Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, or more simply Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian “polymath” meaning his expertise spanned a significant number of different subject areas including; Invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of paleontology (Basically the study of fossils) ichnology (the examination of footprints as fossils), and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. He is often credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, his genius epitomised the Renaissance.Born on the fifteenth of April 1452 in the Tuscan town of Vinci, little is known about Leonardo's early life. He spent his first five years in the home of his mother, then from 1457 he lived in the household of his father, grandparents and uncle. In 1466, at fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to the artist Verrocchio, and gained much of his artistic talent there.From 1476 to 1507 Leonardo put to use his existing talents and gained a many more, he studied at an art academy where he also learned of engineer and took classes pertaining to it. He wrote letters and gave gifts to a duke of Millan securing peace between Italy and Milan for the duration of the renaissangce. He designed a dome for a cathedral showing of his engendering talent and was commissioned to paint many of his most famous paintings, cementing his place in higher societyFollowing a French invasion of Italy, Leonardo and some of his closest friends fled to Venice where his renown as an engineer was put to use on a military council where he came up with some of his most radical ideas including the aforementioned tank. In 1500 he returned to Italy where he served the war mongering SON of the corrupt POPE Cesare Borgia (underlined because, POPES AREN’T SUPPOSED TO HAVE SONS [or a common whore for a wife]) as a military engineer and advisor, he retired from this position 3 years later. Following this he left the public eye and split up his recently deceased father’s estate among his brothers.From 1510 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere in the Vatican in Rome, under the newly elected Pope Leo X. In October 1514, King Francis I of France recaptured Milan. Leonardo was commissioned to make for Francis a mechanical lion which could walk forward, then open its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies. He spent the last years of his life, accompanied by his friends and apprentices, and supported by a pension totalling 10,000 scudi (a small fortune).Overall Leonardo pioneered many inventions and was an engineering and artistic figurehead for his time and will not soon be forgotten, whether from his paintings ideas or professions he pioneered.