2010 November SEE Program - Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci
The artist, the scientist, the dreamer, the musician and the inventor.

          This week in our enrichment program we learned about the famous and notorious Leonardo da Vinci. In exploring Leonardo's world we uncovered some amazing and unexpected facts about this ingenious man.

          Leonardo was born on April 15th, 1452 in a little village in central Italy called Vinci. Growing up as a young boy we learned that he loved animals, plants and music. He could always be seen in a field sketching all forms of wild life.  As he grew older Leonardo always had a note book in his hand. It is said that he would be able to see something that interested him and thought about what kind of invention could be made from his intuition. History books report him to be the most curious person in history.

          When Leonardo was a teenager he moved to Florence Italy. His father knew he was gifted and took his drawings to famous artists in the region. He soon became an apprentice to the very famous Verrocchio.  Verrocchio knew immediately how talented Leonardo was and had him working on his own masterpieces. It was common practice back in time for a famous artist to let an apprentice finish small minor details in their work. There is a story that when Verrocchio saw Leonardo's work he realized that his student was a better artist than he was, It is said that Verrocchio vowed never to paint again.

          Leonardo also played music. He played the lyre that he had designed for himself. It was made of silver and shaped like a horse's head. It had seven strings and looked like an upside down violin. There is much evidence that Leonardo wrote music, but none of his music exists today.

          In one of Leonardo's notebooks he claims he could create bridges, drain water from ditches, build cannons, and even build armored cars. Leonardo drew and wrote down hundreds of ideas for inventions and experiments. Leonardo also thought up smaller things, such as contact lenses, shoes for walking on water, diving suits, like life preservers, and webbed swimming gloves. Leonardo imagined how things could work. Then he put his dreams down on paper.

          Leonardo wondered about everything. He examined rocks and fossils to learn about what the world was like years ago. He studied the way water moved and how water pressure could be used to power machines. Leonardo believed that the earth was once covered in water, today's scientist says that Leonardo was absolutely right.

          The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. He worked on it for 3 years.  For reasons we are not sure of, Leonardo kept the painting until his death sixteen years later.  Leonardo died at the age of 67, a ripe old age for that time period.

          As the years passed, people mainly remembered Leonardo as painter. They forgot all the other things he did.  Today Leonardo's work inspires people of all ages. He would be amazed to know that every year; eight million people go to the Louvre just to see his favorite painting, the Mona Lisa.

          As you can see this was a unique and valuable lesson. I hope your children enjoyed this enrichment experience as much as I did. Next month we will travel across America and discover national landmarks and special points of interest.

Once again, we stretch our minds and imaginations to the limit.  Until next month's "SEE" program, Happy Learning!

Sincerely,