Leonardo da Vinci was a unique talent that the world may never see again. His curious nature and desire to learn helped him create some of the most wondrous works humanity has ever seen. He was a painter, sculptor, architect and engineer among many other things. Throughout his life, Leonardo contributed to humanity in so many different areas that many scholars and historians still call him a “universal genius”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay How we know about him There are many sources that state that Leonardo was a mysterious man and that there are many things we do not know about him as a person, "...his mind and personality seem superhuman to us, while man himself is mysterious and remote." However, it seems that this myth has been debunked by overwhelming evidence. Robert Payne says in his book that “the only mystery is how he managed to create so many works of genius in such a short time.” Before his death, Leonardo left approximately ten thousand manuscript pages (around five thousand survive today) of his life. He was not an introverted person at all, he expressed his thoughts in his notes and stated that they should be preserved and published. As if that wasn't enough, he also explained exactly how he would like them to be published. We have a very good idea of ​​where and what Leonardo did for most of his life, and there are also existing documents in Florence, Rome, Milan, and many other places that help fill in those missing gaps. Other testimonies come from the works of Giorgio Vasari, a mid-sixteenth century mid-core painter who took it upon himself to document the lives of the greatest Italian artists. Much of what we know today about Italian artists comes from his works. His works began to be successful in 1564, by which time he had created a second edition of the Lives in which the new version was larger and with more illustrated portraits. The man Leonardo was a man motivated by curiosity and the desire to succeed in his works "he accomplished what he set out to accomplish...". He lived what would have been considered a full life at the time, dying at the age of sixty-seven. He also traveled extensively and achieved many high positions in his life as he passed through various cities. The first skill that Leonardo mastered was the art of painting. It is said that he started perhaps as early as 14 years old. He also loved animals, he loved them so much that he became a vegetarian and refused to eat them. His favorite animal was horses and he painted them better than anyone before him. He was a diverse man who expanded his knowledge in various different fields which include music, literature, history, anatomy, geology, astronomy and many other areas of science. Leonardo also self-taught mathematics later in his life, at the age of thirty. Mathematics was perhaps his most useful tool as he had to apply it to most of his works, including the Mona Lisa. Early youth Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 as a bastard in Anchiano, Tuscany. His father was an esteemed Florentine notary and his mother was a peasant. He was raised by his father and stepmothers until he moved to his father's family home in Vinci, where he took the surname da Vinci (da Vinci) because he was not even worthy of taking his father's name. He wasn't expected to be worth much, especially being born out of wedlock to a father who had multiple children. Most (if not all) of the inheritance would pass to his brothers before they got to him. No one could have predicted that this child would become the mind that would redefine theRenaissance. Outside of basic reading, writing, and math instruction, Leonardo did not receive much education because his family was not willing to pay for his education. At the age of fourteen, da Vinci began a long apprenticeship with Andrea del Verrocchio, a recognized artist in the city of Florence. Under his wing, he acquired many skills that influenced his art such as metalworking, carpentry, modelling, painting and drawing. At the age of twenty, he became a member of the Guild of San Luca in Florence and created his own workshop where he would later take on many apprentices and make some of them his own students. Some of his positions In 1578, da Vinci received his first independent assignment to reside in a chapel in the Palazzo Vecchio. After three years some monks from the city wanted him to paint "The Adoration of the Magi". Leonardo began the painting but left the city some time later without ever completing it and leaving the commission behind. About a year later, after moving to Milan, Lorenzo de Medici (Florentine ruler) paid him to make a silver lyre and deliver it to Ludovico Sforza. He worked as an engineer, designer of court festivals, sculptor, architect and painter for the Sforza family until 1499, when they fled due to the invasion of the French. In 1502, around the summer, Cesare Borgia “…was on a rampage through the Romagna of northern Italy, brutally conquering city after city in the name of his father, Pope Alexander VI.” Cesare, with his lust for power and conquest, hired Leonardo as a military engineer due to his great inventive skills (at the risk that Leonardo was known for not completing the tasks he was paid to do). This has created some (not much) controversy in religious discussions. Some think that the image of Jesus Christ idolized today comes from Leonardo's