Thursday, August 1, 2024

Leonardo's last name wasn't "da Vinci"

Leonardo's surname wasn't "da Vinci."

Famous Figures

I f you've ever referred to Leonardo da Vinci as simply "da Vinci," you weren't actually using the Renaissance icon's last name. In fact, he didn't even have one in the traditional sense. The painter's full name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning "son of ser Piero from Vinci" — Piero being his father's name and Vinci being the village where he was born. (For fictional equivalents, think of Helen of Troy or Anne of Green Gables.) Many other Renaissance artists, including the other three inspirations for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, are usually known mononymously even if they did have last names: Donatello's full name was Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, Raphael's was Sanzio da Urbino, and Michelangelo's was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.

Though best known for works of art such as the "Mona Lisa," "The Last Supper," and "Salvator Mundi," Leonardo was also a highly scientific thinker credited with numerous inventions. He designed a flying machine called an ornithopter, an armored fighting vehicle known as Leonardo's tank, and an ideal city that's been hailed for how forward-thinking it was, among many other innovations and ideas. For all that, he was not a prolific creator, and most of his pieces have been lost to time.

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By the Numbers

Episodes of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series

193

Auction price of "Salvator Mundi," the highest of any artwork

$450.3 million

Leonardo's age when he died in 1519

Known extant paintings by Leonardo

<20

Did you know?

Leonardo and Michelangelo had a fierce rivalry.

Sticklers for historical accuracy might argue that the most unrealistic aspect of the Ninja Turtles isn't that they exist, but that Leonardo and Michelangelo are teammates. The Renaissance contemporaries were actually fierce rivals with mutual enmity for one another. Leonardo was particularly critical of Michelangelo's muscle-bound sculptures, which he said resembled "bags of walnuts" or "bunches of radishes." The most well-known instance of their feud occurred when Leonardo was asked to publicly explain a Dante passage by a group of men. Noticing that Michelangelo was there as well (what a gathering!), he attempted to humiliate his rival by suggesting that he explain it instead. The plan backfired spectacularly when Michelangelo realized what Leonardo was doing and threw in a dig about the unfinished "Horse That Never Was" statue in Milan. "No, you explain," Michelangelo is said to have responded, "you who have undertaken the design of a horse to be cast in bronze but were unable to cast it, and were forced to give up in shame." Michelangelo then turned to leave, but not before adding insult to injury: "And to think you were believed by those castrated Milanese roosters!" Ouch.