Leonardo da Vinci was a genius who invented
revolutionary ideas centuries before his the rest of the world would catch up with him. He embodies the definition of a “Renaissance
Man”- one who studied and mastered a variety of different subjects. He was a painter, engineer, architect, writer,
scientist, and inventor. While you may know him for his most famous
works of art like The Mona Lisa or The Last Supper, few people know the man behind the
paintings. Today on Biographics, we’re talking about
Leonardo da Vinci. Early Life
A baby boy named Leonardo was born on April 15th, 1452 in a Tuscan village called Vinci. The child was born out of wedlock to a wealthy
legal notary named Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio, and a beautiful peasant girl named
Caterina di Meo Lippi. His father took responsibility for the boy,
and raised him on the family estate with his wife. But as a bastard child, young Leonardo was
not even allowed to be given his father’s last name. He was simply called “Leonardo da Vinci”
which means “Leonardo, of Vinci.” Leonardo lived with his biological mother
until he was 5, and his father took over the responsibility of raising him. Caterina went on to marry a man who was simply
referred to as “the fighter”. Leonardo’s father, Messer, married a 16-year
old noble girl named Albiera, and they had legitimate children of their own. Instead of going to school, the countryside
was young Leonardo’s classroom. Even at a young age, he was an inquisitive,
and truly fell in love with nature. He wished that men could fly like birds, and
swim through the ocean like fish. Together with his brothers, they played games
of war, and he imagined being triumphant in battle, like the men in the stories told by
his father. However, this stage of innocence could not
last forever. As he grew up, Leonardo learned that he would
not be allowed to inherit the family estate. Leonardo had 9 brothers and 3 sisters. So, even if he could inherit his father’s
estate, it’s not like there would be much left to go around, anyway. He had to learn a trade and figure out how
to take care of himself. In medieval Florence, guilds were like trade
unions, and they were split up into multiple categories of jobs that a man could choose
from, so long as he was born into the right social class. The highest ranking guilds were called the
“Arti Maggiori”, and his father would have been apart of the guild of powerful lawyers,
judges, and notaries. But as an illegitimate child, this was like
being in the lower class, and he was not even allowed to join the lesser guild categories
like “Arti Mediane” , which had the middle class skills like blacksmiths and stone masons. His only option would be to join a guild in
the “Arti Minori”, which had lower-class jobs like bakers and millers. However, Leonardo’s father still wanted
his son to have a good life. He could see that the boy had a natural talent
for art. So, his father introduced him to a man named
Andre del Verrocchio, who ran an art studio in the city of Florence. After seeing the boy’s sketches, he agreed
to take him on as an apprentice. The Florence Guild of Artists Andre del Verrocchio had several artists and
craftsmen working for him in his workshop. He would take on commissions from the wealthy
and powerful Medici family, and divide the work among his students and employees. Their studio worked on improving the beauty
of the city. They had to work with all mediums, whether
it was carving marble statues, casting metal, or painting portraits. Even architecture, bridges, and other forms
of civil engineering were all sketched by the members of the guild. So it became necessary for Leonardo to learn
multiple disciplines. After a few years of training, Leonardo da
Vinci assisted Verrocchio in painting a commissioned piece for the Catholic Church called “The
Baptism of Christ”. This was a very large mural on the wall of
a church, so there was plenty of space for two artists to stand and work on the painting
at the same time. Verrocchio instructed Leonardo to paint two
angels that had been included in his rough sketch. When Da Vinci was done, Verrocchio was in
shock. He could not believe how gorgeous and life-like
the painting was. He knew that the student had already surpassed
the master. By his mid-20’s, Leonardo Da Vinci became
a master artist in Verrocchio’s studio, and he earned a reputation for himself in
Florence. Leonardo conducted experiments with his art,
like studying how light changed the shading on an object, or the perfect time of day to
sketch someone’s face. However, his talent was also a curse, because
it caused a lot of jealousy among the art community. At 24 years old, Da Vinci was accused of having
