Leonardo was an "out-of-wedlock" child of a notary, Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman, Caterina. Means they were not married. Born in 1452, he spent his first 14 years in his parents' houses.
No one comes out of womb with knowledge- except he is a child prodigy. It was same for Leonardo. At the age of fourteen, he worked under the renowned artist of the time, Verrocchio. After for ten years working and learning under him, Leonardo started his professional life in 1478. He received two altarpieces to complete, but couldn't because he went to Milan.
Around 1480s, he made the first of his important works Virgin of the Rocks. After that his major work was The Last Supper. You might have seen it already. It is the depiction of Jesus with his disciples on the night before Jesus' crucifixion.
At the night, he declared that one of his apostles will betray him by tomorrow. The picture shows the exact moment, when all the disciples are in awe and shock by the news. Just like today, in that era too, the work received the title of ‘masterpiece'.
And then, his greatest art-work came out in early 16th century, the Mona Lisa. A portrait which depicts a woman, with a secret smile. Many people don't know that the painting has another name ‘La Giaconda' means the laughing one.
Most researchers believe that the element which makes Mona Lisa's smile mysterious is Leonardo's new technique called Sfumato (or Leonardo's smoke). It is a technique of subtle use of shadows to create particular effect. In the paintings, the shadows at the corners of mouth and eyes are made by this technique, which bewitches the view in suspicious way about the nature of her smile. Well, there is a lot written and heard about the painting and its secrets, so we are not going to repeat it pointlessly.
Putting the paintings apart, Leonardo also worked on drawings, science, study of human anatomy, mathematics, engineering and inventing or predicting some future technologies, which unimaginable for general people. Putting himself ahead of his time, He predicted concepts of a helicopter, new type of bridges and hydraulics, tank, parachute and hang glider. Moreover, he studied many fields leaving 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, which reveals his designs of shoes for walking on water, wings, study of fetus in the womb. His most famous collection of scientific notes is called Codex Leicester, currently owned by Bill Gates. And did you know that he used to write in his journals backwards! The reason is said that he was left-handed, and it would easy for him to write in that direction.
More than 500 years have been passed after his death, but because of his discoveries, concepts, ideas, productions and varied fields, we still remember him with respect and consider him as ‘the most diversely talented person ever lived.'