“That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches. Virtue is our true wealth and the true reward of its possessor; it cannot be lost, it never deserts us until life leaves us. Hold property and external riches with fear; they often leave their possessor scorned and mocked at for having lost them.”

Italian polymath of the High Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance, active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. Born Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, he is best known simply as Leonardo. His reputation first rested on painting, but his notebooks made him famous in a broader sense. In them, he set down drawings and notes on subjects ranging from anatomy and astronomy to botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. He is widely regarded as a genius who embodied the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his work helped shape European art.