One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.Leonardo da Vinci

[youtube=nrV91kOn-ao]Video: A short Biography of Leonardo da Vinci[/youtube]bio.

Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of a Renaissance Man. He had an unquenchable curiosity and inventive imagination. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote. Today Leonardo remains best known for his art, including two paintings that remain among the world’s most famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.Leonardo da Vinci

Humble Beginnings

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, Tuscany (now Italy). Born out of wedlock to respected Florentine notary Ser Piero and a young peasant woman named Caterina, he was raised by his father and his stepmothers. Beginning around age 5, he lived on the estate in Vinci that belonged to the family of his father, Ser Peiro, an attorney and notary. Da Vinci’s uncle, who had a particular appreciation for nature that da Vinci grew to share, also helped raise him.

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