LEONARDO DA VINCI: BIOGRAPHY, PERSONALITY, SCIENCE, ART - ARTE - 2025

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) was a 15th century Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. He was one of the main exponents of the Renaissance. All works, texts and exploratory annotations made by him are considered pieces of art.

He has established himself through the centuries as one of the most outstanding painters. Among other works, Da Vinci was the author of The Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, he also made one of the most famous versions of The Last Supper.

Possible self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons Among the great contributions of Leonardo da Vinci to the world of art is the representation of space as something three-dimensional, as well as the human figure and other objects. He managed to synthesize elements of science within the execution of art and that was one of his great contributions.

He studied topics such as geology, anatomy, flight, optics, and even gravity. Some consider that Da Vinci was the real inventor of artifacts such as the flying machine, the helicopter, the parachute or the bicycle.

Important data

Leonardo da Vinci was an illegitimate son, but due to his privileged ancestry in the Florentine area, he managed to access an apprenticeship in Verrocchio's studio, despite not having obtained a formal education.

During his time in Florence he was instructed in all the arts that were handled in the workshop of his teacher. Despite this, there was no barrier that did not cross the thirst for knowledge of this Tuscan who also learned other disciplines such as medicine and other sciences.

In these years, Da Vinci managed to establish solid friendships with emerging artists such as Botticelli.

Although he began his career with the help of the Medici, the Sforzas of Milan were also instrumental in the development of Leonardo da Vinci.

For the aforementioned ruling families in Italy, as well as later for the King of France, Da Vinci served as an engineer, architect, sculptor and painter, something common in artists of the time.

Biography

Birth

Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452. His birthplace could have been the Vinci castle, near Florence, or the farm where his mother lived, which was also in the area of ​​Tuscany.

It was an illegitimate fruit of the union of his father Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci with a young peasant girl.

Leonardo's mother was called Caterina, although there are two possibilities in his surname: the first states that he was Butti del Vacca, the second affirms that he was di Meo Lippi, the latter is supported by Martin Kemp.

It has not been clarified if the mother of the future artist was a slave who came from the Middle East or a farm girl from some impoverished local family.

Leonardo's father was already engaged at the time of his firstborn's conception, so a union with Caterina was impossible.

Leonardo did not have a surname in the modern sense, but it seems that he did not make common use of "da Vinci" either (da meant "from", since it was assigned by the name of the place of origin). He was uncomfortable using the familiar name, so he simply signed his name.

Early years

Leonardo lived the first five years of his life in the maternal home, but the girl had to marry and start her family, so she could not take care of the child. From that moment the paternal family took his custody.

His grandfather Antonio da Vinci took care of him and he lived in the family residence together with his grandparents and his uncle.

Being the only son of Piero for many years, it is believed that he was treated as legitimate although he was not.

Leonardo's father served as a Florentine notary, chancellor, and ambassador. Piero married a 16-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who, unable to have children of her own, treated her husband's little offspring with great love.

Piero da Vinci's second marriage also produced no offspring. However, luck changed when Leonardo's father married Margherita di Guglielmo for the third time, with whom he had six children, who were the heirs to his belongings.

In his fourth and last marriage to Lucrezia Cortigiani, Piero had 6 more legitimate children, although he was already quite old for the time.

Education

During his stay at the Da Vinci family home, young Leonardo received a very basic informal education. He learned to read, write and the basic notions of arithmetic. But he could not delve into knowledge of the Latin language or science studies.

From a very young age it seemed that Leonardo was called to pursue an artistic career. Probably his first contacts with these disciplines were through his grandmother Lucia di ser Piero di Zoso, who was a potter.

Among the most widespread anecdotes of his first vestiges of artistic talent there is one that says that a peasant requested a shield with a drawing made by the young Leonardo.

The result was so good that Piero managed to sell it to a merchant, who did the same with the Duke of Milan. Instead, the boy's father gave the peasant another job that he had bought with part of the proceeds from the young da Vinci's work.

It is believed that at that time Leonardo was in constant contact with nature, which allowed him to capture its essence to be able to represent it in his later works.

Verrocchio workshop

Leonardo da Vinci's talent was remarkable for a young man of his age. That motivated his father to appear in one of the most important workshops in Florence, run by a friend of his, to see if this was the right career for the boy's abilities.

