Leonardo da Vinci: Part VI

Note: read Part V.

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” - Leonardo da Vinci

In the context of his time, Leonardo, now nearly 50, was becoming an old man as the 16th century began. Some of his writings started to reflect this latter chapter of life and potential mortality. “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings happy death,” he wrote. Yet, many still described Leonardo as they had in his youth: handsome, physically strong, and full of presence. And while there isn't anything on record about how Leonardo thought of legacy as he aged, the work that would come to define his name had yet to even begin. It would become known to the world as "Mona Lisa."