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=**Leonardo da Vinci: Renaissance Man**=

The Beginning
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. His parents parted ways after his birth, but continued to have children with other spouses, giving Leonardo a grand total of 17 half brothers and sisters. Leonardo served as an apprentice to the renowned Andrea del Verrochio in Florence from the time he was 15 until around 1477. He was given his first big break when assigned to paint an angel in Verrochio's "Baptism of Christ", and painted the angel so well that Verrochio realized the young man's talents far exceeded his own, and swore never to paint again.

An Age of Invention
In 1482, da Vinci was hired by the Duke of Milan, not only to paint, sculpt, and design court festivals, but also to design weapons, buildings, and machinery. During the time span of 1485 to 1490, Leonardo produced studies on various subjects such as nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, canals, and architecture. He even managed to design churches and fortresses while preparing these studies. Never to be on the dull side, Leonardo produced plans for advanced weapons: tanks, war vehicles, submarines, and several combat devices. Sadly, most of his ideas were scoffed at by the general public and his patrons, yet today many of his inventions or ideas are put into practical use during wartime. It can also be noted that during this time period in Milan, Leonardo produced his first anatomical studies.

"What Project?"
Leonardo da Vinci was an artistic and scientific genius, and like other imaginative people of his category was often distracted by new ideas, theories, or interests. Oftentimes, da Vinci would start a work and become involved in another project before finishing the first, causing him to lose focus and never complete his task. This flaw resulted in his finishing only six works in a time span of 17 years. Leonardo preferred to spend most of his time studying science by observing nature and the outdoors, or studying the human anatomy by dissecting bodies in his workshop. Still, da Vinci developed one good habit amidst the not-so-good habits. He constantly journaled his studies in detail in illustrated notebooks which are now quite valuable to researchers today. His main themes in his studies are categorized as the following: painting,architecture, the elements of mechanics, and human anatomy. Bill Gates payed $30 million for da Vinci's "Codex Leicester".

Family Feud
On July 9, 1504, Leonardo's father Ser Piero passed away. Although just as much a blood relative to his father as his brothers and sisters, Leonardo was denied an inheritance by his siblings. Soon after his father's death, another relative died, this time a beloved uncle, but da Vinci fought the greedy schemes of his brothers and sisters and ended up with the use of his uncle's land and money.

The Last Years
Suffering from a paralized right hand, Leonardo da Vinci's retirement may have been well justified, but the eccentric artist still continued to draw and teach. He produced more studies for the Virgin Mary, cats, horses, dragons, St. George, anatomical studies, studies on the nature of water, drawings of the Deluge, and of several assorted machines. Leonardo died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France. As the legends go, King Francis was at da Vinci's deathbed and cradled the dying artist's head in his royal arms.