sex with a male prostitute, and he was arrested for sodomy. At that time, the punishment for sodomy was
being burned to death. But when he went to trial, no evidence or
witnesses were presented, and they could not prove that he did anything illegal. So they let him go. However, even though he was found “not guilty”,
he wrote in his journals that this scandal very seriously hurt his reputation. Fewer clients wanted to work with him around
Florence, despite his obvious talent. We don’t know his actual sexual orientation,
except that he never got married. Some believe that he chose to be celibate
in order to focus more on his work. At the end of the day, whoever turned him
into the authorities wanted him dead. As awful as this sounds, medieval times were
truly cut-throat, and men of high standing always had to watch their backs to make sure
they were not killed by their enemies. An assassin named Bernardo di Bandino Baroncelli
stabbed Giuliano de’ Medici in the streets simply because they were both from rival banking
families. One of Leonardo’s earliest known sketches
was his observation of Baroncelli’s body in the gallows called “The hanged man”. After this dispute between the Baroncellis
and the Medici families, Florence and Naples were on the brink of war. The men in Da Vinci’s guild were forced
to stop working on art, and use their engineering skills to defend the city, instead. Since Da Vinci was a bastard, he could not
become a knight and serve in a royal court, so he thought this was far more exciting than
painting Catholic murals. He started to design ladders and massive weapons
to help defend Florence, should they ever need it. Perhaps he saw this as his way to be remembered
in the history books. During a three month time period, the city
was on edge, believing they were on the brink of war. When Lorenzo Medici returned after making
a successful peace treaty, the rest of the city celebrated, and Leonardo was actually
disappointed. After peace was returned to the city, the
artist’s guild could go back to making beautiful things, but this was no longer challenging
or interesting to Leonardo Da Vinci. When he was 29 years old, he was asked to
do his first commissioned mural at a church all by himself. The painting was called “Adoration of the
Magi”, and he took his concept above and beyond what any other painter had done in
the past. It was an incredible piece, but Da Vinci didn’t
seem to see that, because after spending a very long time working on the piece, he decided
that he could not finish the painting. He was very restless at that time, and didn’t
have the patience to actually sit and complete a lot of his projects. He had so many brilliant ideas, he sometimes
had had trouble executing them. Da Vinci was actually sued more than once
for getting paid by a patron, and then failing to finish his work, as promised. With this, coupled with the accusation of
sodomy, his talent was not enough to make up for his bad reputation. He thought that maybe, it was time to start
over somewhere new. A New Life in Milan Even though he was more talented than many
of the other painters in Florence, Leonardo Da Vinci still went through a midlife crisis
when he was 30 years old. He realized that the lifestyle of a professional
artist did not suit him, and he craved the adventure of having a career in weapon designs. He had an entire book filled with incredible
inventions that would not be made until years later, like a tank, a giant crossbow, underwater
scuba gear, and even a robotic soldier. He was truly hundreds of years ahead of his
time, but without a war, these weapons would never actually come to life. Leonardo da Vinci planned to move to Milan,
because it is the most northern Italian state, but he wanted to secure employment before
he made the journey. Since the city is much closer to France, they
were far more interested in gathering weapons to defend the country. He sent a letter to the Duke of Milan, claiming
that he was a weapon’s design expert, and included a few pages from his sketchbook. At the very end of the letter, he included
a single line mentioning that he was also a painter. Ludovico Sforza was the temporary Duke of
Milan, holding the position of power until his nephew came of age. The Sforza family had not been in power for
very long, especially compared to the likes of the Medicis. Sforza invited Leonardo da Vinci to visit,
and he was overjoyed, hoping that he would finally be able to make a career change. But, once he got there, he was gravely disappointed
to find out that the Duke wanted him to paint a portrait of his beautiful mistress. Today, that portrait is called “Lady with
an Ermine”. Even though he came to Milan to escape being
