Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, Tuscany (now Italy), near the town of Vinci. Fathered by a respected attorney and mothered by a peasant, young Leonardo received little formal education beyond the basics of mathematics, reading, and writing. However, his father and uncle, who both raised him, had an appreciation for art. They encouraged Leonardo, and at around the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to the noted artist Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence. With him, he studied and perfected carpentry, leather arts, drawing, sculpting, painting, and metalworking. At the age of twenty, in 1472, da Vinci qualified for membership in Florence’s Guild of Saint Luke. He, however, decided to instead continue working with …show more content…
“Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” Leonardo stressed the importance of exact body proportions in art. In order for his artwork to be perfect, Leonardo started to seriously study anatomy. During the 1480s, he spent quite a long time dissecting human and animal bodies to sketch organs, bones, and muscular structures. In addition to anatomy, da Vinci studied physics, zoology, aeronautics, hydraulics, botany, and geology. To keep track of observations, Leonardo sketched on loose pieces of paper he tucked into his belt for when needed. He then further organized his observations into dozens of broadly themed notebooks such as anatomy, painting, architecture, and mechanics. He rarely experimented, but several of his machine designs were extremely accurate. Sadly, he was a man ahead of his time, as many of his ideas such as helicopters, military tanks, bicycles, and submarines would not be invented until centuries later. By studying science, he was able to accurately improve his art, and by studying art he was able to sketch his extraordinary ideas on