Endowed with insatiable curiosity, an “inhumanly sharp eye” and immense talent, Leonardo da Vinci was the quintessential Renaissance man. Two of his paintings — The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa — are among the world’s greatest artistic treasures. And da Vinci’s studies of anatomy, astronomy, optics, fossils, geology, weaponry, musical instruments and flying machines anticipated (often by centuries) the discoveries of scientists and engineers.