Thanks to Piero's efforts, the 14-year-old boy was admitted as a garzón by one of the most renowned artists of the time in Italy: Andrea Verrocchio. In fact, the teacher was pleasantly impressed with the skills of Leonardo da Vinci.

It was not until 1469 that the young man was promoted to apprentice. There he began to learn in depth all the disciplines that his teacher's workshop handled, among which was sculpture, painting, carpentry, drawing.

Similarly, da Vinci began working on wood, leather, and metal. He also learned about other technical trades related to chemistry and mechanics, which were the foundations of activities such as engineering.

According to Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci participated in the realization of works such as The Baptism of Christ and also took part anonymously in many other works carried out by Verrocchio's workshop.

Furthermore, it is thought that Da Vinci was a model in the David sculpted by his teacher and in Tobias and the Angel as the Archangel Raphael.

Teacher

In 1472 Leonardo da Vinci became part of the San Lucas guild, that is, of artists and doctors, having been included during that year in his Red Book, which included the names of its members.

From that moment he was in the faculty to practice the profession as an independent. In fact, his father helped him establish a workshop. However, Leonardo himself still did not consider himself a teacher and continued to work with Verrocchio.

He continued to work with Verrocchio for the next five years, which was when he separated from his mentor and began taking assignments independently.

He also designed the dome of the Milan Cathedral. It did not materialize since the bronze was prepared to make cannons and defend the city from the attacks of Charles VIII of France in 1499.

In that confrontation, the Duke of Milan was deposed and started the Second Italian War that lasted from 1499 to 1504.

Return to Florence

Before returning to his hometown, Leonardo spent time in Venice, where he served as a military architect and engineer. Its main task was to plan the defense against a probable naval attack.

In 1500 he returned to Florence and stayed for a time at the Santissima Annunziata monastery where he was offered a workshop in which he created The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist.

The Duke of Valentinois

For a short period of time, Leonardo da Vinci was in the service of Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alejando VI (Rodrigo Borja). The "Duke Valentino" as his patron was known, saw utility in the polymath more for his knowledge than for his art.

He was employed by the duke as an architect and military engineer. Da Vinci traveled with Borgia throughout Italy and created various maps, which was not very common at the time, but which served the young duke to create effective military strategies.

Despite having achieved a high rank within the ranks of Borgia, Leonardo returned to Florence around 1503.

Between Florence and Milan

Upon returning to his city, Leonardo da Vinci was welcomed with great honors and undoubted admiration on the part of all his countrymen.

The Medici commissioned him to make a mural in the Palazzo Vecchio that would have dimensions of 7 x 17 m. It was about the Battle of Anghiari, a work that was never completed.

Battle of Anghiari, after studies by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons. Without a doubt, the most admired and desired capacity of the Tuscan was that of an architect, as such many proposals arose for him. Among the projects that they requested was to solve the structural damage in the church of San Francesco del Monte.

He also presented a plan to divert the Arno River, which would provide Florence with an entrance to the sea and prevent flooding. This did not prosper, however over the years it became really necessary and the path proposed by Leonardo was used.

In 1504 da Vinci returned to Milan, where Duke Maximiliano Sforza had been installed with the help of Swiss mercenaries.

At this time he created his most popular work: The Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, in this piece he worked from 1503 to 1519, the year in which he died. It is said that she represented Lisa Gherardini or del Giocondo, her husband's surname.

Scientific stage

From 1504 Leonardo devoted himself much more vigorously to anatomical studies and the flight of birds. Also during that same year, his father, Piero da Vinci, died on July 9, but none of his belongings passed into the hands of his first-born as illegitimate.

Some time later when his uncle Francesco died, who named Leonardo as the sole and universal heir, his brothers tried to take those properties from the artist, but on that occasion they were not granted reason in the litigation.

In 1508 he lived for a time in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli in Florence, together with Giovanni Francesco Rústica, but he soon returned to Milan and continued dedicated to the study of scientific subjects.

Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons Leonardo da Vinci moved to Rome in 1513, where Pope Leo X, a member of the Medici family, had gathered the most talented men of Italian arts and sciences. Rafael and Miguel Ángel were used in the decoration and creation of the Sistine Chapel.

