Journal of

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.

Leonardo da Vinci

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.

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

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than

mastery of oneself

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

Milan Cathedral and a model for a huge equastrian

monument to Francesco Sforza, Ludovicos predecessor.

The Last Supper

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.

I do a lot of work for Ludovico included floats and

pageants for special occasions, designs for a dome for

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.

into the world had finally left. I

There are three classes of people : those who see.
Those who see when they are shown.
Those who do not see.

settled her funeral expenditure. I hope my mother,

Caterina would rest in peace.
Year 1495
I received sad news. The woman who had brought me

Tears come from the heart, and not from the brain

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 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

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.

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) 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

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.

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