Leonardo da Vinci A genius for all ages

Self portrait of Leonardo

Directly from the mind of Leonardo: These are some of his inventions, and remember he lived over 500 years ago. What do you think they are used for and would they work?

Leonardo Da Vinci Facts Leonardo da Vinci born April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519 Da Vinci was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist and writer. Da Vinci was commissioned to paint the Mona Lisa, but, he never handed the painting over, and never sold it. He carried it around with him for the last 20 years of his life. Da Vinci had a great interest in anatomy. He painted a simple sketch of the Vitruvian Man which shows the simple symmetry of man. It is also regarded as a cultural icon.

Much of Da Vinci's investigations into human anatomy were lost, as cutting up human bodies was frowned upon in that decade. Some of Da Vinci's discoveries were not made re-invented for 200 years. Leonardo was apprenticed to the artist Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio in Florence. He also spent time in Verona, Rome and France. Da Vinci was a contemporary of Raphael and Michelangelo, though Da Vinci was born two decades before these. It was a period known as the High renaissance. Da Vinci was a vegetarian. He often bought caged birds in order to release them. Da Vinci wrote extensive journals. As a left hander he devised a mirror-image cursive way of writing from right to left. His political contempories included Lorenzo Medici (il Magnifico)