Da Vinci coat-of-arms on the wall of a farmhouse in Anchiano,a village near Vinci,Italy. This is thought to be where the Italian artist,architect and inventor Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was born. Leonardo lived here for five years,and then moved to Vinci,and then,at the age of fourteen,to Florence. Leonardo is most famous for his works of art,such as The Last Supper (1498) and the Mona Lisa (1504). Despite having little formal education,he filled notebooks with his scientific theories,inventions and architectural designs. His inventions included grinding and polishing machinery,and flying machines. Most of his projects were never published nor constructed. After Leonardo's death his notes lay unnoticed in a library until 1796. The farmhouse is now a museum |