Leonardo Da Vinci: What Makes A Leader?

When one hears the word ‘Leader’ what image or person immediately comes to mind? Is it of a General leading their army? Is it of a President leading their country? Or maybe a politician motivating the masses? What makes us associate these images to the word Leader? What is a Leader exactly? Many would say that a Leader is someone who helps others helps themselves. Some would say a Leader is one who can inspire, drive, and influence people to do things for them. To others, they are simply the person who leads, whether it is a small group, an organization, or even something as large as a country. But are all Leaders people in high positions or those with significant pull of some kind? What other positions can a great and memorable Leader be in and is it always in spotlight-esque view? Many great Leaders have been recorded throughout history, both for extraordinary and sometimes terrible deeds, but what about Leaders who aren’t immediately thought of as such?

Leonardo da Vinci is known as the “Renaissance Man” or more widely as simply da Vinci.

He is mostly known for his famous works The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Many regard him as one of the greatest artistic minds in history, but what is less known is that he was also a brilliant inventor and scientist. In fact, da Vinci had knowledge of so many subjects and dabbled in so many projects, it is still difficult for people to concisely state his actual profession. The world views him as a painter, sculptor, mathematician, architect, musician, engineer, and anatomical genius. All complex and difficult areas to study much less master and yet da Vinci pursued them all. But what and who was Leonardo da Vinci truly? What drove him to study both the sciences and arts simultaneously- one dedicated to fact and the pursuit of true knowledge and the other a path of visual perfection and

depth.
To try and answer such difficult questions, we need to understand where da Vinci was coming from and what led him to study so many varied subjects.
Da Vinci was born in 1452 in Anchiano, Tuscany- which is now Italy- close to a town called Vinci which influenced his surname as we know it today. His mother was a peasant and his father an attorney and notary. They never married but da Vinci and his mother lived with his father and beginning when he was five years old. His uncle also lived with them and it was his appreciation for nature that would help influence da Vinci further in life. Though he had no formal education growing up, da Vinci at least had basic knowledge of reading, writing, and math. However, his father more noticeably appreciated his artistic talent and had him apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio when he was fifteen. He studied under Verrocchio for ten years, refining his sculpting and painting skills while also dabbling in more mechanical studies and became an independent master in 1478. His first commissioned work after becoming a master was for a Scopeto monastery, but it was never finished and da Vinci