Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Genius Unmasked
Welcome to Math! Science! History! Today I am going to be talking about one of the most prominent (and possibly gay) men in history, Leonardo da Vinci, and his journey from an unconventional childhood to the courts of renaissance Italy. So, let’s travel back to the fifteenth century Italy. I’m Gabrielle Birchak, your host, I have a background in math, science and journalism and by the time you are done listening to today’s podcast you’re going to know so much more about the genius and lifestyle of Leonardo da Vinci.
Early Life
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the small village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci in Tuscany. He was the illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero da Vinci, and a young woman named Caterina. Because his parents were not married, Leonardo did not receive a classical formal education in Latin or Greek, but he did grow up in his father’s household where he had access to scholarly texts and learned the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics. From an early age, he showed an insatiable curiosity about the natural world and a talent for drawing. Family accounts say young Leonardo would spend hours observing animals, water flows, and the countryside around him, sketching what he saw. This self-driven learning laid the foundation for his lifelong approach: empirical observation over formal schooling. No doubt, from his artwork to his knowledge of engineering and architecture, to his ideas about flight, his brilliance was and always will be unmatched.
Interestingly, new research in 2023 suggests that Leonardo’s mother Caterina may not have been a local peasant girl, as long believed, but an enslaved woman from the Caucasus region. Historian Carlo Vecce uncovered documents indicating a Caterina was freed from slavery by Ser Piero around the time of Leonardo’s birth. If true, and scholars are still debating this, Leonardo da Vinci would have been half-Italian, half Circassian. This theory paints an even more fascinating picture of his heritage, though it comes with many caveats. Whether or not this claim holds, it’s clear that Leonardo’s origins were unconventional for the son of a legal notary, and he grew up straddling different social worlds from the very start.
Leonardo’s childhood in Vinci was spent in nature, which became his first classroom. By his teens, Leonardo’s artistic talent was evident enough that his father sought a proper apprenticeship for him. Around 1466, 14-year-old Leonardo was sent to Florence to train in the workshop of the renowned artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Verrocchio’s studio was one of the best art schools of the day, and there Leonardo learned painting, sculpture, and the basics of engineering. He mixed pigments, sketched anatomy, and studied mechanical devices used in the workshop. This firsthand training was crucial, he wasn’t just taught what to do but encouraged to understand how and why things work.
It didn’t take long for Leonardo to outshine his peers. In fact, there’s a famous story that Verrocchio enlisted young Leonardo to paint an angel in one of his own paintings, The Baptism of Christ, around 1475. Leonardo’s angel was so beautifully rendered that Verrocchio allegedly put down his brush and vowed never to paint again, feeling upstaged by his apprentice. Now, historians aren’t sure if Verrocchio truly quit painting entirely, but the tale speaks to Leonardo’s emerging genius. By about 1477, Leonardo had qualified as a master in the Guild of St. Luke and set up his own workshop in Florence.
Despite his growing reputation as an artist, Leonardo in his twenties was already developing a reputation for not finishing things. Attention Deficit Disorder, possibly? A notable example is the Adoration of the Magi, a complex painting he was commissioned to create in 1481. He left that painting unfinished when a new opportunity beckoned. Leonardo was restless for bigger challenges, and he found one in the city of Milan. In 1482, at 30 years old, he moved to Milan to enter the service of Duke Ludovico Sforza. In a letter to Ludovico, he barely mentioned painting at all, instead, he advertised his skills in engineering and design: he described plans for building portable bridges, designing cannons and armored vehicles, diverting rivers, and constructing new architecture. Only in the end did he add, almost as an afterthought, that he could paint too. This bold self-promotion worked. The Duke of Milan welcomed Leonardo not just as an artist, but as a military engineer and architect. It’s here that Leonardo’s scientific journey truly took off.
Major Works: Beyond Paint and Canvas
When Leonardo da Vinci arrived in Milan in 1482, he was ready to reinvent himself, not just as an artist, but as an engineer, inventor, and problem-solver. Under the patronage of Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo spent much of the next 17 years designing military machines, studying anatomy, experimenting with physics, and dreaming up architectural and urban plans. While he created masterpieces like The Last Supper during this time, his real passion lay in engineering and scientific exploration.
