
An Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time and a visionary scientist and engineer.
Một học giả bách khoa người Ý thời Phục hưng, được xem là một trong những họa sĩ vĩ đại nhất mọi thời đại và là nhà khoa học, kỹ sư có tầm nhìn.
This biography of Leonardo da Vinci helps you learn English through real historical stories. Explore Leonardo da Vinci's impact on the world.
Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in the town of Vinci, Italy. As a young man, he received his early training in Florence under the renowned painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. During the High Renaissance, Leonardo's extraordinary talent quickly became evident. He mastered the technique of "sfumato," a method of blurring lines and blending colors to create soft, lifelike transitions. This mastery is most famously showcased in his iconic masterpieces, "The Last Supper" and the enigmatic "Mona Lisa," which remain among the most celebrated and studied artworks in human history.
While globally revered for his art, Leonardo's true genius lay in his insatiable curiosity and his belief that art and science were deeply intertwined. He filled thousands of notebook pages with detailed sketches, scientific diagrams, and observations written in a unique mirror script. He conceptualized flying machines, armored vehicles, and concentrated solar power centuries before the technology existed to build them. Furthermore, his anatomical drawings, based on the meticulous dissection of human corpses, provided an unprecedented understanding of the human body and muscular system.
Despite his visionary mind, Leonardo frequently left projects unfinished, constantly distracted by his own endless stream of new ideas and experiments. He spent his final years in France under the patronage of King Francis I, dying in 1519. Today, Leonardo da Vinci remains the ultimate symbol of the "Renaissance Man"—a polymath of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination who saw no dividing line between the humanities and the sciences, leaving a legacy that transcends both time and discipline.