The Life & Times of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Leonardo was born in the small town of Vinci near to Florence in

the Tuscan countryside of Italy. He has been considered to be
one of the great geniuses of all time, but what can we learn about
his genius from the life he lead?

Firstly, he was an illegitimate son and was never recognized by
his father. He was deprived of the education he could have
expected. One of the clues is in his hand writing. Leonardo wrote
backwards! Why? Some
people have suggested
that it was to hide his ideas from getting into the
wrong hands, but the answer is probably far
simpler. Leonardo, like many creative people, was
left handed. Until recent times left handed people
were forced to write how teachers thought was best.
In fact western culture has always had a disposition
towards this perspective. For example in many
European languages the word right is a synonym
of correct, whilst in some languages, such as
Italian the word for left (sinestra or sinister)
literally means strange or unusual. We can now
see the origins of these prejudiced attitudes towards
the left! Precisely because he had never been corrected his mind remained outside of the
box, free from the constraints of formal education.

Another clue is in the fact that Leonardo never learnt to read
Latin. Most of the scientic knowledge of his times was in the
language of the church and strictly controlled by it. Scientic
enquiry had not been about experimentation since the times
of the ancient Greeks. This was mainly due to the presence
of slavery in society. Investigation which required physical
effort or getting your hands dirty came to be perceived as
something vulgar. Only slaves used their hands! From the
times of the Greek philosopher Plato science and philosophy
became a pure pursuit of the mind. This was extremely
damaging to the progress of science and lead to the end of
classical culture and the beginning of the dark ages.

Leonardo came exactly at the end of these times and the fact that he couldnt read Latin
meant that he was the rst person to start again with physical experimentation. He made
lots of observations that may seem to be obvious, but most scholars had their heads in
books that had been written hundreds of years in the past (usually full of mistakes!) and
did not make the effort to observe the world themselves!

The method of scientic inquiry was reborn and would lead to the great discoveries of
scientists such as Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. It also gave us the idea that there is
no such thing as an authority in science. A theory must be proved with evidence and no
matter how much we like it or are attached to an idea (probably because it is traditional to
believe it!) we must question it and if necessary change our ideas along with the evidence.

The Life and Times of Leonardo da Vinci: Part 2.

Leonardo was fortunate to live in an era that was rediscovering the classical past. Florence
was a city where new ideas could ourish. A place which attracted young talent with new
ideas which would not have been tolerated in other places
because of the churchs control over society. However the Italy
of the renaissance was a dangerous place to live. Here are
some of the most inuential people of the era.

Lorenzo de Medici

Lorenzo came from a family of bankers
who took control of the city of Florence.
However these bankers decided to use
their wealth and inuence to patronise
the arts, science and literature. Lorenzo
was different to most leaders as he was
open to new ideas and embraced
change. He was a humanist and wanted
to encourage the best in people. He was one of the rst to
recognise Leonardos talent, translated ancient texts into modern
languages and provided the money for most of what we now
consider the renaissance or rebirth after
the middle ages. His most important act
was probably his discovery of a young
boy who could make sculptures like the
ancient Greeks. Lorenzo instantly took the
boy into his own family and helped him
towards greatness. That boy was called Michelangelo and he
grew up to create the most famous statue in the world.

Pope Sixtus IV

Pope Sixtus was notorious for his policies of nepotism. He
used his power to give land and riches to members of his
family. He was Lorenzos main enemy as he was against the
forward thinking progressive direction in
which he was taking the city of Florence.
There was a delicate balance of power in the Italy of his times. The
Pope controlled no army, but had an alliance with the military city
state of Naples to the south.

Galeazzo Maria Sforza

Lorenzo didnt control an army either, but he had an alliance with the
northern Italian city state of Milan, which was controlled by the Sforza
family (who Leonardo would go to work for later in his life) Galeazzo
Maria was the head of the Sforza family and although he was a
degenerate who ruled Milan with fear and intimidation, Lorenzo, a
humanist, needed his protection against the threat of attack by the
Pope and Naples. It was a balance of power too fragile to last


Leonardos Notebooks.

Here are some of Leonardos ideas. Describe what you think each picture represents.































Da Vincis Demons, Episode One: The Hanged Man.


1. What shape is the river of time?

2. What was Leonardos earliest memory?

3. What doesFlorence demand of its people?

4. What happened to Galeazzo Maria Sforza?

5. What is the Turk after?

6. What is the columbina?

7. Why will people seek to destroy Leonardo?

8. Why does he buy the birds in the market place?

9. What does the hanged man represent?

10. What does the turk say about history?

11. Who are the sons of Mithras?

12. What happened to Leonardos mother?

13. What is Leonardos reputation as an artist?

14. Why does Lorenzo need weapons?

15. Why did Leonardo use Lucrezia?

16. Who are the Pazzi family?