One of his most ambitious Milan projects was the Sforza Horse, a towering 24-foot bronze statue. Leonardo studied horse anatomy in meticulous detail and even devised new casting techniques. He completed a full-scale clay model by 1493, but war disrupted the project. The bronze was repurposed into cannons, and invading French troops reportedly destroyed the statue by using it for target practice.
Leonardo’s notebooks from this era reveal a restless, visionary mind. He designed advanced weaponry like multi-barreled cannons and sketched practical innovations like a self-supporting bridge that could be assembled quickly without nails, a design that modern engineers have confirmed works flawlessly. He even ventured into cartography, creating a remarkably accurate map of the town of Imola in 1502 while working for Cesare Borgia, an early sign of his scientific precision.
His anatomical studies were groundbreaking. Leonardo performed dozens of dissections and recorded detailed drawings of muscles, bones, and organs, including the first accurate depiction of the heart’s aortic valve. Though his illustrated treatise was never published in his lifetime, modern medicine has since validated many of his insights.
Even in painting, his scientific mind was at work. In Mona Lisa, which he began around 1503 in Florence and carried with him for years, Leonardo used his understanding of optics and human perception to craft that famously elusive smile.
Later in life, Leonardo served the Medici in Rome and eventually accepted an invitation from King Francis I of France, who honored him with the title Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King.
Innovations and Visionary Ideas
Leonardo da Vinci’s imagination knew almost no limits. He was sketching inventions so far ahead of his time that some would not be built until the modern era. It’s important to note that most of these ideas never made it off the page in Leonardo’s lifetime, they remained blueprints in his notebooks, but they demonstrate how Leonardo’s mind could leap beyond the technology of the fifteenth century. Let’s talk about a few of these visionary concepts.
One of Leonardo’s obsessions was flight. Long before airplanes (about 400 years before the Wright brothers), Leonardo studied birds to unlock the secret of flying. He drew plans for several flying machines, which he called “ornithopters,” contraptions with wings intended to flap like a bird. In one design, a person lies face down on a board, working two large wings with hand levers and foot pedals. In another, the person stands and pumps a wing apparatus. Leonardo filled pages with these sketches, even writing a treatise titled “Codex on the Flight of Birds” around 1505, analyzing bird flight and proposing how humans might mimic it. He realized that human muscle power alone might not be enough for sustained flight, a very prescient understanding, since his machines as drawn wouldn’t have worked with the materials available (wood, canvas, and human strength).
Beyond flying up, Leonardo also imagined how to get safely down from great heights. He drew a design for a parachute, a pyramid-shaped canopy made of linen, about 12 arms (around 23 feet) across, with a wooden frame. In his notes, he wrote that with this device a man could “jump from any great height without injury”. Remarkably, this parachute was built and evaluated in modern times: in 2000, a British skydiver named Adrian Nicholas constructed a parachute exactly to Leonardo’s specifications (using wood and canvas). He took it up in a hot air balloon and jumped from 10,000 feet, and it worked brilliantly, bringing him down safely! Imagine Leonardo’s delight if he could see proof of concept over 500 years later.
Leonardo’s military engineering ideas could be quite fearsome. For instance, he sketched a design for an armored fighting vehicle, essentially a tank, in the 1480s. It was a circular platform covered in metal plates, operated from inside by soldiers who would turn cranks to move the wheels and rotate light cannons sticking out around its perimeter. This tank could, in theory, move in any direction and shoot in all directions, a terrifying innovation for its time. However, Leonardo’s sketch contains a small flaw: the gear mechanism as drawn would actually make the wheels turn in opposite directions, immobilizing the tank. Was this an error, or did Leonardo deliberately insert a mistake to prevent his design from being misused if his notes fell into the wrong hands? Some historians speculate he might have sabotaged the design on purpose as a kind of safety measure. Regardless, the concept of a covered armored vehicle was unique, nothing like it would be built until World War I.
