Just finished reading the biography of the master by acclaimed writer Walter Isaacson. Quite a reveal of the person who is admittedly recognized by many as the famous artist who painted the Mona Lisa. The original sits in the French Louvre.
What is not known widely becomes the subject of this book including describing Leonardo's childhood in Vinci, Italy as an illegitimate offspring, who happens to be gay and left handed.
While he is readily recognized for his art, he is described as a polymath with wide array of skills that he developed through persistent observations of nature around him.
He moved between Florence and Milan, then two epicenters of trade and industry circa early 16th century. While he worked in courts for royalty and noblemen of the times he also pitched his resume to a king claiming his skills at engineering and designing state of the art weapons.
His background working in theater led him to devise flying contraptions for the stage which he scaled to represent lifelike airplanes. None of them actually saw production.
Other famous art work to his credit include the Vitruvian Man - a very bold and mathematically accurate depiction of a male body standing erect with arms outstretched perpendicular to the body. This drawing was inscribed inside a circle which fits neatly into a square.
When in Italy last year we made it to the other very famed and almost destroyed painting inside a rectory of a famous church in Milan - The Last Supper or Cenacolo Vinciano
Multiple years of restoration has resulted in this fresco being available to the public to view. Originally commissioned by the Duke of Milan it was completed circa late 15th century.
He died at 67 in France in a house that a king bestowed to him to spend his waning years.
What is not known widely becomes the subject of this book including describing Leonardo's childhood in Vinci, Italy as an illegitimate offspring, who happens to be gay and left handed.
While he is readily recognized for his art, he is described as a polymath with wide array of skills that he developed through persistent observations of nature around him.
He moved between Florence and Milan, then two epicenters of trade and industry circa early 16th century. While he worked in courts for royalty and noblemen of the times he also pitched his resume to a king claiming his skills at engineering and designing state of the art weapons.
His background working in theater led him to devise flying contraptions for the stage which he scaled to represent lifelike airplanes. None of them actually saw production.
Other famous art work to his credit include the Vitruvian Man - a very bold and mathematically accurate depiction of a male body standing erect with arms outstretched perpendicular to the body. This drawing was inscribed inside a circle which fits neatly into a square.
When in Italy last year we made it to the other very famed and almost destroyed painting inside a rectory of a famous church in Milan - The Last Supper or Cenacolo Vinciano
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| Santa Maria delle Grazie |
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| Hard to see with naked eye - apparently Leonardo started the work with a nail to center the art work - he hammered it where Jesus' forehead would be |
Multiple years of restoration has resulted in this fresco being available to the public to view. Originally commissioned by the Duke of Milan it was completed circa late 15th century.
He died at 67 in France in a house that a king bestowed to him to spend his waning years.
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