Genius

Leonardo da Vinci had the keenest mind of the entire Italian Renaissance. He was versatile but he did not stay on one subject for a long time, jumping from arithmetic to music to anything and everything in between. The one thing for certain about this man is that he was, in every aspect of the word, a genius. Take, for instance, his famous paintings, most notably the Mona Lisa. As said by Giorgio Vasari about one of da Vinci's peculiar methods, "He made use, also, of this device: Mona Lisa being very beautiful, he always employed, while he was painting her portrait, persons to play or sing, and jesters, who might make her remain merry, in order to take away that melancholy which painters are often wont to give to the portraits that they paint" (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html). Part of what it takes to be a genius is to try something new, and that is exactly what da Vinci did. He did not adhere to the unspoken rules and regulations of painters and the result was the most magnificent portrait to have ever been made. Another of da Vinci's quirks which made him the epitome of the word genius was his writing style.        
He wrote in such a way that a mirror had to be placed next to the pages of his journals for his writings to make any sense at all. The most plausible reasons for his doing so both lead to the conclusions that he was a genius. If he wrote in such a manner so as to protect his works from greedy hands, he knew that his ideas
were revolutionary and that he was a genius. It is also said that he wrote to avoid his hand from smudging his  previously written words, which would lead to yet another example of him not conforming to general practices. (http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeonardoRighttoLeft.html). Leonardo da Vinci, extraordinary. Genius. It was possible that he knew he was not like ordinary men and it was also possible that he was just working his hardest and doing everything to the best of his ability. The one thing for certain about Leonardo da Vinci is that he revolutionized the entire world.  

"Leonardo: Right to Left." Museum of Science, Boston | Home. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeonardoRighttoLeft.html>.


"Medieval Sourcebook: Giorgio Vasari: Life of Leonardo Da Vinci 1550." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vasari1.html>.


"File:Anatomia Homem Leonardo.jpg." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 13 May 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anatomia_homem_leonardo.jpg>.