Da Vinci is considered one of the greatest painters of all time
Leonardo's groundbreaking scientific and engineering research has only recently been recognized. His reputation had been built on the works he accomplished as a painter throughout the previous four centuries. His detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany, and geology; his keen interest in capturing how humans register emotion in expression and gesture; his subtle gradation of tone; and the innovative techniques he used in laying on the paint are just a few of the qualities that distinguish Leonardo's work. Da Vinci was not just one of the most famous painters of his day, but also one of the greatest artists of all time.
Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo da Vinci as the prototypical Universal Genius or Renaissance Man, a person with an insatiable curiosity and a feverishly inventive imagination. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the breadth and depth of his interests were unprecedented in recorded history, and his mind and personality appeared superhuman, while the man himself remained mysterious and distant. While there is much speculation about his life and personality, Marco Rosci points out that his worldview was rational rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he used were unconventional for his period.