Da Vinci was not in great demand in Rome as an artist, nor did he manage to acquire defense projects, which was his greatest strength. A quote by the artist dates from that period in which he stated: "The Medici have created me, the Medici have destroyed me."

Last years

In 1515 Francisco I of France recovered Milan, from then on Leonardo da Vinci collaborated with the French monarch. He was present at the meeting between Pope Leo X and Francis I.

A short time later, the Frenchman asked Da Vinci to create for him a mechanical lion that could walk and remove a fleur-de-lis from his chest.

A year after the meeting between the Italian polymath and the King of France, Leonardo decided to move to the territories of Francisco accompanied by his assistants Salai and Francesco Melzi.

France

The artist was located in the Clos-Lucé castle near Amboise, this was the place where the King of France grew up, so the gesture was interpreted by many as that the monarch was placing all his trust in Da Vinci.

He was awarded the titles of: first painter, first engineer and first architect of the king, in addition to a pension of 10,000 escudos.

One of his first projects was the planning of the royal palace of Romorantin, which was to be a gift to Louise of Savoy from her son Francisco. The enclosure would be a small city that thanks to the diversion of a river had to have fresh water and fertile land.

Da Vinci went on to be one of the important members of the French court, even attending the christening of the royal dolphin, as well as several weddings of the French aristocracy.

Death

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France, as a result of a stroke. The artist had been ill for several months and since April of that same year he began to make his will, in addition to asking for the final sacraments.

He was buried at Saint-Hubert and requested that an entourage of 60 beggars escort him. He left no children and was never married.

Having no descendants, he decided to leave all his works, books and working materials to his assistant, who had been by his side until his death, Melzi.

His vineyards were divided between another of his apprentices, Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, and Battista di Vilussis who had been his servant. The land he owned passed into the hands of his brothers.

From that moment on, his files began to be lost by passing from hand to hand. Each of her works, including studies and notes, are considered a work of art. It is thought that he made about 50,000, of which only 13,000 are preserved.

Personality

Leonardo da Vinci is described by various authors as a generous, kind man who very soon managed to gain the affection of those who knew him, whether they were other artists or whether they were noblemen and members of the aristocracy.

Giorgio Vasari said about Leonardo:

He had a great sense of humor, a brilliant and witty conversation that brought him closer to other outstanding minds of the time such as that of Ludovico il Moro, one of his most appreciated patrons or the King of France himself, Francisco I.

Between humility and pride

It has been said of this Renaissance master that he was one of the most humble artists of the time, and that this was one of the characteristics that prompted him on several occasions to leave his creations half finished, not feeling satisfied with the results he obtained.

Vasari, Life of great artists

However, on one occasion Da Vinci felt extremely offended because when he went to withdraw the pension he had been awarded.

They gave him the sum in small denomination money and the artist exploded since he considered that he should only receive payments in precious metals.

On another occasion his integrity was questioned when he said that he took more money than he owed. Despite the fact that Leonardo had not done such a thing, he gathered the sum and went to deliver it to the alleged victim, but it was not received because there were no doubts about his honesty.

Physical

Leonardo da Vinci is described as an extremely beautiful man. Different sources indicate that he was athletic, was about 1.73 m tall and was as handsome as he was brilliant.

In one of the most faithful and contemporary sources, such as Vasari, the following description is given:

In his golden years, the artist grew his hair long as well as his beard and thus settled in his self-portrait. This style was considered to go against the fashion of the time, in which men wore their hair up to their shoulders and their faces were shaved.

Supposed self-portrait, by Leonardo da Vinci, Via Wikimedia Commons In addition, he is said to have wore brightly colored, youth-fashioned outfits until his last days of life.

According to some sources Leonardo was left-handed, although others consider that he was ambidextrous. It is known that he used the mirror writing method, probably because he wrote with his left hand.

Other traits

It is said that he was very strong, so strong that he could bend a horseshoe using only his hand. Likewise, it was established that one of his greatest youth diversions was taming horses with his friends, an activity for which great physical resistance is required.

His relationship with animals was very close, in fact, it has been said that Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian, since he could not bear to harm any animal.