For naval warfare and exploration, Leonardo conceived diving equipment. In Venice, when he was helping devise defenses against a potential Ottoman attack, he drew up plans for a diving suit that would allow men to breathe underwater and sabotage enemy ships from below. His sketch in the Codex Arundel shows a leather suit with a mask and goggles, and breathing tubes that lead up to a floating bell or air pocket on the surface. It even includes a pouch to urinate in, Leonardo thought of everything! This “scuba suit” was never built at the time (Venice didn’t end up needing it), but it demonstrates his capability to apply imagination to practical problems of war.
Leonardo also tinkered with the idea of automated machines. Around 1495, he designed what is now known as Leonardo’s mechanical knight, an automaton in the shape of a knight that could, through a system of pulleys and gears, sit up, wave its arms, and possibly open and close its jaw. We don’t know if Leonardo actually built it, but the notes were detailed enough that in 2002, a robotics expert built a working replica that indeed could perform the motions Leonardo described.
Another whimsical but advanced creation was the self-propelled cart, a spring-driven “car,” which some consider to be the first concept of an automobile. Leonardo drew a cart that, through coiled springs (like large clock springs) and steering controlled by a programmable arrangement of pegs, could move on its own for a short distance. Modern engineers have built models of this design, and they do lurch forward as intended. It’s like a wind-up toy, but human scale.
Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man drawing exemplifies his fusion of art and science. This famous sketch from around 1490 shows a male figure in two superimposed positions inscribed in a circle and a square, illustrating ideal human proportions. The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius inspired it, but Leonardo expanded on it with his own anatomical measurements and geometric precision. The drawing links the microcosm of the human body to the macrocosm of the universe, symbolizing the Renaissance humanist belief that man is the measure of all things. Vitruvian Man has since become an icon of the unity of art and science, a true emblem of Leonardo’s mindset.
Leonardo dreamed big. Some of his ideas, like the helicopter, tank, or even the debated sketch of a bicycle might make us wonder, “why didn’t he build these or propose them publicly?” We must recall the context: there was no concept of publishing technical innovations widely, and some ideas were so far out that they might have been seen as impractical or even heretical. Also, Leonardo was a bit secretive; he wrote in mirror script (backwards) in his notebooks, perhaps to keep his ideas encoded. Moreover, he often conceived inventions as solutions to specific problems of patrons or as thought experiments, rather than with an eye to mass-produce them. And so, most of these visionary designs stayed on paper until they were rediscovered in Leonardo’s notebooks centuries after his death. The Codex Atlanticus, for example, a large collection of his papers, sat largely unknown in a library until the 19th and 20th centuries when scholars pieced together his achievements as an engineer and scientist. Only then did the world realize the full scope of Leonardo’s inventive genius.
In sum, Leonardo da Vinci, the visionary, conceptualized parachutes before humans could fly, tanks before engines existed, robots before electricity, and a host of other marvels. It’s little wonder that he is often called the Renaissance man, as he straddled art, science, engineering, and imagination in a way that still feels modern. Now, having marveled at his intellect and creativity, let’s take a more intimate look at Leonardo’s personal life. Who was Leonardo as a person? What do we know about his relationships, his personality, even his quirks? In particular, we’ll explore a topic that earlier generations of historians often tip-toed around: Leonardo’s sexual orientation and personal identity.
Sexual Orientation and Personal Identity
When we think of Leonardo da Vinci, it’s easy to focus on his accomplishments as a painter, engineer, and visionary. But to understand the man behind the genius, we also need to look at his personal life , his relationships, personality, and how his identity might have shaped his art and curiosity. While Leonardo left behind thousands of notebook pages on science, anatomy, and invention, he gave us very little about his inner emotional world. And that silence has intrigued historians for centuries.
One area where we do have intriguing clues is his sexual orientation.
A Lovable, Unconventional Personality
Let’s start with how contemporaries described Leonardo. He wasn’t just brilliant; he was magnetic. Giorgio Vasari, the Renaissance biographer who wrote Lives of the Artists, said Leonardo was “so pleasing in his conversation” that “he attracted to himself the hearts of men.” Although the exact phrase “Leonardo’s disposition was so lovable that he commanded everyone’s affection” is a paraphrase, it captures Vasari’s essence. Leonardo was known for his charm, wit, and generosity. One of my favorite authors and historians, Walter Isaacson, who has authored several incredible books including the biography on Albert Einstein, wrote extensively about Leonardo da Vinci’s life.
