Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci By any standards, Leonardo da Vinci is one of the greatest minds to ever have lived. His fame is not only a product of his multi-talented life as a painter, architect, mechanic, scientist, geologist, writer, musician, physicist, and inventor, but also the quality of his vision and the caliber of his mind. There was no man before him, and as of yet, no man since that has been able to combine the worlds of art and science as masterfully as Leonardo da Vinci did. Leonardo was an illegitimate child, born in the village of Vinci, from where his family took their name. Because he showed a talent for drawing at an early age, his father apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio, a famous artist who owned a workshop and guided Leonardo through the many elements of art. When he was old enough, Leonardo sought employment with different persons of royal status. Part of the reason why Leonardo sought employment, other than painting and drawing was because this was a time of war in Italy, and sculptors and architects were high in demand, not for their artistic skills, but for their knowledge of engineering. While he was working as a military architect slash advisor, Leonardo worked on some of his most memorable designs. According to Bern Dibner, in his book Inventing Leonardo, it is the life of Leonardo da Vinci during this time frame that has inspired many different people of history as well as people of the present. Today I would like to show you why Leonardo da Vinci is a man that will always be considered one of the greatest people to have ever lived. Although Leonardo was quite man, his work spoke for itself. Through his work as a painter and inventor, we have learned that Leonardo was a perfectionist. He loved what he was doing and put every bit of effort he had in his body, to each of the tasks he faced. He painted such masterpieces as The Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper, as well as designing a tank, helicopter, submarine, parachute, a flying machine and possibly the first simple computer ever. As a scientist Leonardo's ideas were quite unique and way ahead of their time. In fact, according to Charles Gibbs-Smith in his book The Unknown Leonardo, the great psychologist Sigmund Freud was quoted as saying about Leonardo da Vinci "He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while others were still asleep." It is because the others were still asleep that many of his designs were lost. The works of Leonardo inspired many different people from many different arenas. His art inspired such great artists as Michaelangelo, Donatello, Marcel Duchamp, and such modern artists as Jackson Pollack. His inventive genius has inspired numerous different people including Bill Gates, the Founder and CEO of Microsoft, who just paid somewhere around 60 million dollars for one of Leonardo's many notebooks. Even Leonardo's mind has inspired others. Sigmund Freud spent a large amount of time trying to analyze Leonardo's mind even though he was dead way before Freud was born. Freud was trying to figure out why or how Leonardo was so further advanced than many of the others in his time. Of course his conclusion was that Leonardo was sexually repressed and thus channeled all of his energy into his life's work. Well whether you believe him or not, you have to agree with the fact that Leonardo is definitely an interesting subject. He may have accomplished more than any other man in history, yet very little is known of him. What we do know of him has inspired many. All in all, Leonardo was an intellectual and artistic giant, whose like has never appeared either before or after him. He stands alone in history, and once a person comes in contact with him, he or she is doomed to devote a great deal of time studying the paintings, drawings, inventions, and sketches, as well as the life of this remarkable human being. Bibliography: Word Count: 684
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