elangelo. Also during this time, he attempted to build a flying machine. Three years later he left Florence for Milan and in 1507 he was appointed painter and engineer at the court of Louis XII in France. It was here that he painted the renown "Mona Lisa" as well as the "Bacchus," the "Leda," and "St. John the Baptist."
He continued his scientific studies and working on hydraulics upon his return to Florence and Milan in 1508 until a patron, Giuliano de Medici, brother of Pope Leo X, invited him to Rome. It was during this tine he pursued his interest in optics and anatomy. In 1516, with the death of de Medici, he moved back to France at the request of King Francis I. He died there on May 2, 1519, and is buried in the cloister of the Church of St. Florentine in Amboise.
Through the centuries, Leonardo was been surrounded by mystery, as if he were some kind of prophet of the 20th century born five hundred years before his time. In his lifetime, he was the subject of fantastic tales and legends and was even feared by some as a magician or demon (Horn 72). Consequently, this famous artist remains one of the least understood. He is often portrayed as a solitary misfit, secretive, arrogant and cold. "But several scholars have suggested a quite different Leonardo - a mischief-maker and storyteller, enjoying elegant accommodations and an entourage of beautiful young men dressed stylishly at the masters expense" (Horn 72). Contemporary accounts describe a practical joker, not a gruff, eccentric visionary but a man who enjoyed his courtly positions and at tines burned with bitter envy of the younger masters who would replace him (Horn 72), never realizing that the scope of his interests would provide a legacy unmatched by those who followed.
Writing in his familiar "mirror" script, which is backward writing readable with a mirror, enabled him to write and draw simultaneously to save time. Leonardo's sensitivity to nature ...