In a correspondence between Andrea Corsali and Giuliano de Medici, the former explained that in the lands of India there was a people that did not consume animal meat and added "just like our Leonardo."

In the work of Giorgio Vasari, Life of great artists, the following is exposed:

Sexuality

Leonardo da Vinci shared little about his personal life, so it is difficult to know for sure what his inclinations were. There is no statement in correspondence or texts signed by him to clarify it.

Leonardo never married, his singleness generated many doubts, in addition to his secrecy about his private life, which is why some considered that this was due to the fact that the artist was actually homosexual.

However, there is a third possibility, that of asexuality, supported by one of his texts: Leonardo stated that the act of procreation was disgusting and that if sex was something guided only by lust and not by the intellect, he equated humans with animals.

Accusation

In 1476 an anonymous complaint was filed stating that the young Jacopo Saltarelli, a model and sex worker, had been sodomized by various men, including Leonardo da Vinci.

In Florence homosexuality was considered illegal during the time and in some cases the penalty for committing sodomy was death.

Curious is that in the rest of Europe at the time, Florentines were seen as effeminate despite these laws, indicating that the practice could have been widely spread among its population.

In fact, in Germany the word "Florentine" was used to call someone "homosexual".

As it was made anonymously (on two occasions), the complaint against Leonardo did not proceed. Some think that because of this inconvenience the Italian artist decided to remain celibate for the rest of his life, others affirm that he was actively homosexual.

Artist - scientist

Some time before the formation of Leonardo da Vinci, a current known as scholasticism had reigned in the field of knowledge. It claimed to use classical Greco-Roman philosophy to understand Christian doctrine.

This had its response in humanism, which wanted to return to the foundations of philosophy as an impulse to create a competent society in areas such as grammar, rhetoric, history, philosophy or poetry.

Leonardo decided to mix both doctrines in his work, thus creating a third form that resulted in the artist as the transmitter of a visual experience faithful to the reality that is in front of his eyes.

He considered that when painting, an artist becomes a parallel of the divine mind, by transforming himself into a copy of the creator at the beginning of time when he must capture something in the substrate of the work, be it animal, man or landscape.

In that position, the artist had to transmit the secrets of the universe. Da Vinci thus gave way to his own epistemology in which art and science had to be synthesized in order to obtain knowledge through their union.

Teachers and influences

In 1466 Leonardo da Vinci was accepted into the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who in turn had been a student of the master Donatello, one of the greatest of his generation and among Italian artists in general.

That was the time of Christian humanism in the city of Florence. Some of the contemporaries with Verrocchio, who followed a similar trend, were Antonio del Pollaivolo, Masaccio, Ghiberti and Mino da Fiesole.

All of these men made some impact on da Vinci's formation. However, it was the studies of perspective and light carried out by Piero della Francesca and the work De pictura, created by Leon Battista Alberti that had the greatest impact on the young artist.

Friends and patrons

Artists contemporary with Leonardo da Vinci included Botticelli, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio. Some of them made lasting friendships during Leonardo's stay at Verrocchio's workshop and the Medici Academy.

Although the other two great names of the Renaissance, Michelangelo (1475 - 1564) and Raphael (1483 - 1520), shared their passage through the world at one point, the age difference between them and Leonardo was considerable, since the Tuscan He had been 23 years old to the first and to the second 31.

He met and worked with characters such as Luca Pacioli and Marcantonio della Torre, he had friendship with a great patron of the time such as Isabella d'Este. Likewise, he got along very well with another of the most brilliant minds at that time, that is, Nicholas Machiavelli.

Among its main patrons were the Florentine Medici, as well as Ludovico Sforza of Milan, known as “il Moro”, of whom Leonardo was not only one of his servants but also a great friend.

He was in the service of Cesare Borgia, Duke of Valentinois. Then he was received by the court of Francis I of France and there he died.

Students

One of the most beloved apprentices Leonardo da Vinci had was the young Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, nicknamed il Salaino or Salai, which meant "little devil." He entered as an apprentice at age 10 in 1490. He was a handsome young man, whose beauty was equated with his bad behavior.

Leonardo left writings in which he spoke about the faults committed by Salai and described him as vain, a liar, a thief and a glutton. Despite this, the boy was in his service for many years.

