Leonardo da Vinci

1452 – 1519 · died at about 67^[1][2]

Art

Fun Facts About Leonardo da Vinci

• Leonardo da Vinci wrote most of his notes in mirror-image script, from right to left. He was left-handed, so writing that way was probably easier for him.^[1]
• Leonardo designed a giant horse statue for his patron Ludovico Sforza in Milan, but in 1494 the metal set aside for it was used to make a cannon instead.^[1]
• According to the biographer Vasari, Leonardo loved animals so much that he bought caged birds just to set them free. He was likely a vegetarian.^[1]
• Legend says the young Leonardo painted an angel in his master Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ so well that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again.^[1]
• Leonardo worked as chief military engineer and architect for Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, after winning the job with a map of the town of Imola.^[1]
• In Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, Leonardo and Michelangelo were commissioned to paint battle scenes on opposite walls of the same hall.^[1][3][4]
• Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus were alive at the same time.^[1][2][5][6]
• Leonardo da Vinci was alive at the same time as Johannes Gutenberg — their lives overlapped for 16 years (1452–1468).^[1][2][7][8]

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded as a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works contributed to the development of European art to an extent rivalled only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.^[1]

Contemporaries

Christopher Columbus

54 yr overlap

Niccolò Machiavelli

50 yr overlap

Vasco da Gama

50 yr overlap

Albrecht Dürer

48 yr overlap

Nicolaus Copernicus

46 yr overlap

Michelangelo

44 yr overlap

Ferdinand Magellan

39 yr overlap

Raphael

36 yr overlap

Martin Luther

36 yr overlap

Hernán Cortés

34 yr overlap

Henry VIII

28 yr overlap

Suleiman the Magnificent

25 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Leonardo da Vinci

When was Leonardo da Vinci born?

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, and died on May 2, 1519.

How old was Leonardo da Vinci at death?

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, and died on May 2, 1519, at age 67.

What was Leonardo da Vinci known for?

Leonardo da Vinci was known for: Mona Lisa, Renaissance polymath. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded as a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works contributed to the development of European art to an extent rivalled only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.

Who was alive at the same time as Leonardo da Vinci?

Leonardo da Vinci's closest contemporary was Christopher Columbus. Their lives overlapped for 54 years.