Although Leonardo explored a significant number of areas of human knowledge, he was not really a universal genius. For example, he had no interest what so ever in history, literature or religion, which may have been the reason why most of his inventions were never fully developed.
Leonardo Da Vinci was a man of unique gifts, whose fertile imagination produced images of unequalled vitality and beauty. Leonardo use to use painting as a means of thinking and relaxing. The main component of his painting talent that made him famous was his extremely skilful ability of realizing his paintings. His gift of applying shadow and tone to a painting was unmatched by no other. He could make pictures seem like they were about to jump into reality.
Leonardo was born in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci near Florence, and was the illegitimate son of a Florentine lawyer "Piero". He was raised in his father's house like a young nobleman until the age of 17, when he was apprenticed with one of the leading artists of the day, "Verrochio", This was Leonardo began to study human form in the workshop of verrochio.
After some time of painting in verrochio's workshop, it was clear that Leonardo had developed into an exceptionally gifted artist.
In 1478, Leonardo finally graduated from verrochio's workshop and became an independent master artist. From this time he travelled across the country, painting various artworks for chapels and ministries, also slowly developing his art skills and knowledge to great extents.
He continued working on artworks until about 1482 when he entered the service of the duke of Milan. This move was due to an astonishing letter sent to the duke himself, which stated some of Da Vinci's knowledge and skills that he excelled in. Leonardo offered that he could build portable bridges and he also knew the techniques of constructing bombardments and making cannons. He also stated that he could build ships as well as armoured vehicles, catapults and other war machines.