Saint John the Baptist, by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons Leonardo's painting of Saint John the Baptist was modeled on Salai, this was one of the most popular Tuscan works. When Leonardo was in France, Salai returned to Milan and settled in the vineyard owned by his master, there he was later assassinated.

Another of Leonardo's students was Francisco Mezi, who began to be under the teacher's tutelage in 1506, when the boy was about 15 years old. He was with Da Vinci until he passed away in France, then he inherited the works of the Tuscan.

Among other of Da Vinci's apprentices were Marco d'Oggiono, Giovani Antonio Boltraffio, Ambrogio de Predis, Bernardino dei Conti, Francesco Napoletano and Andrea Solario.

Art

The distinctive features of Leonardo da Vinci's work were the advances he made in terms of technique, both in the gestures and chromatic tones that were used for narrative purposes and in the application of scientific studies in art.

His arduous investigations elevated Leonardo's work, learning about anatomy, both of humans and animals, perspective, treatment of light and color, botany, geology and architecture.

It is said that his works were the closest thing that existed to a three-dimensional painting, because he managed to capture in detail the depth in his works. The Italian developed an ambitious and new technique.

First jobs

While he was still working in Verrocchio's studio, Leonardo da Vinci participated in some works both in his teacher's workshop and in personal work, among which the Baptism of Christ stands out.

Also from this first stage of the Italian artist is a work that he baptized as the Annunciation.

There is another version of an annunciation that is not known if it also belonged to Leonardo. They have similarities, but both have very distinguishable elements, especially in the body language of the protagonists of the painting.

The first is small, measuring approximately 59 x 14 cm and the virgin is shown submissive to the will of God when it is revealed to her by the angel who would be the mother of Christ, the savior of humanity.

In the second version, much larger (about 217 cm in length), the virgin is reading a text and marks the page with her hand, while expressing surprise at the angel's visit with the other.

The Mother of God shows an evident confidence supplanting the traditional submission of this type of paintings.

The second version, whose authorship is attributed to Leonardo surely is much more in accordance with the humanistic parameters that dominated at the time the painting was created.

1480s

Although in this period Leonardo obtained three large commissions, only one of them was completed, apparently the artist was depressed during this period, which could influence his creative capacity.

Saint Jerome was one of the paintings that Da Vinci left unfinished at this time, apparently at this time he was very influenced by his anatomical studies and that can be seen in the little that he managed to make of this work.

One of Leonardo's most famous paintings, despite not having been able to complete it either, was the Adoration of the Magi, a mural that should have been 250 x 250 cm when completed. In this he began to develop perspective techniques and give great relevance to architecture.

Another artist tried to finish the work later, but died so it was never completed.

Finally, the great work of Leonardo in this decade was the Virgin of the Rocks, in this apocryphal scene a fairly precise background stood out that represented a rocky environment, probably because the artist was studying landscapes and geology.

Virgin of the Rock, by Leonardo da Vinci and workshop, via Wikimedia Commons However, at the time it received complaints since it did not show the architecture, which was what had been requested at first.

1490s

During this period Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to represent Ludovico Sforza's mistress, who was captured in The Lady with the Ermine (c. 1483 - 1490).

The woman's name was Cecilia Gallerani, which led to one of the interpretations in which the ermine was related to the model's surname, since the Greek word for this animal was "galé."

The meaning of the work was also associated with the nickname of Ludovico Sforza, who was called "Ermellino", because he belonged to the Order of the Ermine. Another interpretation is that Gallerani could have been pregnant with the duke.

The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons Leonardo's greatest work of this period was The Last Supper, commissioned by the Santa Maria della Grazie convent in Milan. There the artist captured the moment in which Jesus comments to his followers that one of them will betray him.

The technique that Leonardo used in the realization of this painting contributed to its rapid wear, since instead of using the common oil in frescoes he decided to make the painting with tempera, much less resistant to the passage of time.

Century XVI

One of the most beloved works by Leonardo da Vinci himself, in addition to being the most famous of his creations, was The Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, a portrait dating from between 1503 and 1506.

The model was Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo, names that gave way to the titles that were awarded to the work.

