Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was a keen inventor and had a quick mind which helped him with scientific discoveries. He did not like war but he worked on the design of deadly weapons but he never published any of his ideas. He was one of the best painters of the Italian Renaissance but he only had a handful of completed paintings. His most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, hangs in the Louvre in Paris. In Milan Da Vinci painted the Last Supper, of which only a shadow remains today. He was born in the town of Vinci in 1452. His father was a successful notary and his mother a peasant woman. He died in Clos Lucé in France on May 2nd, 1519, at the age of 67.

After Da Vinci’s birth his father was convinced to marry someone who was part of a rich family while his mother was given to a cow herder. When Da Vinci was small he lived on his father’s farm. He loved nature around Vinci. His father knew of his many talents and immediately gave him a job with the artist Verrocchio.

When Da Vinci was jotting down notes for his inventions he wrote backwards because he didn’t want people copying him and it was useful that he was left handed which helped him. He also wrote backwards because he didn’t want the Roman church finding out about his scientific discoveries.

His most famous discoveries were in the human body. The church wouldn’t allow him to cut up humans so he cut up pigs. Some of his experiments went wrong because he didn’t have the right instruments.

He experimented with all different textures and different paints. Most of his paintings didn’t survive but the ones that did became famous like the Mona Lisa (the most famous of his paintings) The Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman. It was painted at Da Vinci house round about 1505 and took a long time to paint. Another one is The Last Supper. Da Vinci was very keen on drawing and painting.

Da Vinci’s ideas for inventions led to some of modern day inventions like the helicopter and the glider. He also had an idea for a parachute. He was the one who had an idea about a cross bow. He also thought about an assassin chariot.