Leonardo da Vinci: Brief Biography and Interesting Facts about Polymath

Even though many creations inventions and art pieces by Leonardo da Vinci have the worldwide recognitions and sometimes are even referred to as the masterpieces, the Mona Lisa for example, there are still several little-known facts about his life and work.

Did you know that Leonardo's mother, unlike his well off faster, was a peasant; Leonardo received most of his education at home; was first internationally recognized as a skillful lyre player; Leonardo was the first to explain why the color of the sky looks blue?



Well, this is just the beginning and we would like to tell you even more facts about this brilliant scientist. But let’s start with this interactive video presentation:


LEONARDO da Vinci: 10 fun facts & presentation of best inventions

#1. Brief biography of Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci


 
The magnificent Italian polymath and inventor of the Renaissance epoch, Leonardo da Vinci was born on the 15th April, 1452 in a small village called Anchiano, located near the town of Vinci. He was born out of wedlock to a wealthy notary Piero (Piero da Vinci) and beautiful peasant Katarina.

#2. Early life and formal education

Unlike other great masters, who have lived and worked in the Renaissance epoch, Leonardo did not have any formal education. However, being formally homeschooled and having received basic lessons in reading, writing and math, he was witty enough to outsmart many arrogant scholars of his times.

He spent his childhood in rural Tuscany, where it was easy for him to spend a lot of time outside, taking long walks and observing various nature phenomena. Young Leonardo was especially interested in the physical properties of water and physical phenomena, which enable the birds to fly.

#3. Leo masterfully played the lyre

Leonardo in his early professional life was known as a masterful lyre player but not as an artist or an inventor. At least, it’s how the Milan court presented him in one of their cases.

#4. The theories of hidden meaning behind Mona Lisa



At the moment scientists have narrowed down the list of the hidden meanings behind Mona Lisa’s smile only to three, which seem to be the most probable. According to the first of these theories, with her smile, #Mona Lisa is trying to cover her secretive pregnancy.

The second theory states that the woman, who posed for the Mona Lisa portrait, was entertained by musicians and clowns in the painting process.

And finally, this painting is Leonardo’s joke because in this painting he disguised himself.

#5. What is sfumato?



Leonardo is known as the creator of an unusual painting technique called the sfumato. This principle of scattering and blending the boundaries of the painted objects may be easily spotted in many of this works. Leonardo believed that without the clear boundaries, the depicted objects penetrate one another, therefore, awakening the imagination.

One of the most bewildering examples sfumato is the secretive smile of the Mona Lisa, which depending on the person’s angle of view, may be perceive perceived, as a gentle smile or a predatory grin.

Art experts believe that thanks to the sfumato effect, the Mona Lisa masterpiece seems to live and evolve with time. Over the centuries la Gioconda has changed its smile: it seems like the the corners of the lips have slightly are raised, thus evoking new emotions. Just like Leo’s polymath abilities to mix the knowledge of different sciences, his artistic invention is getting more applications with with the passage of time.

#6. Leonardo’s ambidexterity and mirror writing

Leonardo is believed to have been ambidextrous. Ambidexterity is the state, which allows the person to have an equally good control of right and left hands. Combining the abilities and advantages of both the right and #left-handed people, the Italian polymath could write and draw at the same time or practice such technique, as mirror writing.

But his uniqueness didn’t come with only positive traits. The Renaissance Man suffered from dyslexia – a disease formally known as word blindness, which is associated with reduced activity in an area of the brain left hemisphere, which is responsible for the reading process.

#7. Protecting the Mona Lisa in Louvre

The administration of the Louvre museum has spent millions of dollars in order to prepare one of its halls for the Mona Lisa. According to the master plan of Lorenzo Piqueras, a Peruvian architect, the stand, hosting "la Gioconda" takes up 2/3 of the exhibition hall. This hall was specifically remodeled to host the Mona Lisa and the project took four years to complete.

The decision to move the Mona Lisa away from the neighboring paintings of Italian artists into a separate room of the Louvre was made due to the safety precautions and the fact that this masterpiece was hard to find for an average visitor but once spotted, people flocked to it, forming endless lines in front of the famous picture.

#8. Testing most famous inventions and sketches by da Vinci



Leonardo da Vinci is known for his sketches and designs of the flying machine, the air screw, the tank, the submarine, the ball bearing and the mechanical loom.

Modern scientists never seem to get tired from testing Leonardo da Vinci’s ideas. Even though many of his inventions survived only in a form of sketches and seemed to be only theoretical, they were definitely ahead of his time and with little tweaks and upgrades turned out to be practical and fully functional.

These surprising and even prophetic inventions of the great polymath are now showcased in museum exhibitions in different parts of the world but we’d like to tell you about people, who were brave enough to test out da Vinci’s ideas.

Many experts claimed that most of Leo’s projects were impossible to bring to life, due to numerous of technical errors, but, despite these arguments, Steve Roberts, a 42-year-old mechanic from Bedfordshire, put together a prototype of the modern hang glider, according to Leonardo’s exact drawings (which were created five centuries ago).

English craftsman tried to make this test as period-perfect, as possible. Not only did he use the original sketches but also materials, which could have been accessible to the the Italian inventor in his lifetime.

A device is similar to a bird’s skeleton was tested out by a brave pilot. She managed to take off only after twenty odd tries and glided only about 15 second, reaching a 10 meter (32ft) height. Even though the testing didn’t go as planned, the last try was enough to prove that the concept actually works.

#9. Marine inventions by Leo

Leonardo enjoyed learning and exploring everything connected with water and marine professions. Many of his inventions are believed to have laid the foundation for the development of diving equipment, which we know and use nowadays.

