Born the son of unmarried parents, a wealthy lawyer and a peasant woman,
Leonardo could not follow in his father’s profession. Having shown artistic
talent as a child, he was apprenticed to a leading artist in Florence, Italy.
Young, handsome, charming and talented, not just as an artist but as a
musician as well, Leonardo rapidly advanced in the society of Florence.
Most artists in Leonardo’s day needed a wealthy patron to support them.
There wasn’t a market to sell artwork through galleries or ad agencies. They
simply did not exist. Leonardo was not independently wealthy. So he was
either supported by a patron or worked on paid projects throughout his life.
For a time, Leonardo was in great demand, but he had a problem. He had
great difficulty finishing his work.
Typically, he would start a project with great energy, and conduct hundreds
of experiments, often coming up with brilliant insights. He would work for
years on a project and then, seemingly, lose interest and quit. In time, his
patrons turned to others, who were more efficient and completed their work.
To be human is to be flawed. Perfection is not in our DNA. Leonardo was not
an exception.
Leonardo’s notebooks are filled with ideas about machines that were never
built and research that was never completed. Often, Leonardo would
scribble notes in margins and draw only rough concepts rather than detailed
plans. He was afraid that others might steal his ideas, which might explain
why he wrote backwards and never organized his papers. If he had, it is
possible he would have had much more influence on his world than he did.
Leonardo’s brilliance is greatly admired today, but the people of his time
were not able to receive the full fruits of his extraordinary gifts.
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Leonardo’s notebooks included
text scribbled backwards and
rough sketches, but rarely had
the detail needed by others to
fully understand his work.
“He laboured
much more by
his word than
in fact or by
deed.”
—Vasari criticizing
Leonardo for failing to
complete commissions.

9. 8
Think Like Leonardo
Leonardo is the master of Multiple Intelligences.
The theory developed by Dr. Howard Gardner
states that humans have different ways of being
intelligent. Gardner identified seven major
intelligences that all people have to varying
degree. Unlike most people, Leonardo was a
master in all areas. The rest of us are strong in
some areas and weak in others.
In his book, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci,
Michael J. Gelb describes brain research that
shows that our brains continue to improve
throughout life. Gelb points out that all animals
learn by emulating (copying) the behaviours of
others. Moreover, he says we can improve
ourselves by choosing our role models.
“As we become adults, we have a unique
advantage (over when we were children): we can
choose whom and what to imitate. We can also
consciously choose new models to replace the
ones we outgrow.”
And who better to learn from than the greatest
genius of all time—Leonardo da Vinci—
particularly in terms of sharpening our senses,
expanding our awareness and creatively dealing
with the challenges in our lives.
Gelb identified some of the qualities that
exemplified by Leonardo and are important for
our own lives:
• Insatiable curiosity about life and an unrelenting
quest for learning.
• Commitment to test knowledge through
experience.
• Continual refinement of the senses to enliven all
experiences.
• Willingness to embrace ambiguity.
• Development of a balance between scientific and
artistic thinking.
• Cultivation of grace, fitness and poise.
• Appreciation for the relatedness of all things—
systems thinking.
Multiple Intelligences
Dr. Howard Gardner identified seven types of
intelligence. These are listed below along with
people who are good examples of this type of
intelligence.
• Logical-Mathematical (Isaac Newton, Marie Curie)
• Verbal-Linguistic (William Shakespeare, Emily
Dickenson)
• Spatial-Mechanical (Buckminster Fuller, Georgia
O’Keeffe)
• Musical (Mozart, Ella Fitzgerald)
• Bodily-Kinesthetic (Mohammad Ali, Nancy
Greene)
• Interpersonal-Social (Queen Elizabeth I, Nelson
Mandela)
• Intrapersonal (Viktor Frankl, Mother Teresa)
The Renaissance Person Today
Times have changed. The well-rounded,
balanced, and highly engaged person of the 21st
century is interested in many things that did not
exist in Leonardo’s time. In addition to having a
broad understanding of science, history and the
arts, the Renaissance Person of today likely has
many of the following qualities:
• Concern about the social conditions of people.
• Interest in how government works and how
decisions are made.
• Technology literacy, including the ability to use
computers, digital equipment and the Internet for
work, study and fun.
• Global understanding and appreciation for
different cultures.
• Acceptance of the differences between people and
disapproval of racism, sexism, homophobia, and
religious intolerance.
• Interest in and ability to continually improve one’s
inner and outer self through study and exploration.
How many of these qualities do you have? What
additional qualities do you think are important for
today’s Renaissance Person?

10. Leonardo da Vinci | Key Terms
characterize Describe the qualities of something.
emulate Strive to equal or match the qualities of someone by imitating them.
flourish Gain in wealth or stature.
homophobia Fear or dislike of homosexual people or homosexuality.
intellectual Involving intelligence rather than emotions or instinct.
merchant class A group of people involved in the buying and selling of goods, rather
than farming, or professional positions, for example.
Middle Ages A period of time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renais-sance.
patron Someone who buys goods or supports someone because of their tal-ents.
Renaissance A period of cultural rebirth after the Middle ages, which lasted from the
14th century to the middle of the 17th century.
sfumato A technique in painting where the background of a picture is shown in
hazy lines and colours to increase the effect of 3 dimensions.
Discussion Points
1. A Renaissance person is someone who has many interests and talents. Can you name a few peo-ple
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today who meet that definition?
2. Leonard was a brilliant thinker, but he did not make a great deal of difference in his time. Why do
you think that was? What advice would you have given him if you were his friend.
3. Can you think of people who show great promise but ultimately fail because of weaknesses they
can’t overcome?
4. Of all of Leonardo’s inventions, which one would you have liked him to have focused on and brought
to completion? Do you think if he had done so it would have changed his time? Would it have had a
long term impact and changed our time as well?
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