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FOLLOWING A PASSION<o:p></o:p>My mother, Caterina, was a peasant girl and my father, Piero Fruosin di Antonio da Vinci, was a lawyer from Florence. As my parents weren’t married, I was given no family surname and was just known as Leonardo da Vinci, meaning ‘Leonardo from the town of Vinci’.<o:p></o:p>My father, like many parents, hoped that I would get a good job as a lawyer. However, I had other ideas. My interest and passion was in painting, colours, and textures. <o:p></o:p>I was just 15 when I became an apprentice to one of the most successful artists of the day, Verrocchio, who had a studio in Florence. I learned all the crafts he could teach me, and by the age of 20, I had become a Master in the Guild of St Luke. <o:p></o:p>When I was 24 years old, I was arrested for the very close relationships I had with men. It was a serious charge that was punishable by exile or death, but no witnesses came forward and the charges were dropped. From then on, I was careful about the relationships I had.<o:p></o:p>My gift for drawing was based on my curiosity and imagination. In 1481, the monks at Scopeto gave me a commission to paint a panel for the high altar in the church of San Donato in Scopeto. I began work on The Adoration of the Magi - however, I left for Milan the following year, and I never completed the painting.FROM FLORENCE TO MILANI had been asked by Duke Ludovico Sforza, whose family ruled Milan, to work for him. I would serve as an engineer, painter, architect, designer of court festivals, and most notably, a sculptor for the Sforza family. Although it was difficult to leave Florence and the opportunities there, the Sforza court would be an exciting place to work, and the projects awaiting me there were ones that I couldn’t pass up. <o:p></o:p>Whilst working for the duke, I became fascinated with drawing human and animal bodies. This resulted in one of my most famous drawings -The Vitruvian Man - which illustrates the proportions of the human body. I believed that studying pathology&nbsp;could help the living. However, the Pope did not allow medical investigations and stopped progress on my work.<o:p></o:p>The Last Supper, another of my paintings from around that time, would become one of my most celebrated works of art.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2Ffd1a6b04b1124b648a423f2f25a01dac" alt="" style="width: 394.799px; height: 205.688px;"> <o:p></o:p>RETURN TO FLORENCE<o:p></o:p>After completing my work for the duke, I went back to Florence and was fascinated by the architecture of this beautiful city. Staying at a monastery, I had access to a workshop and painted, taking time to walk and observe nature. <o:p></o:p>I noted how the birds flew swiftly and wondered if, with wings and wind beneath us, maybe we too could fly? <o:p></o:p>Bats, with their wide wings, inspired me to design a type of flying machine for humans. My visions carried me into the future, dreaming of flying machines and travelling underwater. Amongst other things, I devised a prototype for a helicopter and a design for a submarine. <o:p></o:p>My observations of the natural world also led to increased love and respect for it. I’d buy caged birds, which were very popular at the time, and let them fly free. Unlike most people at the time, I saw animals as creatures that had feelings and opted to eat a vegetarian diet.<o:p></o:p>My work ranged from church paintings to military designs. Quite often, my artistic work was left while I did other jobs. For example, the Mona Lisa, now one of the world’s most fascinating and famous paintings, was started in 1503 and was not completed until 1519.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2Fa675203252fc442baabce731b90e8c33" alt="" style="width: 267.189px; height: 398.125px;"> <o:p></o:p>GRAND WORK<o:p></o:p>I was invited by the Pope to work for the Church in Rome, where I lived from 1513 to 1516. Raphael and Michelangelo were also there at the time, and we all created artworks for the great churches.<o:p></o:p>Later, I met the King of France. He also had a love of art. He said he wanted to learn from me and offered me a house in Amboise, France, near his grand castle. Here I was given facilities to continue my work.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2Fa2d1efee1a124787bdbd371ede25c055" alt="" style="width: 286.568px; height: 290.156px;"> <o:p></o:p>Each day, the King would walk to my home, where we discussed ideas. I wrote 13,000 pages of notes, written back to front so that it was hard to steal my ideas. <o:p></o:p>I wrote about my work and life. A life lived with the vision of a better tomorrow, based on a love of science, engineering, astronomy, anatomy, art and architecture, as well as my interests in geology, palaeontology, mathematics and geometry.&nbsp;GLOSSARY<o:p></o:p>Pathology – the science of the causes and effects of diseases.<o:p></o:p>Prototype – a first version of a device or vehicle from which others are developed.<o:p></o:p>Anatomy – the branch of science that studies the body. <o:p></o:p>Palaeontology – the branch of science that studies fossilised animals and plants.<o:p></o:p>LEGACY AND RECOGNITION<o:p></o:p><ul><li>When Leonardo da Vinci died, he thought he had left no mark on the world. However, he is thought of as the most talented man to have lived, mastering art, architecture, engineering, medical anatomy and much more.</li><li>Leonardo da Vinci is often called the ‘Renaissance Man’, and his contributions to art and science still inspire and influence the world today.</li><li>Leonardo da Vinci made discoveries about light, sound, air, hearing, water, optics, anatomy, astronomy, speech, gradients, pigments, mechanics, engineering, architecture and astronomy – and the discovery of steam power.</li><li>The Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Louvre in Paris, from October 2019 - February 2020, was seen by 1,071,840 visitors. This record figure is nearly double the Louvre’s previous record for exhibition attendance.</li><li>Italy’s busiest and largest airport outside of Rome is named Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport.</li><li>Leonardo da Vinci’s image has appeared on coins, postage stamps and medals. Many schools and institutes are named after him to honour his life and work.</li><li>Leonardo da Vinci had hundreds of works compiled, over 4,200 pages of notes, he always intended to have written them up into book form, but he never got around to it.</li></ul>IMAGE CAPTIONS AND CREDITS<o:p></o:p>The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:&quot;Aptos&quot;,sans-serif;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, Kirstine rosing, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons&nbsp;

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