Leonardo DaVinciThe original Renaissance Man

You know about his famous artwork such as:

The Last Supper

And the “Mona Lisa”

But did you know he also kept notebooks of his thoughts?

A few facts about his notebooks:1) They are written in Italian when most scholars wrote in Latin2) They are written right to left (backwards)

--it’s easier to read if you use a mirror

--People accused him of trying to keep secrets but it probably had more to do with the fact he had no formal education.--His parents weren’t married so he wasn’t allowed to attend school

Since he had no formal schooling,1) He wasn’t taught Latin2) He wasn’t taught that you write from left to right

He had ideas about optics (as seen below)

He also had theories about moonlight

He also had theories about mirrors reflecting heat so as to set objects on fire

Codex LeicesterHis notebooks were written on loose paper and later boundThe most famous one is the Codex Leicester (where the previous images are from)Bill Gates bought it at auction in 1994 for 30 million dollarsTo date, it is still the most expensive book ever sold (the second most expensive book “Gospels of Henry the Lion” sold for 11.7 million dollars)He had it digitized and it is available onlineYou can go online to the British Library and see more pages from this book

• Works Cited• "Biography." Leonardo DaVinci: Renaissance Master. A&E. New York,

New York, 1997. Television.• "LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519 The Last Supper, One of Da Vinci's

Most Famous Paintings. INTRODUCTION." DA VINCI. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.• "Leonardo Da Vinci's Notebooks - Overview." Turning the Pages 2.0™ -.

Web. 20 Oct. 2014.• "Picture of DaVinci - Google Search." Picture of DaVinci - Google

Search. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.• Temple, Emily. "The 10 Most Expensive Books in the World." The

Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.• "Turning the Pages™ - British Library." Turning the Pages™ - British

Library. Web. 20 Oct. 2014