da Vinci Leonardo Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who worked as a painter, draftsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. He lived from 15 April 1452 to 2 May 1519. He gained notoriety for his notebook, in which he produced sketches and notes on a variety of topics, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, painting, and paleontology, even though his popularity primarily stemmed from his accomplishments as a painter. Only his younger contemporary, Michelangelo, has made a greater impact to following generations of painters than Leonardo, who is widely recognized as a genius and the embodiment of the Renaissance humanist ideal. One of the finest artists in art history, Leonardo is frequently considered as the father of the High Renaissance. He produced important discoveries in optics, tribology, hydrodynamics, geology, and civil engineering, but he never published his findings, therefore they had little to no immediate impact on subsequent science. Read More Read Less