Leonardo Da Vinci: Some incredible facts about the greatest artist of all times

You have heard of Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, do you know about the man behind such masterpieces.

The legendary artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, is one of the most prolific and talked about artist in the World. Be it be Mona Lisa or The Last Supper; all his works are iconic. Besides being a painter, Leonardo Da Vinci was a musician, engineer, scientist, and a Mathematician. Leonardo Da Vinci, along with Michelangelo and Raphael, are the most important figures of the Renaissance. Here are some of the incredible facts about the life of a legend, Leonardo Da Vinci.

  1. Da Vinci is not his surname
Interestingly, Da Vinci is not actually his surname. In 15 century Italy, it was the nobility who used surnames or family names. So, what is Da Vinci? It simply translates to someone who is from Vinci.
  1. He never received any formal education
Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius, but do you know that he never received any formal education. He only studied a bit of reading, writing and arithmetic in his house. He was self-taught in Latin and Mathematics.
  1. Despite producing the iconic artworks, he didn’t paint much
We all knew and heard of the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci in paintings and artwork, but in reality, he was a very slow painter. That is perhaps one of the reason that there are only 17 surviving works made by him. It is said that he devoted his energies and time in various engineering marvels and scientific research.
  1. He was well-versed with complexities of human anatomy
Leonardo Da Vinci was deeply interested in the function and complexities of the human body. His work and notebooks are full of drawings of human anatomy and show he knows much more than the doctors and surgeons of those times. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that most of the drawing inspired modern illustrations for scientific purpose.
  1. Bill Gates bought his celebrated Codex Leicester of thirty million dollars
Leonardo Da Vinci left us more than 6000 journal pages. In 1994, one of his journal, namely The Codex Leicester or Codex Hammer, was auctioned. This journal was full of different musing as to why the sky is blue to the origin of fossils, and a casual mention of modern-day Submarine. Bill Gates bought this journal for thirty million dollars.

Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius ahead of his times. Even after so many years after his death, interest in him or his works has not diminished.