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Kaitlin Sepanek
Mr. Barone
Class 2
4 May 2015
Leonardo da Man
Leonardo da Vinci is the original Renaissance man, known for his artwork,
knowledge of sciences and many inventions. These ideas and inventions were far ahead
of his time, and his influence still affects how art and science is viewed today. Most of his
thoughts and ideas were recorded in his many carefully handwritten journals preserved
for years to come, as well as his paintings and sketches.
Throughout da Vincis life, he was always interested in the arts and sciences and
saw no difference between them. When he was 15, he was inspired to perfect his skills in
sculpting and painting. He continued to learn about skills needed to become an
exceptional artist, which included technical skills such as metal working, carpentry and
leather arts. By the age of 20, he had qualified as a master artist in the Guild of Saint
Luke and established his own workshop. (Grimm). He began to paint and discovered
one of his many astounding talents. Some of his famous paintings are Mona Lisa, The
Last Supper, and Virgin of the Rocks. These are preserved and are still being shown in
museums throughout the world. His most famous painting, Mona Lisa, is a portrait of a
woman during the Renaissance named Lisa Giaconda. In the Italian Renaissance world,

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which Leonardo moved, formed the material basis for this ideas and and the currents of
whose influence sustained the virtuoso upward flights of his mind (Nicholl 8). During
and after this move, he had many new ideas and inspiration to paint the Mona Lisa and
thousands of new sketches in his journal. This picture was never the way da Vinci
wanted it to be and was a forever work in progress towards perfection. Many people
know of this painting, now kept in the Louvre Museum in Paris,
France, and it is a truly incredible piece. Mona Lisa viewers feel that the woman in the
painting is watching them, regardless of their position in relation to the frame.
(Campbell). This perspective technique is equally as impressive as the three-dimensional
technique that he used in The Last Supper. The room in which Jesus and his disciples are
sitting appears symmetrical and realistic, a perfect representation of there-dimensional
space, whereby the walls seem to be converging inwards. (Campbell). The way he
painted influenced the Renaissance and the future ways of painting in every stroke of his
brush, forever impacting the world of art.
Da Vincis sketches of human body parts such as bone structures, vascular system
and muscle structures are some of the first to ever be kept on record. He kept a book of
research, diagrams and ideas he did not share until many years later. The most famous
sketch was of a naked male with his arms and legs spread apart enclosed in a circle and
square known as The Vitruvian Man, which combined art with geometry. Along with
human anatomy, Leonardo also carried out comparative anatomical studies. One of his
comparative anatomical studies compares the structure of a man's leg to that of a dog

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(Pillai). Using his tools and knowledge, he compared animal and human body parts, and
figured out that our body works relatively close to that of any animal. He also used
human bodies to study the skull and organs from the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital and
drew sketches of them in his notebooks.
Not only was he an artist and scientist but he was also an inventor. Sketches of
flying machines he drew greatly resembled helicopters or planes of today. He was the
first person thought to ever contrive a different way of transportation other than a bike or
by foot. He had some other sketches of inventive thoughts, such as a 33-barreled gun,
which was a modern-like machine gun that could fire many bullets in succession. Not
only is this design still used today, but he also designed a machine that resembled a
modern day tank. He had sketches of automobiles that used fuel, not a human, to work
all on its own. NASA used some of Leonardo da Vincis designs to make a robot for
planetary exploration on Mars. The first ever humanoid robot was constructed in the
15th century by Leonardo da Vinci. This, he had actually built, and was used to entertain
people (Pillai). The modern idea of robots is not so much to entertain people as it is to
explore planets and help in hospitals. Still, da Vinci had the right idea and was able to
help us in the greatest ways through science and technology- even though he had been
dead for over five hundred years.
Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor with ideas that were way ahead of his time. He
was a true Renaissance man, was educationally well-rounded, and saw no difference
between science and art. He was known for his fantastic painting, Mona Lisa, and his
useful inventions. Leonardo da Vinci was without question a genius beyond his years and

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was the most influential person of the Renaissance.

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Works Cited
Campbell, Shawn. Leonardo da Vincis Life. Web. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
<http://www.davincilife.com/aboutus.html>
Grimm, Laura. "Leonardo da Vinci." Web. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web.
Retrieved 26 April 2015. < http://www.history.com/topics/leonardo-da-vinci>
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo Da Vinci: Flights of the Mind. New York City: Viking
Penguin, 2004. Print.
Pillai, Prabhakar. Facts about Leonardo da Vinci Buzzle, 2015. Web. Retrieved 26
April 2015. < http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-leonardo-davinci.html>