Renaissance Man Leonardo Da Vinci

The Renaissance was a European intellectual and social movement beginning in the trading hub of Florence, Italy and gradually expanded to encompass the whole of Europe. People of the Renaissance age were interested in the Classical works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, they wanted to improve their lives with technology and better understand the natural world. The perfect Renaissance man was said to appreciate multiple fields of study, and examine the world with a technical and scientific mind.

Leonardo (di ser Piero) da Vinci is considered by many to have been the finest example of the Renaissance man due to his extraordinary understanding of numerous subjects. Leonardo was known for his unequivocal genius in the fields of mathematics, architecture, engineering, anatomy, and art to name a few.

Leonardo was born in 1452 in the small village of Vinci, Italy. Early on in his life he was apprenticed to a great artist in Florence named Verrocchio, where he learned to paint and sculpt, and was exposed to the many great minds that passed through the Verrocchio studio. In the Verrocchio studio he would gain some of the skills and discover the talents that would make him the most renowned painter in the Renaissance age.

Anatomy was one of many significant achievements by Leonardo. His extensive drawings and notes on the internal organization, structure, and function of the bodily systems led him to discover the shape of the backbone, skull, and urinary tract. Throughout his life he was able to physically examine human cadavers and dissected at least 30 deceased men and women. He believed that the ultimate way of gaining understanding of the human body was to take it apart. During his lifetime Leonardo discovered not only the placement, but also the function of many organs. He was the first to have ever recorded the existence of the appendix, and is largely credited with the first drawing of the fetus, along with the discovery of capillaries. His Vitruvian Man contained precise notes and drawings on anatomical proportions that were invaluable to both art students and medical professionals.

Leonardo's art is considered to be the most outstanding work in the world because of his ability to make everything lifelike on the canvas. He focused on painting people and realistic scenes rather than creating religious beings, and secular symbols. Leonardo was known for his unmatched precision when drawing the human figure, and his unique blend of art and science perfected the final product.

Eventually Leonardo's talents were discovered by the Duke of Milan who employed him to design and build great monuments, and machines. In the many years that he worked for the Duke he devised many mining contraptions, water pumps, flying mechanisms, and weight lifting devices. Leonardo set many milestones in engineering history, including the development of the first robot. Although he was not a man of violence he designed many systems and appliances that were intended for military use. Within his notes are the plans to build multiple shot firearms, armored fighting vehicles,