images and is actually a representation of Caesar. Since Cesare was known by some people as the most handsome man in the world, Leonardo used his face as a guideline to draw a beautiful (some say) Jesus. Although many of the sources supporting and supporting this hypothesis do not seem very reliable, there are some interesting points to take into consideration. But there doesn't seem to be much evidence to come to a solid conclusion on this topic. Nor does it sound that interesting. After the French ruler Francis offered to award Leonardo the title “First Painter, Engineer and Architect of the King” in 1516, he finally left Italy indefinitely. This offer gave Da Vinci the freedom to paint and draw at ease while living in a country manor house near Amboise, France. Melzi, a painter who had accompanied Leonardo on previous trips, went with him. It is said that Leonardo's last years were not happy due to the bitter tone that could be seen in some of his letters. This was his final destination before his death in 1519. Some of the works Known primarily for being a painter in his time, two of Leonardo's most famous paintings are the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. The Mona Lisa is believed to be a painting of the third wife of a merchant named Francesco di Bartolommeo, a wealthy man. She is sitting on a “…marble chair, in that circle of fantastic rocks, as in a faint light under the sea”. The original painting of this artwork still exists today, but it has not been damaged too much for fear of further damage. There are many images similar to the Mona Lisa, but one of the theories as to why this one has gained so much popularity is because it is perhaps one of the few works by Leonardo that was actually finished and managed to survive. The Last Supper on the other hand was a painting that was painted on the wall ofa dining room at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It depicts the last meal Jesus ate with his disciples before prophesying that one of them would betray him, Matthew 26:23. The painting has been retouched so many times that when we look at it, it is no longer the original painting that Leonardo painted. Although this painting still survives, it is slowly deteriorating. Some of Leonardo's works also include dissections of human and animal bodies. He was curious about how the human body worked and was intrigued by the topic of death. One day, while working in the hospital, he was talking to an old man who was on the verge of dying. The man told Leonardo that he had never been sick in his life before. So, once he died, Leonardo immediately began cutting the body apart to see what physical changes lead to death. However, Leonardo had some kind of sympathy for him. He drew a portrait of the old man as he was before he died as a tribute to his living memory "while engaged in the dismemberment of the body". He had also kept diaries of other bodies he had dissected. Leonardo believed that eyes were the most useful tool humanity had and used them to draw everything he saw during corpse dissection. Every detail. As an inventor, Leonardo had great plans drawn up by him. Some of the projects include tanks, bicycles, parachutes, helicopters, giant crossbows, self-propelled tanks, scuba gear, swing bridges and much more. Much of his collection of works was lost for some time due (probably) to Leonardo who left it all to Melzi. Melzi then dies and leaves everything to his son, who gets rid of it by selling everything, including Leonardo's assets. Conclusion Although Leonardo was a genius, his inventions and discoveries had very little effect on the scientific world as they were never published. Even writing them with the left hand and backwards to the point that they could only be read by a mirror didn't help (although this trick looks pretty cool). If he had been born in a later time, perhaps he could have had some important influences in the realm of science that could have affected the world today. The only thing that seems surprising is that, with his deep love for nature, he never noticed the similarities between animals. Perhaps if he had had more access to travel he could have preceded Darwin in discovering the theory of evolution. Or maybe he noticed, but those works of his were lost and simply haven't been found yet. It should also be noted that Leonardo da Vinci was not a religious man at all. The most interesting thing about him was that in a time when religion was very influential, he still tried to find the truth about the way nature worked. He “never believed for a moment that the Bible Flood had ever occurred.” Despite his many portraits showing Jesus and other religious icons, Vasari wrote in 1550 that Leonardo believed it was better to die a philosopher than to die a Christian. He did not like the idea of ​​a religion that chose to be symbolized by an act of human ferocity (crucifixion) and therefore rejected this aspect of fairy tales. Instead, he sought to seek out its more enjoyable aspects, believing that artists are just like poets and can produce “fiction that means great things.” "Even in his religious paintings he represented actors of human comedy or tragedy." Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Since da Vinci was born outside of his time and didn't contribute much to humanity (not to say he was irrelevant), it seems more like he's a symbol. It can be said that.