“Art is never finished , only abandoned.” This is a phrase that had once been said by Leonardo da Vinci, probably because he finished very few of his own paintings. There were a lot of renaissance artists, but very few measure to the height of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, Italy. As a young man he received no formal education,except for the basics of reading, writing, and math. Around age 15, his father finally realized his talents & had decided to apprentice him to the painter, Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence. A few years later, when da Vinci was 20, he was offered a membership at the Painters Guild Of Florence , but he declined in order to become an independent master in 1478. …show more content…
He also often enjoyed writing down what are now very famous ideas like blueprints for the bicycle, helicopter, and the military tank. Unfortunately none of his ideas would be invented for centuries to come. It is believed that his abundance of interests may have been why he is only most famous for his two big paintings, The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Leonardo also dove into nature by dissecting bodies (human and animal) and tested scientific laws. He also could sometimes be found looking back at his own personal observations. During the early 1490’s da Vinci began to write in notebooks that focused on four diverse subjects:Painting, architecture, mechanics, and the human anatomy.These books are still often referred to as da Vinci’s “codices.” One of da Vinci’s notebooks contained plans for a 65-foot glider that was based on the physiology of the bat and other principles of aeronautics and physics. Some of his other notebooks were filled with his studies of the human skeleton, their muscles and the brain. They also have brought different ways of understanding the human body. Unfortunately because his books on all of these were printed so early they were not taken nearly as seriously as they should