Isaacson echoes this, writing that “Leonardo’s social skills and good looks helped him compensate for his lack of pedigree. He was tall, athletic, and charming, and he wore rose-colored tunics that reached only to his knees, flamboyant in a city where older men wore long dark robes.” He was left-handed, vegetarian, fashion-forward, and famously gentle with animals , there’s even a rumor that he would buy birds in cages just to set them free. He chose not to marry, never had children, and showed no recorded interest in women romantically or sexually.
The 1476 Sodomy Accusation
In 1476, at the age of 24, Leonardo’s private life was suddenly under scrutiny. He and several others were anonymously accused of sodomy , a crime in Florence punishable by death. The charge alleged that he had relations with a young male prostitute named Jacopo Saltarelli. The case was dropped due to lack of signed evidence, but the accusation remains a pivotal moment in Leonardo’s life. Isaacson explains that “The accusation likely caused him to become even more discreet about his personal life. There is no evidence of any sexual activity with women, and his most intimate relationships were with younger men.”
We’ll never know the exact truth of what happened. But the historical record shows that Leonardo was moving in artistic circles where same-sex relationships were not uncommon, even if they were criminalized. Florence was infamous for its tolerance behind closed doors , even the German word “Florenzer” came to mean a gay man.
The case may have made Leonardo especially cautious about revealing anything personal going forward.
Salaì and Melzi: The Two Great Companions
Leonardo had two long-term companions, both young men who entered his household at various times and remained closely connected to him.
The first was Gian Giacomo Caprotti, nicknamed Salaì, which means “little devil.” He joined Leonardo’s household in 1490 as a ten-year-old boy. He was, by all accounts, mischievous, beautiful, and sometimes troublesome. Leonardo once recorded that Salaì had stolen money and bought expensive clothes, but he kept him around for nearly 30 years.
Isaacson writes that “Salaì was a bit of a scoundrel… but also Leonardo’s companion, model, and perhaps lover.”
Salaì appears in several of Leonardo’s paintings , most notably in St. John the Baptist and Bacchus, both of which feature sensual, androgynous young men with a knowing smile. These portrayals stand in contrast to the religious and formal depictions of saints typical of the time. There’s a flirtation, a human warmth that hints at something more personal.
Then there’s Francesco Melzi, a young nobleperson who became Leonardo’s pupil and assistant in 1506. Melzi was refined, educated, and loyal. When Leonardo died in 1519, Melzi inherited nearly everything, including the vast trove of notebooks and manuscripts.
Isaacson notes that the relationship that Leonardo had with Melzi was possibly more affectionate, more mature and based on intellectual commonality. Leonardo cherished him.
Was it romantic? It’s hard to say for sure. What’s clear is that both young men held important places in Leonardo’s life, and modern scholars believe at least one of them, likely Salaì, was more than just a companion.
Erotic Sketches and Private Humor
There’s also visual evidence in Leonardo’s own hand that suggests homoerotic themes. One of the most provocative is a drawing known as The Incarnate Angel, attributed to Leonardo, which features a young angel with an erect phallus. Many scholars believe the model was Salaì, and the style matches Leonardo’s other drawings of the youth. The piece was a private work, perhaps not meant for public view.
Then there are humorous sketches found in the Codex Atlanticus, one shows a drawing labeled “Salaì’s bum,” being chased by phalluses on legs. Isaacson notes that these could have been jokes drawn by Leonardo or by someone else in his workshop, but they reflect a culture of sexual playfulness around Leonardo and Salaì.
Taken together, the intimate companionship, the drawings, the lack of female partners, and the incident in 1476, a picture begins to form.
Celibate, Discreet, or Open?
Despite all this, some biographers believe Leonardo might have remained celibate most of his life. In his notebooks, Leonardo expressed a certain aversion to sexuality, paraphrased by Isaacson: “The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.”
