Leonardo da VinciThe Genius of the

Renaissance

Early Life• Born April 15, 1452• Child of a public employee and a peasant

woman•Was extremely curious and observed

the natural world for hours• Showed talent as an artist at a very

early age• Apprenticed to Verrocchio, famous

Florentine painter• Assisted Verrocchio with The Baptism of

Christ, and other works

The Naturalist• Felt the best way to learn about the world was

to observe• Spent hours studying and sketching the natural

world

Studied flight of birds, theorized on flight of

man

Studied flow of water,

theorized on creation of

canals similar to the Panama Canal, opened

in 1914

The Anatomist• Received corpses from Florence

morgue• Dissected corpses to study the

body and how it works• Believed understanding human

anatomy enhanced his art• First to diagram skeletal and

muscular system, the eye, brain, heart and human fetus• Discoveries were hundreds of

years ahead of their time, but were not published after his death

The Engineer• If asked, Leonardo would have said

he was first an engineer•Most of his designs were never

built• System for operating a steering

wheel• Portable bridges built 500 years later

The Armored

Tank; designed so it could not

be built

Diving Suit

Designed the parachute 300 years before the first jump

Multi-barreled

cannon on a cart self-

driven with gears

and weights

Flight• Fascinated with human flight

Leonardo’s Helicopter, the “Aerial

Screw”

Studied forms of birds and

bats to design this

”ornithopter” – a crank

allowed the pilot to flap

the wings

The Sculptor• As a sculptor, da Vinci was fascinated

with horses• Designed a massive bronze sculpture for

the Duke of Milan• Bronze was assembled, but made

into weapons when Milan was attacked

• Horse was not built during da Vinci’s life

• Completed in 1999 as a gift from a foundation in USA to Milan

The Painter• Leonardo is definitely most well-known as a painter

• Often made his own paints• Pioneered layering of paint and the use of

perspective and vanishing points• Invented sfumato (smoke) technique, where

colors blended without clear lines of division

Life Summary• Considered the greatest mind

of the Renaissance and the greatest example of the “Renaissance Man”• A person of many different

talents

• Leonardo served Dukes, Kings, Popes• Died quietly of old age at his

home in Amboise, France• May 2, 1519