Leonardo da Vinci — Genius of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the small Tuscan town of Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a notary and a peasant woman, a status that carried a heavy price. It barred him from the prestigious Latin schools of the time, preventing him from receiving a traditional classical education. Leonardo would later refer to himself as an 'omo sanza lettere', a man without letters. But this disadvantage became his greatest strength. Unable to rely on ancient scholarly texts he could not read, he instead turned to the world around him. He learned to trust his own eyes above all else, developing a powerful habit of direct observation that would fuel his genius for the rest of his life.