Leonardo Da Vinci: Everything You Need to Know

Walter Isaacson’s richly illustrated 600-page book tracks Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing advances in art and technology that helped power Europe’s cultural rebirth. It also brings da Vinci the man to life, revealing the ways he was both ahead and of his time.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in a small town in Italy in 1452 and was the illegitimate son of a notary and a peasant woman. He was a true polymath, with interests spanning painting, engineering, anatomy, and architecture, among others.

He was an apprentice in the studio of the renowned artist Verrocchio in Florence, where he learned the techniques of painting, sculpture, and metalworking. Da Vinci is most famous for his paintings, including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but he was also a prolific inventor.

He made groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of anatomy and optics, and even sketched designs for early flying machines and submarines. Da Vinci was known for his meticulous attention to detail and his habit of constantly sketching and taking notes.

Leonardo sketched an arsenal of futuristic weapons he found in a book by an arms inventor. He drew his fantastical designs, including a Titan-sized crossbow and the world’s first armored tank: a circular craft featuring a ring of cannons.

Despite his many achievements, he was notoriously slow to complete his projects and often left them unfinished. He was a deeply introspective person who kept a series of journals known as the Codex, which contained his thoughts, ideas, and sketches.

His portrait of Mona Lisa had been started in 1503, and the contracted date of delivery had long since passed. But Leonardo had fallen in love with the painting, and would spend the rest of his life adding brushstrokes to further animate the image.

Leonardo’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder gained Da Vinci a royal appointment in Milan’s court, as it was a gift to the King. It was wildly popular and marked the Renaissance break with centuries of traditional painting, with major figures of Christianity painted as everyday people.

Along with its technical mastery, every Leonardo painting has a certain special spark that draws people in. It’s hard to put our finger on exactly what this is, but Isaacson’s biography brilliantly alludes to the many reasons why humanity has appreciated Da Vinci for centuries.

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