Journal of

Leonardo da
Vinci
Human subtlety will never devise an invention
more beautiful, more simple or more direct than
does Nature, because in her inventions, nothing is
lacking and nothing is superfluous.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

April 15 1452
The Tuscan hill town of Vinci echoed the screams of
a young peasant girl.
Beads of perspiration were running down her
face. She yelled again, pulling the sheets as she
heaved a heavy breathing, going faster by

seconds. The p ain of childbirth was unbearable but

she had to endure it for the sake of her love and
her unborn child. Caterina griped the hand of
Monsieur Messer Piero and with all her might, she
made the final push. .
The peasant girl, Caterina has given Messer
Piero, a son, a symbol of their love. However the
two lovers

could never be united as a family because

Messer Piero Frusino di Antonio Da Vinca was a
Florentine Notary while Caterina was just a peasant
girl, a slave from the middle east.
That was how I, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
was born. In the third hour of the night in Tuscan
Hill Town of Vinci in the lower valley of Amo River in
the territory of Florence. Mother said it was written
in the stars that i was destined to be a painter.
When i was little, a peasant dared my father to
ask me paint a picture on a round plaque. I
accepted the challenge and i painted a snake
spitting fire figure. The painting impressed my
father that he sold it to a Florentine Art Dealer. It
ended in the home of the Duke of Milan

Year 1466
Leonardo, i want you to work with Andrea di Cione
as his apprentice. Father came home and
announced it to me excitedly. You will learn much
from Verrocchio because his workshop is the centre
of the intellectual currents of Florence. You, my son
will be educated by one of the finest master of
humanities. Father convinced me.
I was 14 years of age imagined having the
chance to meet the famous Ghirlandaio, Perugino,
Botticelli and lorenzo di Credi. There, i learned
drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working,
plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and
carpentry as
well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting,
sculpting and modeling.
I will never forget Verrocchio compliments to
me the day i painted the young angel holding
Jesus robe, The Baptism of Christ. I swear i ll
never paint again for you my son has managed to
portray a magnificent drawing that i could ever
have!

A memoir to Verrocchio. The Baptism of Christ.

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than

mastery of oneself

Year 1472
I was twenty and now a qualified master in the
Guild of St. Luke. The guild of artists and doctors of
medicine. Father was proud of me. You shall have
a workshop of your own Leonardo he announced
as his face shone with admiration. I still continued
collaborating with Verrocchio as i was forever
indebted to his guidance as my master apprentice.

5th of August 1473. My first drawing in pen and ink of the

Arno Valley

Year 1478 and 1481

I began painting an altar piece for the Chapel of St
Bernard and The Adoration of the Magi for the
monks of San Donato a Scopeto
The Adoration of the Magi

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and

poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen

Year 1482
Lorenzo de Medici and Ludovico il Moro, The Duke
of Milan had a disagreement. I wanted the two to
be on friendly terms. I created a silver lyre in the
shape of a horses head, which was sent to Milan. I
helped to secure peace between the two of them.

I was commissioned to paint the Virgin of The

Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate
Conception, and The Last Supper for the
monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
Virgin of The Rocks

The Last Supper

I do a lot of work for Ludovico included floats

and pageants for special occasions, designs for a
dome for Milan Cathedral and a model for a huge
equastrian monument to Francesco Sforza,

Ludovicos predecessor.

I modeled a huge horse in clay, which became

known as the Gran Caxallo. A Seventy tons of
bronze were set aside for casting it. In 1492, the
model was finally completed.
Year 1494
Ludovico gave the bronze to be used for cannons
to defend the city from invasion by Charles
VIII.When Ludovica Sforza overthrown, I, my
assistant Salai and friend, the mathematician Luca
Pacioli, fled Milan for Venice. There, I was employed
as a military architect and engineer, devising
methods to defend the city from naval attack.

There are three classes of people : those who see.

Those who see when they are shown.
Those who do not see.

Year 1495
I received sad news. The woman who had brought
me

into the world had

finally

left. I settled her funeral expenditure. I hope my

mother, Caterina would rest in peace.

Tears come from the heart, and not from the brain

Year 1500
I returned to Florence and became the guests of
the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima
Annunziata. There, i created the cartoon of The
Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the
Baptist. It was a great piece of work that won such
admiration that men and women, young and old
flocked to see it as if they were attending a
great festival

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.

Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Being
willing is not enough, we must do.

Year 1502
I became a millitary architect and engineer to
Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI,
travelling through Italy with my patron.
18th of October 1503
I rejoined the Guild of St Luke and painted a great
mural of the Battle of Anghiari with Michelangelo,
designing the companion piece, The Battle of

Cascina.

I) Shells that appear on mountain tops and fish

bones in caves must be the remains of animals
that long ago swam in these places when they
were covered in sea. The claim they were swept
there by the biblical flood is a completely
inadequate explanation. So the surface of the earth
has changed over time, with land where once there
was sea.
II) The most powerful natural force is the
movement of water in rivers. Water has sculpted
the very largest features of the landscape, a
process that must have taken a very long time.
III) Therefore slow and relentless natural processes,
not the divine instantaneous act described in
Genesis, have shaped our planet.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can

gather strength from distress, and grow brave by
reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm, and whose
conscience approves their conduct, will pursue
their principles unto death

Year Between 1513-1516

I spent much of my time in the Belvedee in the
Vatican in Rome. In October 1515, Francois I of
France recaptured Milan. I was commissioned to
make a mechanical lion which could walk forward,
then open its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies. In
1516, I was given a manor house Clos Luce near
the kings residence at the royal Chateau Amboise.
I spent my life accompanied by my friend, Count
Francesco
Melzi.