00:00Everyone knows the Mona Lisa, but who was the genius behind it?
00:04Follow me through Italy and France to uncover the legacy of Leonardo da Vinci.
00:09He was a painter, an engineer, a naturalist, a universal genius.
00:15The Last Supper is one of his most famous works, as is The Vitruvian Man and The Lady with an
00:22Air Mine.
00:22We visit his birthplace, Vinci.
00:26Leonardo was born in this simple house on April 15, 1452.
00:32He grew up with his grandfather.
00:34He never attended a Latin or grammar school.
00:37He received only a basic education, reading, writing and arithmetic.
00:42There were no paintings or works of art here either, just simple country life.
00:48Leonardo lived in the countryside for 14 years until his father brought him to Florence.
00:54He was to start an internship and so the adventure began.
00:58I wonder what that transition was like for Da Vinci.
01:00From a quiet life in the countryside to a rapidly changing city, surrounded by very important people.
01:07The Uffizi, Florence's famous art museum, didn't exist back then.
01:12Today you can see many Renaissance masterpieces here that were created in this city.
01:18Like Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.
01:22Above all, however, you also find Da Vinci's earliest surviving work, The Annunciation.
01:28The figures are incredibly lifelike.
01:30An angel brings Mary the news that she will conceive Jesus, the Son of God.
01:35Da Vinci painted this in his early twenties.
01:39Here I meet the tour guide Federica Bustreo.
01:42She will show me some of the places in Florence that are closely linked to Leonardo's life.
01:48Our Leonardo tour takes us past the Duomo, to where shops and restaurants now line the streets.
01:55In the past, artist workshops were located here, including that of Andrea del Verrocchio.
02:01Verrocchio was one of the greatest masters of the city of Florence.
02:05He was also a good friend of Piero Da Vinci, of Leonardo's father.
02:08So he hosted not only Leonardo in his workshop, but also Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo Di Credi.
02:15So the best artists in Florence at the end of the 1400s were working for Verrocchio.
02:20At the age of 20, Leonardo was registered as a master painter.
02:25He remained connected to his father, Piero.
02:27We're now going to the place where his father's law office was located, Palazzo Condi.
02:33This is where the story of one of the most famous paintings of all time begins.
02:40Who was the Mona Lisa?
02:42We believe that she was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
02:46Her name was Elisabetta Ghirardini, hence Mona Lisa, not Lady Lisa.
02:52And Francesco del Giocondo was a client of Piero Da Vinci.
02:55So, let's say, it was very natural for him to ask to Piero's son, to Leonardo, to have a portrait
03:02of his wife made.
03:03How come the painting is in Paris and not right here in Florence?
03:07There was one main problem with Leonardo.
03:10He worked very slowly.
03:12He tended to get distracted very easily.
03:14And when then Leonardo moved, he decided to take the unfinished portrait with him.
03:20And he finished it years and years later and he donated it to the king of France as he was
03:26living there.
03:27Leonardo left Florence at age 30.
03:30He went to Milan, which is about 300 kilometers from Florence.
03:34The Castello Sforcesco would be his workplace for almost two decades.
03:39The castle was both a fortress and residence.
03:42The Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, gave Leonardo a job in his court.
03:47It was a stroke of luck.
03:50Ludovico gave Da Vinci what he needed most.
03:53Time, money and the freedom to experiment.
03:56It was in Milan that he evolved from a painter into a true genius.
04:00You can get a feel for this at Milan's Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology.
04:06Here you can see many of his inventions.
04:09Flying machines, gliders and parachutes.
04:13The real proof of his genius was that many of his ideas wouldn't become reality for centuries.
04:19Some even inspired the future of aviation.
04:22So, on to the final leg of our Leonardo journey.
04:26We're up to France, to the town of Amboise, 225 kilometers from Paris.
04:34Leonardo arrived in Amboise in 1516.
04:37The chateau here was one of the favorite residents of the young French king Francis I.
04:44Leonardo was received like a star.
04:46He was appointed first painter, engineer and architect to the king.
04:51He also received a princely pension and noble accommodation.
04:56The Clos-Lucé Manor House.
04:58Leonardo lived here for three years until his death in 1519.
05:05Leonardo welcomed his visitors in the Great Hall.
05:08They had traveled from all over France to see the king's famous guest.
05:12A copy of the Mona Lisa also hangs here.
05:17Leonardo da Vinci was laid to rest on the castle's grounds.
05:20He died in 1519 at the age of 67.
05:27His tomb is located in the castle chapel.
05:31A simple memorial to a man whose curiosity never faded and who spent his life reimagining the world around him.
05:40The Clos-Lucé Manor House.
05:40A solidly holy a house.
05:44A loving house to a man whose description is located.
05:44A loving house to this guy who has already been in 1519.
05:44A loving house to see the new window where he can be in 1119.
05:45A loving house to see the new house.
05:45You
