WHAT THEY WILL TELL YOU:

• Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps best known as a painter, with his legendary works including the Mona Lisa, the Vitruvian Man and the Last Supper, among others.
• Leonardo da Vinci wasn’t just an incredible artist, he was an inventor, scientist, mathematician, engineer, writer, musician and much more.
• The Mona Lisa is perhaps the most well known painting in the world. It is a half-length portrait of a woman who, along with the composition, background and other details, has been the subject of much speculation and discussion. It is believed that Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa around 1503. It has been on permanent display at the Louvre Museum in Paris for over 200 years.

WHAT THEY PROBABLY WON’T TELL YOU IS THAT HE WAS WIDELY REPUTED TO BE:

We know this because Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici (Leonardo’s patron for three years, from 1513 to 1516) financed the explorer Andrea Corsali’s voyage on a Portuguese ship and in a long letter to his patron Corsali made a remark about Leonardo when describing followers of Hinduism:

Alcuni gentili chiamati Guzzarati non si cibano dicosa alcuna che tenga sangue, ne fra essi loro consen tono che si noccia adalcuna cosa animata, come it nostro Leonardo da Vinci.

English translation:

Certain infidels called Guzzarati are so gentle that they do not feed on anything which has blood, nor will they allow anyone to hurt any living thing, like our Leonardo da Vinci.

What a guy! 😉