Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the greatest and most ingenious men that history has produced. His contributions in theareas of art, science, and humanity are still among the mostimportant that a single man has put forth, definitely making his alife worth knowing. Da Vinci, born on April 15, 1452, is creditedwith being a master painter, sculptor, architect, musician,engineer, and scientist. He was born an illegitimate child toCatherina, a peasant girl. His father was Ser Piero da Vinci, apublic notary for the city of Florence, Italy. For the first four yearsof his life he lived with his mother in the small village of Vinci,directly outside of the great center of the Renaissance, Florence.Catherina was a poor woman, with possible artistic talent, thegenetic basis of Leonardo's talents. Upon the realization ofLeonardo's potential, his father took the boy to live with him andhis wife in Florence. This was the start of the boy's education andhis quest for knowledge. Leonardo was recognized by many to bea "Renaissance child" because of his many talents. As a boy, Leonardo was described as being handsome,strong, and agile. He had keen powers of observation, animagination, and the ability to detach himself from the worldaround him. At an early age Leonardo became interested insubjects such as botany, geology, animals (specifically birds), themotion of water, and shadows (About Leonardo). At the age of 17,in about 1469, Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone (studioboy) to Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter andsculptor of his day. In Verrocchio's workshop Leonardo wasintroduced to many techniques, from the painting of altarpiecesand panel pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects inmarble and bronze. In 1472 he was accepted in the painter's guild of Florence,and worked there for about six years. While there, Leonardo oftenpainted portions of Verrocchio's paintings for him, such as th...
