Leonardo da Vinci Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, painter, inventor, sculptor, engineer and an all in one scientific student. His ever-present personality navigated many disciplines. That is why he is and was always called the ‘Renaissance man.' This present day he is best known for his unique arts, including the admired Mona Lisa and The Last Supper paintings.

Da Vinci believed that art was deniably connected with nature and science. He loved to read every word; sentence by sentence. The results gave him an opportunity to have dozens of secret notebooks. Each of his book or sticky notes had more than ten theories, observations, and inventions.

Childhood And Early Life

On April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born in Vinci, Italy. A young girl gave birth to da Vinci, and his father was a distinguished attorney notary. He was born out of wedlock hence being raised by his father and a couple of stepmothers. He spent his childhood days in his father’s estate, Vinci. In his teenage life, Vinci was taught the importance of loving nature. Beyond his writing reading and scientific skills, da Vinci didn’t get a chance to go for formal education.

At the age of 15, his father recognized some artistic talent in him. He was sent to a sculptor apprentice and painter called Andrea del. With much zeal and sweaty effort, da Vinci learned each technical skill for six good years. This included carpentry, sculpting, drawing, leather art and metalworking. At the age of twenty, he joined a Saint Luke Guild.

Leonardo continued with his artistic lessons till he became a full professional in 1478. Afterward, he was employed at The Adoration of the Magi. But he didn’t stay for long and went to serve as Painter, Engineer and an Architect for Sforza Dynasty ruling. He was on and off for twelve good years, but war interfered in between. This made him lose on a promising project of working on a bronze statue that was destined to honor the dynasty founder Francesco Sforza.

The Renaissance Role

The World War I made Leonardo da Vinci leave his previous projects such as painting and other works. His diversity skill made him taste other techniques such as nature and scientific laws. In 1490, he began to picture himself painting human anatomies as well as working on different architectures. He started to check on his written notebooks. Some involved the ‘Flying machines’ and much more. The Renaissance term came due to his traversed learned skill and interest in wanting to know so many things. Regrettably, his books were not published.

There is no doubt that Leonardo da Vinci had several tasks and interests to complete. Probably that is why he failed to prioritize his work. A significant number of projects and paintings were left undone. I can seemingly say that he used a great deal of his time immersing in nature, dissecting bodies (animal and human). Not to mention he loved testing different scientific laws and writing about his observations.

Major Works

Early 1495, Leonardo da Vinci was ordered by Ludovico to paint ‘The Last Supper.' This masterpiece only took da Vinci three years to complete. He magnificently captured the drama of each moment when Jesus and the twelve disciples were gathered for Passover dinner. The scope of body language and facial expression of the figures around the table illustrated the original composition of life. The technique he used to paint flaked up and deteriorated the original masterpiece. To keep his famous paintings, the art was stabilized with modern technology.

The ‘Mona Lisa’ painting was also another part of his work. For da Vinci, the ‘Mona Lisa’ remained as his forever work in progress. He defined it as his first attempt at perfection. Luckily he completed it without fault. Currently, the ‘Mona Lisa’ is fully secured with bulletproof glass in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

It is regarded as one of the priceless masterpiece and a national treasure that is regularly seen by an uncountable number of visitors each year. The two painting ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘The Last Supper’ are among the world’s best-admired painting about da Vinci's work.

Illness

In 1513, Leonardo da Vinci traveled to Rome and got a chance to work for Giuliano de’ Medici. He lived in the Belvedere Palace of the Vatican. From 1514 to 1515 Leonardo’s health began to show some sign of weakness. He tried to paint by attaching wings to a lizard without success. He then opted to work on visual puzzles and geometric themes. There is little evidence that da Vinci continued with his painting after he left Rome.

In 1516 da Vinci was given a ‘Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King’ title by the French rulers; Francis I. Afterward, he left Italy and went to live in the Chateau of Cloux; a country manor house in France. Some of his periodic drafts indicated that Leonardo didn’t have a happy ending life. He tried to draw, but he was already a very ill man.

In that time his right hand was a little paralyzed due to stroke. He changed his lifestyle and spent his days organizing notebooks. Francis I King, made him produce plans for festivals and plays. One last thing that he made was a mechanical lion.

Legacy

On 2nd May 1519, Leonardo da Vinci died few weeks after his 67th birthday. He was buried in the St. Florentine Church. Two decades later, Jean Augusta, the French Artist painted a excellent deathbed picture that showed King of France leaning over the da Vinci flesh. It was believed that the King wasn’t present when he died. At that time he went to celebrate the birth of his second son. In the process, other remarkable painters displayed their admiration for Leonardo.