a painter, he still blew people away with his talent. Sforza was so impressed, he commissioned a
statue of a 24-foot tall horse. Da Vinci told him that it would take at least
3 years to complete. In reality, Da Vinci was stalling for time,
because without the help of his master’s studio, he had no idea how he was going to
pull off a 24-foot tall metal cast horse. Remember- this was back in the 1400’s, so
there was no benefit of modern machinery to help him. The Sforzas were still establishing themselves,
and the Duke of Milan believed that paying for things like metal statues would somehow
prove their permanence in high society. At first, Da Vinci created the horse out of
clay, and it was unveiled at a party, where Da Vinci was officially accepted into the
Sforza royal court. Unfortunately, just like a lot of his projects,
DaVinci was a bit in over is head, and he was running out of time. By a stroke of luck, Sforza decided to go
to war, and he needed the metal resources for his army’s weapons. Yet again, Da Vinci thought this might be
his time to shine with his weapon designs, but there weren’t enough resources to pay
for their creation. The Duke of Milan game him a new assignment
of decorating a church called Santa Maria delle Grazie, which is where he painted one
of his most famous works, “The Last Supper.” At the time, the priests were actually very
annoyed with him, because it took him over 3 years to complete the painting, which is
a mural on the wall of the church. For 17 years, DaVinci enjoyed a life of financial
security and respect in Sforza’s royal court. During the time that he lived in Milan, Da
Vinci had a secret project that he never dared to tell anyone, and it is likely a good reason
why the rest of his work was taking so long. He was dissecting human cadavers and sketching
their bodies, muscles, and organs. He also made wax casts of the organs. Yes, this sounds incredibly creepy, and he
realized this, which is why he kept his sketchbook a secret, and it only showed up in the 1600’s. At that time, autopsies and any other form
of disturbing the dead was frowned upon by the Catholic Church. He already knew what it was like to have a
soiled reputation back in Florence, so he was far more careful this time while leading
a double life. Even though his sketchbook was found over
100 years later, his studies of the human body were revolutionary, and became the foundation
of modern anatomy. Leonardo da Vinci would write in notebooks
about his scientific experiments, inventions, and artistic ideas. There are over 15,000 pages of his notes that
survived. He even wrote some of those notes backwards,
so you can only read them when looking in a mirror. Some people believe he did this because he
was worried that his rivals would steal his ideas. Homecoming
When Leonardo Da Vinci was 50 years old, the Sforza family lost their position of power,
and the French invaded Milan. When they saw the giant clay horse statue
standing on the estate, they used it for target practice. Leonardo da Vinci had to leave Milan with
the bare necessities, like his journals, and left all of his works of art behind. He decided to travel from place to place,
once again trying to pitch his ideas for military weaponry around Italy. He showed The Duke of Venice his ideas, which
included a snorkeling suit for breathing underwater that actually worked. He had ideas on how humans could fly, or walk
on the bottom of the ocean. Keep in mind, this was at a time when people
didn’t even have clocks or watches to tell time. While all of his ideas were amazing, they
were far too ahead of his time, and the Duke of Venice didn’t find a need for any of
those inventions. Da Vinci was forced to reluctantly move back
to Florence, because he feared that everyone would still remember his bad reputation. But it was actually far worse than that, because
by that time, people had all but forgotten the name Leonardo Da Vinci, and there was
a new genius in town: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. But you know as simply “Michelangelo”. He was just 26 at that time. Since the art world in Florence was so competitive,
Leonardo hated Michelangelo almost immediately, because this meant that he would struggle
finding work. Da Vinci was clearly jealous, and had to find
reasons to dislike Michelangelo. He would write angrily in his journal about
how he thought the young man was dirty and undignified. Despite the long beard you see in most depictions
of Da Vinci, he actually spent all of his younger years making sure he was always clean-shaven,
and wore the finest clothes. He even had professional musicians playing
