Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci was an amazing guy. But let's get one thing straight: he didn't have a fucking code. That's no slam on da Vinci, of course. He painted some of the most memorable images in history, including "The Last Supper" and the "Mona Lisa." And his science was as impressive as his art. An engineer and architect, da Vinci invented the helicopter 400 years before there was such a thing as a combustion engine. Many of his inventions are still used today in one form or another, such as the hygrometer, the transmission drive, the ball-bearing axle and the machine gun. But there was no da Vinci code. Sorry. Get over it. Leonardo was born in 1452, near Tuscany in Italy, the bastard son of a local nobleman. He was reportedly an artistic prodigy, who was allowed to pore through his father's library (although he was never recognized as a legitimate offspring). As a child, he was fascinated by art, anatomy and nature. 用心 爱心 专心At the tender age of 14, da Vinci traveled to the big city, Florence, where he became an apprentice to a very successful artist of the day named Andrea del Verrocchio, who is best remembered for such classic works as... well, OK, he's best remembered for having Leonardo as an apprentice. The judgments of history are cold and heartless. del Verrocchio had a number of talented students who "assisted" him in painting his most successful works, in the custom of the day. Leonardo spent his days and nights hanging out with Verricchio, his fellow apprentices and other luminaries of the Florence art scene. Now, you may be thinking that "teenage boy in the big city lives with grown-up artists" sounds a bit fishy, but it was a perfectly accep...