Shortly after its creation, the piece was acquired by the French monarch and since then it has become one of the most beloved treasures of that country.

The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons It is a small painting, since it measures 77 x 53 cm. The base is poplar and oil was used to carry out the work.

The technique used by the artist was sfumato, which consists of applying several delicate layers of paint and varnish to create diffuse contours, give greater depth and hide brush strokes.

He became very famous after the theft in 1911, when Vincenzo Peruggia took the painting from the Louvre Museum, where he had no special protection. Two years later he tried to sell it to the Florentine Uffizi gallery and at that time it was recovered.

Latest works

Other of Da Vinci's most influential paintings of this period were The Virgin, the Christ Child, and Saint Anne (c. 1510), a work that later artists often copied to gain proficiency in the sfumato technique.

Also noteworthy is the piece called San Juan Bautista (1513 - 1516), in which Salai served as a model for Leonardo.

Science

At present, approximately 13,000 pages of studies in various areas by Leonardo da Vinci are known, although it is estimated that that number rose to 40,000. Drawings and other artist notes contain artistic value in themselves.

The means that Leonardo found to approach science was observation. He tried to understand how the world works by describing and representing certain phenomena, but he lacked the theory in many of the cases.

It is believed that his studies on fossils were one of the foundations for the development of sciences such as paleontology.

It is known that before dying he prepared a treatise on anatomy, his inquiries were partially published in the Treaty of Painting (1651).

Anatomy

Leonardo da Vinci's studies of anatomy began early, since from his years as an apprentice with Verrocchio he began in the field. Later he dominated the representation of anatomical features in his paintings and drawings like few others.

Since he was in Florence, he obtained permission to dissect corpses at the Santa María Nueva Hospital together with Dr. Marcantonio della Torre. But during his stays in Milan and Rome he continued studying this matter.

Anatomical Figure of a Man, by Leonardo da Vinci, via Wikimedia Commons The Tuscan focused on the functioning of the skeleton, vascular system, muscles, heart, internal and sexual organs.

He left important advances in these areas, such as the detailed study of the mechanical functions of the skeleton, now useful in biomedicine. He is also responsible for the first drawing of a fetus in the womb.

He studied the effects of aging and emotions on the physiognomy of human beings. Likewise, he dedicated part of his time to anatomical studies in animals.

Engineering

Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance polymath; However, for his contemporaries the most appreciated talents that the Italian displayed were those of engineering. His inventiveness and ability to solve problems was coveted by many.

It was generally dedicated to defense, both in protecting cities and in machines designed for that purpose. That was what caught the attention of Ludovico Sforza il Moro, also for that reason he got refuge in Venice in 1499, and in the same way united him with Machiavelli and Francisco I.

Leonardo designed for Sultan Beyazid II a bridge with a single span, that is, with only two abutments, with a length of 240 m, which would be located on the Bosphorus or Strait of Istanbul. He also made plans to divert the river Arno.

Inventions

Leonardo da Vinci's Flying Machine. Source: user TTaylor. Public domain file.

A long list of inventions are attributed to Leonardo. Among them are artifacts such as the bicycle, calculator, automobile, or even a flying machine. It is known that he made custom musical instruments.

Reconstruction of a car invented by Leonardo da Vinci. Source: user AM. Public domain file.

He also created hydraulic pumps, a crank that was used to machine screws, as well as a steam cannon, a prototype parachute and a giant crossbow.

Prototype of Leonardo da Vinci's "first" helicopter. Source: user 2bass CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

The flight was another of the areas of interest of Leonardo who designed flight machines such as the ornithopter or the helical rotor (helicopter). His studies on the subject are condensed in the Codex on the flight of birds (1505).

References

1. Vasari, G. (1976). Life of great artists. 4th ed. Madrid: Editorial Mediterráneo, pp. 61-84.
2. En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Leonardo da Vinci. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
3. Heydenreich, L. (2019). Leonardo da Vinci - Biography, Art, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: britannica.com.
4. Museum of Science, Boston (2019). DA VINCI - THE RENAISSANCE MAN. Available at: mos.org.
5. Biography.com Editors (2014). Leonardo da Vinci A&E Television Networks - Biography.com. Available at: biography.com.