The Polymath: Leonardo da Vinci

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The Polymath Leonardo da Vinci
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Naturalist

• Loved animals by
• Being a Orthodox vegetarian
• He would buy animals in cages from stores and set
  them into the wild
• Often studied nature

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Musical

• When da Vinci moved to Milan in 1482, he was
  offered a position as a musician
• He also invented a mechanical drum to play
  various sounds, which are regularly repeated.
• Had a fine singing voice

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Logical-Mathematical

• Had many manuscripts, such as Codex Arundel,
  Codex Atlanticus, and the Codices of the Institut
  de France, focusing on mathematics and geometry
• Codex Atlanticus picture on right

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Existential(Spiritual)

• His paintings featured many events in biblical
  times
• He did many projects for the Pope
• Painting of the Last Supper, with Jesus and his
  apostles

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Interpersonal

• He liked doing things for other people, such as
  painting and making sculptures
• He had to make a giant structure of a horse for
  the Duke of Milan

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Bodily-Kinesthetic

• Said that he had immense strength
• Like inventing many different machines, but most
  were never built

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Linguistic

• He wrote many manuscripts about many different
  subjects
• He was left-handed and he usually wrote
  backwards, so that only he could read it
• Could also be in intrapersonal

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Intrapersonal

• Did not sell any of his writings or manuscripts
• Usually locked himself away in his workshop
  cutting up bodies or pondering universal truths

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Spatial

• Used chiaroscuro, which was a technique that made
  his paintings to look three dimensional
• Painted many famous paintings, such as the Mona
  Lisa, Last Supper, and Vitruvian Man

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Greatest/ Weakest Intelligence

• Leonardos greatest strength was his spatial
  ability. He is probably the greatest painter of
  all time.
• His weakest ability was his existential ability.
  This is because he mainly focused on secular
  ideas, not religious beliefs.

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Was he born with all this intelligence?

• Polymaths are born with multiple skills. For
  instance, Leonardo was a great painter, even
  better than his master Verrochio, when he was
  still an apprentice. However, only the truly
  great polymaths work very hard. Leonardo would
  spend countless hours studying and working.
  Therefore, polymaths are a product of gifts and
  desire.

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Multiple Intelligence Theory

• This theory of determining whether or not someone
  was a polymath is very valid. It shows what a
  persons strengths and weaknesses are.
  Therefore, if someone is very skilled in many
  areas, this theory would state that the person
  was a polymath. Since Leonardo was very high in
  many categories, and he was a polymath, this
  theory is valid.