Almanac of Story Tellers: Leonardo da Vinci

  Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of April 15th

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    It is the 105th day of the year, leaving 260 days remaining in 2022.  

    On this date in 1452, the personification of the Renaissance humanist ideal, Leonardo da Vinci, was born near Vinci, Italy, in what was then the Republic of Florence.

   

    Leonardo epitomized the polymath, a word that seemed invented to describe him. He told stories regarding just about every field imaginable. 

    He was -- big intake of air here -- an artist, painter, sculpter, writer, theorist, draughtsman, architect, engineer, cartographer, inventor, and a scientist with expertise in anatomy, botany, astronomy, and paleontology. 

    Leonardo was inspired by an unlimited desire for knowledge, and his ability to see -- nay, his saper verdere, knowing how to see -- was the remarkable nature of his life. His creativity was beyond compare, and he used his abilities to study nature itself.    

    After his death, many of his notebooks were found -- some 13,000 pages worth -- increasing the awe in which he was held. Leonardo's drawing including flying machines, designs for wings, war machines, a helicopter, solar power, and shoes for walking on water. He studied plants, rock formations, whirlpools, and the faces of babies.

    His art -- which include The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and The Vitruvian Man -- is  considered among the greatest in history. His anatomical drawings were centuries before his time in his knowledge of the skeleton, and the muscular and vascular systems. Heck, he even draw a picture of a fetus in utero.

    Above all, Leonardo's intellect was considered not only far above being a mere mortal, but he was also seen as a gracious, pleasant, and vivacious man. 

    He died in 1519 in the Kingdom of France.