In his lifetime he created detailed instructions on underwater diving, theoretically developed the idea of underwater exploration and even sketched a device for #scuba diving and underwater breathing.

#10. Unfinished works and room for improvement



Leonardo never hurried to finish his inventions or artistic projects, as the state of being unfinished is an obligatory quality of the life. Finishing the projects in his understanding meant putting an end to it, or closing the room for improvements.

The unhurried approach to creating something new was da Vinci’s trait of character, he could make a couple of strokes on the new painting and head on to work on other project, for examples a device for walking on water.

Almost every significant works of his remained unfinished. Many projects have by water, fire or neglect but the "Renaissance Man" had never found time to correct them. It seems that the unfinished state of his works was a part of his special approach, as if he left the life an opportunity to correct something.

#11. Da Vinci’s scientific heritage



Over 7 thousand pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s journals present the bulk of his scientific heritage. 7 thousand pages may seem like a lot but not a single one of them has helped the researches to learn about Leonardo’s personal life.

None of the surviving manuscripts, which have been preserved till out times, are devoted to the life of the famous genius. Some of his writings do have occasional, dry facts about events in his life, which he personally considered to be significant. But most of his life’s events are still shrouded in an aura of mystery. All existing manuscripts are devoted to his discoveries and inventions, as, perhaps, it was more important for him to share his discoveries than to reveal personal feelings on the pages of his notebooks.

Like the life of the Italian genius, these journals hide secrets, the revelation of which may take many years. Scientists, who devoted their time to this task state that, while reading his diaries, one may think that the author wanted them to be seen by other people but understanding the written notes is the task for the chosen: many pages contain encoded information, for example with the help of mirror writing.

Such encoding may have been a good idea, as modern scientists, who were successful enough at reading his scientific notes, were able to put together fully functional machines and inventions (more about it below).

#12. Significant inventions: military technology

During his lifetime, the brilliant inventor has not only worked on machines, which could enable people to fly and explore the underwater world but also tools for conquering the world. Leonardo’s journals, which were preserved till our time, contain detailed sketches of super-guns, smoke machines, portable drawbridges and even armored tanks (they could be called so, even in modern terms).

But, like many of his famous designs, none of these projects were built during his lifetime. But some of them were actually put together by contemporary engineers.

#13. Testing the original parachute design



At first glance, the sketch of a Leonardo’s parachute looks, well, a bit sketchy. But this observation didn’t keep back extreme travelers from trying it out. So if you ever wondered if it’s possible to jump with a parachute, created according to da Vinci’s design, then the answer is – yes, it is possible.

Despite being several centuries old, the design proved to be effective, as Adrian Nicholas not only put together one of these but also used it to jump from an #airplane back in 2000.

#14. Why Mona Lisa is so popular?

According to art experts, Mona Lisa is one of the most mysterious paintings to have even been created. Despite the immense efforts, which were made to unravel its mysteries, answers to all questions are yet to be found. At the same time, tourists call Mona Lisa one of the most disappointing attractions in Paris. Standing behind a bulletproof glass in a separate exhibition hall behind, the museum still can’t handle amounts of interested visitors, many of which fail to wait all the line to see the masterpiece.

As it has just been mentioned Mona Lisa is kept behind a bulletproof glass and it’s not just a safety precaution. On August 21, 1911 it has been stolen by the Louvre’s employee, Vincenzo Peruggia. According to historians, Peruggia wanted to return the painting to its historical homeland, to Italy.
But various attempts to find a picture, despite numerous interrogations of suspects (including Guillaume Apollinaire and Pablo Picasso) did not yield any results.

The search for the stolen masterpiece was greatly supported to the printed press, which brought significant attention to this work of art. On January 4, 1914 the police did manage to find the painting in Italy and the internationally known painting was returned to Paris.

#15. Other quick facts about da Vinci:

- According to DiCaprio’s mother, her son was named after the Renessainse man, Leonardo da Vinci. Such interesting choice of a name is the result of unusual circumstances - DiCaprio’s parents went on a honeymoon to Italy and mother of the future actor felt first baby kicks, while looking at one of da Vinci works.

- Maestro was a vegetarian and strongly advised other people to abandon the consumption of animal food. There is even historical evidence stating that da Vinci often bought caged birds in local markets in order to set them free.

- the television series called "La vita di Leonardo da Vinci", directed by Renato Castellani, was awarded a "Golden Globe" in 1973.

- the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, has been named after Leonardo da Vinci. Apart from having the name of the Universal Genius, the airport hosts a massive statue of a huge statue da Vinci, which depicts him with a helicopter model in hand.

Image credits:

1) www.amsterdam-ftv-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Leonardo-da-Vinci-6.jpg
2) www.i2cat.net/sites/default/files/Foto%20-%20Opinio.jpg
3) www.images4.alphacoders.com/286/286396.jpg
4) www.cp12.nevsepic.com.ua/59/1354368863-0492085-www.nevsepic.com.ua.jpg
5) www.cp12.nevsepic.com.ua/59/1354368934-0492093-www.nevsepic.com.ua.jpg
6) www.martingeorgiev.weblog.tudelft.nl/files/2011/05/Flying.jpg
7) www.eskipaper.com/images/leonardo-da-vinci-2.jpg
8) www.photos.cntraveler.com/2015/12/08/56674091e1c1803f29395038_MonaLisa-Alamy-tout.jpg
9) www.f932acf90b6a7c8d8aee-ed10b3f81fdfcd75244e208b3e9cac2c.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/TuCqQtlSOc_1417373123716.jpg
10) www.i.ytimg.com/vi/JbEdDo2G-lM/maxresdefault.jpg
11) www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Leonardo_da_Vinci_parachute_04659a.jpg