music for his clients while they sat for their portraits, and the whole process felt like
going to a luxury spa. Michelangelo, on the other hand, had the polar
opposite approach to his art. He was so focused on his work, that he would
forget to shave for a few days, and let his beard grow. He let chips of stone and dust cover his home
after working on a statue, and it was far more like a workshop than a comfortable place
to clients to stay. The two artists deeply disliked each other,
and even got into a fight out in public. Secretly, Da Vinci would go home to write
about how depressed he was to be getting older, and the fear and anxiety rules his thoughts. Be Careful What You Wish For Since Da Vinci could no longer secure his
place in the Florence art scene, he decided to try his luck at weapon design one last
time. Pope Alexander had a bastard son named Cesare
Borgia. Some people say that he was a great leader,
while others say that Borgia was a bloodthirsty ruler who killed anyone who got in his way. Machiavelli's famous book called The Prince
was even based on Borgia as an example of what a ruler must be in order to stay in power. Da Vinci sent his sketches to Borgia, and
finally, someone said yes to the weapons. He become Chief General Engineer for Cesare
Borgia, and supervised the construction of towers, weapons, and bird’s-eye-view maps
of the cities he planned on invading, which was revolutionary for the time. Da Vinci got everything he wanted, but it
was at a price he never expected. The only reason why Borgia was willing to
pay for the creation of all of these weapons was because he wanted to kill as many enemies
as possible. Until this point, the idea of war had been
simply a concept to Leonardo Da Vinci, and stories of knights going to battle seemed
like good fun. For the first time in his life, Da Vinci actually
witnessed what a bloody battle looked like, and it was too gruesome for him to handle. He wrote, “Truly, man is more savage than
beast, for our brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others.” The straw that broke the camel’s back was
when Borgia ordered the death of one of Da Vinci’s close friends. He quietly left Borgia in the dead of night
and moved back to Florence, where he returned to a peaceful life of painting portraits. Mona Lisa’s Smile
After selling those weapons, Leonardo da Vinci had saved a nice nest egg for retirement,
and It was during this time that he painted “The Mona Lisa” No one knows for sure
who she actually is. There are several theories of who she is,
or what she might represent, but none have been confirmed. Unlike all of those portraits that were commissioned
and given away, he carried around the portrait of Mona Lisa with him for the rest of his
life. For once, this was a piece of art that was
done just for himself, but he was constantly changing it, because he never felt he got
it exactly right. During his retirement, he started to build
massive wings for human beings, in hopes that it would help people fly. “There will be wings for man. If it is not accomplished by me, it will be
accomplished some day, by some other.” There is a commonly told story that during
a flight attempt with these wings, someone fell and broke their leg. After this failed attempt, he designed a motor
that would flap the wings, but it never worked properly. However, he did eventually design the first
wing that looks very much like what we use in modern-day airplanes. Aside from the patrons that he served, Leonardo
da Vinci was not yet famous around the world. He intended to publish books, but he never
actually went through with it. As we mentioned earlier, he wrote and sketched
over 15,000 pages on a variety of subjects, but he was a perfectionist. So he continued to add on more and more information,
because he never felt that they were complete. Among these notes, there are multiple sketches
of an old man with a beard. People assume that this was his self-portrait,
but no one knows for sure. However, this image is used to portray him
in popular culture, and it’s how he is remembered today. King Francis I in France had been collecting
Da Vinci’s pieces for years, and he wrote a letter to invite him to live in his chateau. He agreed to move to France, and when he was
65 years old, and he had a stroke, which paralyzed his arm. The king’s castle became his comfortable
retirement, and he was given the best medical care money could buy. When he died in the year 1519, he left the
Mona Lisa and all of his sketchbooks and journals to his loyal apprentice. Born a bastard, Leonardo Da Vinci died like
a king. His life lives on forever in his work, and
he continued to serve as an inspiration to people around the world for centuries to come.
