Leonardo Da Vinci - a lonely genius

A Lonely genius - The landscape around Florence, Italy, has not changed much in the last 500 years. Clusters of red-roofed houses, seemingly tossed like dice, sit across the low hills. Terraced vineyards hug small towns, and the silvery leaves of olive trees glitter in the breeze. Off in the distance, red and white poppies mix with the long, mountain grass, below the steep slopes of Monte Albano. Here, in the small Tuscan town of Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci was born, on April 15, 1452.

The birth of a child to a peasant woman was not usually an event welcomed with grand celebration. Leonardo’s birth was a humble occurrence, probably taking place in a small, simple stone house, but Leonardo’s grandfather Antonio was proud enough of the baby’s arrival to note it in his journal. He wrote: “1452: there was a born to me a grandson, the child of Ser Piero my son.”
Leonardo’s father, Piero da Vinci, came from a respected family, which was neither noble nor wealthy, but had a good reputation in the surrounding towns. Leonardo’s grandfather, Antonio, and his grandmother, Monna, owned a farm outside of Vinci, where they tended olive groves and worked fields of wheat and buckwheat. They had three children—Piero, who was 25 years old when Leonardo was born; daughter Violante; and a 16-year-old son named Francesco.
Leonardo’s father was not married to his mother, Caterina. The couple stayed together for some time, but they never married. As a promising young lawyer, Piero da Vinci probably wanted to marry a noble woman—someone whose parents could provide a dowry. This marriage gift of property or money would help Piero da Vinci establish a business in the nearby city of Florence. Caterina’s family was poor and could not provide a dowry.
Nonetheless, Piero da Vinci was probably drawn to Caterina’s beauty. Leonardo later sketched a picture of his mother, a woman of lovely, delicate features. “Have you not seen peasant girls in the mountains,” Leonardo wrote, “clad in their poor rags, bereft [deprived of] all ornaments, yet surpassing in beauty women covered with ornaments?” Leonardo’s comment was no doubt referring to the remarkable beauty of his mother. However, while Piero da Vinci and Caterina may have been in love, she obviously did not fit into his plans for a prestigious career and marriage.
Soon after Leonardo was born, his mother married a local man whose nickname was Accattabriga— “the Mischiefmaker.” Leonardo da Vinci’s mother also gave birth to a daughter, Piera, in 1454, when Leonardo was two years old. Three more children quickly followed—Lisabetta, Francesco, and Sandra. Leonardo was jealous of his half sisters and half brother. He did not like sharing his mother’s attention. He felt that his half sisters and half brother were more special because they lived with both of their parents, in the same house.
Leonardo’s home life soon changed. When he was about five years old, he went to live with his grandfather, Antonio. By this time, his father had married Albiera di Giovanni Amadori, from a fine Florentine family. Piero Da Vinci and his new wife lived in Florence, a day’s journey away from Vinci, but Leonardo’s father made the trip as often as he could.

Leonardo had a troubled childhood. He rarely saw his mother and father, instead spending most of his time with his grandfather. Leonardo must have felt lost, like he did not belong anywhere. The closest thing to a father figure he had was probably his Uncle Francesco. When his uncle finally got married, Leonardo must have felt betrayed.
Leonardo was a country boy. As a child, he learned how to plough, plant, and harvest. He undoubtedly worked in the orchards, grain fields, vineyards, and olive groves around his grandfather’s farm. In those days, as is still true today, olives played an important part in everyday life. Olive oil was used in cooking, to fuel lamps, for medicine, and as an ointment for cuts, scrapes, and rashes. Leonardo loved the outdoors and spent hours wandering the flowering meadows, climbing the rocky hillside, and relaxing under the shade of the chestnut trees.
One day, while young Leonardo took a break from hiking in the mountains, he noticed a layer of rock high up in a cave. Shells and bones had become embedded in the stone. Leonardo recognized them as being some sort of sea creature. The shells appeared to have turned into stone, or fossils, as we call them today. At that time, Leonardo did not know about fossils. He wondered how the shells had gotten to the cave, miles away from the sea and hundreds of feet above the water.
Despite his abundant curiosity and sharp mind, Leonardo did not like school. He often neglected his reading and mathematics lessons. He preferred to learn in his own way, by observing the world around him. He tried to find answers to things that puzzled him. One of the most unusual and fascinating things about young Leonardo was his “mirror writing.” Throughout his life, he worried about the possibility of others stealing his ideas. The observations in his notebooks were written in such a way that they could only be read by holding the books up to a mirror. He wrote his notes backwards, from right to left, and he also formed each letter in reverse. For example, a Leonardo d looked like a normal b. This talent, no doubt, took an exceptional mind. From a very early age, Leonardo da Vinci showed signs of genius.

As he journeyed through the countryside, young Leonardo always carried a notebook. If something captured his attention, he quickly pulled out a notebook and made a sketch. Leonardo especially enjoyed animals. He drew pictures of birds, lizards, cats, dogs, horses, oxen, bears, and lions. All living creatures fascinated him, and he studied their every movement. Next to one of his early drawings, he wrote, “If at night you place your eye between the light and the eye of a cat, you will see that its eye seems to be on fire.”
Before long, it became obvious that Leonardo had an incredible talent for drawing. In fifteenth-century Italy, drawing, painting, and sculpting were not just hobbies. Because there were no cameras or photographs, painting was the only way to create images of famous people and important events in history. Piero da Vinci was aware of his son’s talent, so he arranged for young Leonardo to become an apprentice of a well-known artist named Andrea del Verrocchio. At about the age of ten, Leonardo prepared to make another move. This time, he was on his way to Florence, to study under the watchful eye of a great painter and sculptor.

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