Here lived the genius child

This is the home believed to have witnessed the childhood days of Leonardo da Vinci.
Born out of wedlock on April 15, 1452, to Ser Piero - a notary in Florence and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo da Vinci was brought up at the house of his paternal grandparents, located at Anchiano, 3km north of a town named Vinci near Tuscany in Italy.
"1452: There was born to me a grandson, son of Ser Piero my son, on 15 April, a Saturday, at the third hour of the night. He bears the name Leonardo."
Antonio da Vinci, Leonardo`s grandfather

Baptism of Christ - Painted by Andrea Del Verrocchio, Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, at the age of 14, was apprenticed to Verrocchio who had one of the finest workshops for painting and sculpting in Florence. In this painting of Baptism of Christ Leonardo is said to have painted the angel on the left. Legend has it that Verrocchio was so impressed by his pupil’s work that he never painted again.
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”

-Leonardo da Vinci

The mastermind`s master - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan

In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci got to work as a scientific and military engineer for the Duke of Milan. It was here that he was commissioned to paint Virgin of the Rocks and the Last Supper. Leonardo also built many war equipments for the Duke, like an armoured car (a precursor of tank), triple barrel cannon, collapsible bridges for the army, etc. However, he personally was opposed to the idea of war and called it as ‘beastly madness’.
“Anyone who conducts an argument with the authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper – A lively marvel

It took Leonardo three years to paint this mural which is one of the most revered and admired religious paintings. It portrays the last meal that Jesus shared with his 12 disciples just before one of them was to betray him. This mural is believed to depict the exact moment when Jesus had told his disciples, “One of you will betray me.”
The Last Supper is an incredible masterpiece applying the technique of one point perspective. A careful look will show how every element of the mural is directed to the midpoint, Christ’s head!

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa – Enigmatic elegance

The painting number 779 in the museum of Louvre, Paris is one of the most divine creations, man will ever make. Soaked in aesthetics, the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa manages to hypnotise the viewer. It employs an optical technique, which makes the viewers feel that the Mona Lisa`s eyes are staring at them constantly. No doubt Mona Lisa with her mysterious charm overshadows all other inventions, and paintings of Leonardo.
Art historian and biographer Vasari rightly said, “the smile was so pleasing that it seemed divine rather than human; and those who saw it were amazed to find that it was as alive as the original."

Mona Lisa a self portrait?

When the painting of Mona Lisa is superimposed on the image of Leonardo Da Vinci`s self portrait, a remarkable similarity between the two can be noticed. This led many to believe that Mona Lisa might be one of the cryptic self portraits Leonardo painted.
“Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”
Leonardo da Vinci

A charismatic cruise: Leonardo’s parachute

Leonardo lived in 15th century when no one knew the basics of aerodynamics and flight. It was not until 1783 that the first air balloon was invented. But Leonardo was centuries ahead and designed the first ever parachute, which consisted of sealed linen cloth held open by a pyramid of wooden poles, about seven metres long. But the technology was not that developed so as to turn his flight fantasy into a reality. But on June 26, 2005, his design proved accurate when a British man, Adrian Nicholas, dropped from a hot air balloon 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above the ground.
“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.“
- Leonardo da Vinci

Flight of a genius mind - Leonardo’s Helicopter

Leonardo had an innate love for flying. He ideated the first ever design of a helicopter, using a helical aero-dynamic screw which he said if turned at a sufficient speed would fly into the air. This device is the earliest known predecessor of both the helicopter, and the screw propeller.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

A page out of Leonardo’s notebook

Besides the much known paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, there are several notebooks still preserved which contain a treasure of the creative maestro’s inventions and ideas. The peculiarity of his notebooks was that he wrote in a mirror script hard to decipher.
This is a manuscript from “Codex on the Flight of Birds”. A faint pencil sketch resembling Leonardo da Vinci can be seen. It is assumed that he might have first drawn his portrait and then used the same paper for making notes on flight behavior of birds.

“Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

This piece painted in 1481 shows a remorseful Saint Jerome retreating to Syrian Desert. Unfortunately, like many other works of Vinci, this painting was also left unfinished.
It is said that Leonardo was going through a difficult phase in life while painting it. As denotes the melancholic note in his diary, “I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die."
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

The last breath

Leonardo might have painted “The Last Supper” at Milan, Italy, but it was at this house at Ambiose in France that he might have had his last supper. Just 16 days after his 67th birthday, Leonardo breathed his last. He was a multi-talented mystic who loved to dabble brilliantly in different disciplines but because of a unique blend of perfectionism and procrastination he possessed, most of his works were left unfinished. As he had once said, “As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.”
However, Leonardo was, undoubtedly a masterpiece in himself and people like this incarnate once in a lifetime.
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

By Supriya Jha