Fun Facts
Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions You Can Build Yourself

Leonardo loved animals: he was a vegetarian, and it is said that he would walk through the markets in Florence and buy caged birds so he could let them go free.

Leonardo often made lists of things he wanted to learn more about it, and he usually started the lists with the phrase, "Tell me."

Leonardo and Michelangelo (the artist who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and carved the world's most famous statue of David) both lived and worked in Florence at the same time--and hated each other.

Leonardo had seventeen half brothers and sisters.

Leonardo designed the first automobile, which ran on clockworks.

Leonardo played the lute and sang beautifully.

Leonardo dissected human corpses in order to study anatomy.

Leonardo's painting of the Mona Lisa is the world's most vandalized work of art.

The Mona Lisa was originally larger than it is today--Leonardo had originally painted two columns surrounding the figure of the seated woman, but at some time those columns were cut off.

Not a single sculpture by Leonardo exists today--at least not that anyone knows about!

Leonardo was left-handed and wrote in what is called "mirror writing." He wrote from right to left, instead of left to right, and all of his words were backwards--if you held it up to a mirror you could read it perfectly. Some historians think Leonardo wrote this way to keep others from spying on his ideas, while others think it's just that he was left handed and writing backwards kept his ink from smudging.

During the Renaissance, most people were given only a first name when they were born. Leonardo da Vinci means "Leonardo, from Vinci."