That line doesn’t sound like someone burning with desire. And it may reflect Leonardo’s internal struggle, possibly due to trauma from the sodomy accusation, or simply a personal temperament that prioritized intellectual intimacy over physical passion.
Isaacson addresses this tension, writing that “Leonardo was different, even by the standards of the Renaissance. He was openly affectionate with his male companions but guarded about any public display of intimacy.”
He adds that although there is little hard proof of sexual relationships, the weight of circumstantial evidence suggests Leonardo was likely gay, even if discreet or celibate.
Living Authentically, Quietly
Leonardo’s avoidance of traditional family life, his choice to live with and nurture young male protégés, and the consistent thread of intimate male friendships all suggest he carved out a life that was quietly nonconforming. He didn’t make political statements about his identity , but he lived authentically in the way he formed his household, painted his subjects, and organized his life around creativity and companionship.
Modern scholars, including Martin Kemp and Michael Rocke, generally agree that Leonardo da Vinci was most likely gay, though private about it. He lived in an era when being open could ruin you , but he also lived in Florence, a city that offered some measure of coded tolerance for those who knew how to stay out of the spotlight.
Leonardo da Vinci remains a symbol of unbounded curiosity and creativity , and a reminder that genius doesn’t conform to norms. Whether he was romantically involved, celibate, or somewhere in between, his life reflects the richness of an identity shaped more by connection and intellect than by convention. By revisiting his story through a modern lens, we don’t diminish him; we see him more fully.
In closing, Leonardo da Vinci stands as the ultimate Renaissance polymath, a man who wanted to know everything. He saw no boundary between art and science, between imagination and reality. His contemporaries knew him as a charismatic, enigmatic figure; today we know him also as an ahead-of-his-time inventor and a person who lived authentically in many ways. He has inspired countless minds and will likely continue to do so as new analyses of his notebooks and life emerge. In fact, as we discussed, we’re still learning new details about him, from the possibility of his mother’s origins to the decoding of his hidden sketches. Leonardo once wrote, “Iron rusts from disuse; water that does not flow becomes stagnant, so it is with the mind.” His mind certainly never stagnated, and he kept the iron of his intellect well-honed until the end.
Leonardo died in 1519 at Clos Lucé. Though many of his projects were unfinished, his notebooks, brimming with designs, experiments, and questions, remain among his greatest legacies. They capture not just a polymath at work, but a man deeply curious about the world and eager to solve its mysteries.
Leonardo died 500 years ago, but his legacy feels ever alive, in every airplane in the sky, every anatomical textbook, every use of chiaroscuro in art, and in the broader ideal that art and science can unite to deepen our understanding of the world. He reminds us to stay curious, to observe closely, and to not be afraid of imagining the impossible.
So, here’s a question I want to leave you with: What would the world look like if every person, regardless of gender, identity, or sexual orientation, were free to live as their most authentic self? What could we create, discover, and solve if no one had to hide who they are to feel safe, accepted, or worthy?
Leonardo da Vinci, a man who lived quietly on the margins of society, gave us some of the most breathtaking art, forward-thinking inventions, and scientific observations the world has ever known. And he did it while carefully guarding parts of himself, likely out of necessity and fear.
But imagine if he hadn’t needed to hold anything back. Imagine a world where every brilliant mind, especially those long silenced or dismissed, had the freedom to fully flourish. How much beauty, how much genius, how much progress are we still missing because too many people have been forced to dim their light to survive?
Leonardo’s life reminds us that when we allow curiosity, compassion, and authenticity to lead the way, the results can be revolutionary. So, let’s create a world where everyone gets that chance. Thank you for joining us on this journey through Leonardo da Vinci’s remarkable life. Grazie for listening, and until next time, carpe diem!
RESOURCES
Museum of Science, Leonardo DaVinci
Leonardo da Vinci’s mother was a slave, according to new research
Da Vinci’s mother was an enslaved teenager trafficked to Italy, new documents suggest
Leonardo’s letter to Ludovico Sforza
10 of Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Important Inventions
Leonardo daVinci – by Walter Isaacson
The Victoria and Albert Museum – Leonardo daVinci’s Codices