Interesting Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci: Creator of Mona Lisa and The Last Supper

Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the most famous men in history. He is well remembered for his Mona Lisa and The Last Supper – considered as the world’s greatest painting.

1.) Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Florence, Italy. He was never married and had no children.

2.) Da Vinci was left-handed. He is regarded as the most universally recognized left-handed artist of all time. Amazingly, he wrote in mirror image because of his left handedness.

3.) He was a person of exceptional talent and skills. He was a polymath, sculptor, painter, musician, architect, mathematician, scientist, inventor, engineer, geologist, anatomist, writer, cartographer and botanist.

4.) He is regarded as a “Renaissance Man”, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination".

5.) He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

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6.) Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with the two Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella.

7.) Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret.

8.) Da Vinci’s sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation.

9.) Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salai and Melzi.

10.) Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and passionate.

11.) Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, nicknamed Salai or Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One" i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's household in 1490.

12.) After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his misdemeanors, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton", after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five occasions, and spent a fortune on clothes.

13.) Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years.

14.) Salai executed a number of paintings under the name of Andrea Salai, but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him a great deal about painting".

15.) In 1515, Salai painted a nude version of the Mona Lisa, known as Monna Vanna.

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16.) Salai owned the Mona Lisa at the time of his death in 1525, and in his will it was assessed at 505 lire the equivalent of £200,000, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.

17.) In 1506, Leonardo took on another pupil, Count Francesco Melzi, the son of a Lombard aristocrat, who is considered to have been his favorite student.

18.) Melzi traveled to France with Leonardo, and remained with him until the latter's death.

19.) Upon Leonardo's death, Melzi inherited the artistic and scientific works, manuscripts, and collections of Leonardo, and faithfully administered the estate. His brothers received piece of lands. Salai received half of Leonardo’s vineyards.

20.) Based on Florentine court records of 1476, Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy with a male prostitute but were acquitted.

21.) Leonardo da Vinci was born out of wedlock to a Piero da Vinci, a legal notary and Caterina, a peasant woman.

22.) Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” is the most famous and most parodied portrait in the world.

23.) His “The Last Supper” is the most reproduced religious painting of all time.

24.) At the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St. Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine.

25.) He died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67. Da Vinci was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in Château d'Amboise.

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26.) Da Vinci’s Codex Leicester was bought in an auction for $30.8 million by Bill Gates in 1994. Presently, Codex Leicester is the most expensive book ever sold.

27.) Codex Arundel and Codex Atlanticus are other well known compilations of Da Vinci.

28.) Vitruvian Man is Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous drawing. It is a study of the proportions of the human body, linking art and science.

29.) Leonardo Da Vinci was a vegetarian and wore brightly-colored clothes.

30.) He is tall, athletic and extremely handsome man.

31.) Leonardo drew the plans for the first armored car and also designed the cannon, a machine gun, gliders, turnspit for roasting meat and canal system to irrigate fields.

32.) Da Vinci was as much an inventor as an artist. Many of the inventions he designed are in use today such as the helicopters and parachutes.

33.) Leonardo Da Vinci was dyslexic.

34.) Leonardo was 23 when Michelangelo was born and 31 when Raphael was born.

35.) Raphael only lived until the age of 37 and died in 1520, the year after Leonardo, but Michelangelo went on creating for another 45 years.

 

Vitruvian Man

See also

• 50 Interesting Facts About Thomas Alva Edison
• 35 Interesting Facts About Alexander Graham Bell

25 Interesting Facts About Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is one of the most successful film directors of all-time. Here are some entertaining and interesting facts about this commercially successful, multi-awarded and very popular film director.

1.) Steven Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA in 1946.

2.) Steven Spielberg is an American motion-picture director, producer, and executive.

3.) His movies feature action, suspense, special-effects wizardry, and memorable stories.

4.) Spielberg’s blockbuster films include Jaws (1975), E.T.—The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993) and Schindler’s List (1993).

5.) His films enjoyed enormous commercial success and earned recognition for their craftsmanship.

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6.) Spielberg was educated at California State College at Long Beach now known as California State University at Long Beach.

7.) At age 12, he started making movies and by the time he left college he had at least eight amateur works to his credit.

8.) His short film Amblin’ (1968) came to the attention of Universal Pictures and signed him to a seven-year contract.

9.) Spielberg’s earliest commercial efforts were television movies, among them Duel (1971), a suspense film that brought him wider recognition.

10.) Spielberg’s first full-length feature film is Sugarland Express in 1974.

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11.) The film ”Jaws” catapulted Spielberg to stardom.

12.) His other blockbuster film in the 1970s is Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

13.) He teamed up with writer-producer George Lucas in the 1980s to make the action-adventure Indiana Jones film series: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

14.) His science-fiction fantasy E.T.—The Extra-Terrestrial, is one of the highest-grossing film ever made.

15.) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had honored him with the Irving Thalberg Award in 1987.

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16.) His Amblin Entertainment  produced such films as Gremlins (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), *batteries not included (1987), Back to the Future II (1989), Arachnophobia (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and The Flintstones (1994).

17.) Spielberg also produced the animated features An American Tail (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), and We're Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993).

18.) His Jurassic Park which was released in 1993 featured spectacular computer-created dinosaurs became one of top-grossing motion picture in history.

19.) His Schindler’s List won him an Academy Awards for best director and best picture. It was Spielberg’s first Academy Award for best director.

20.) Other outstanding films by Spielberg include Amistad (1997), the World War II film Saving Private Ryan (1998), Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), War of the Worlds (2005) and Munich (2005).

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21.) He married actress Amy Irving in 1985 and divorced in 1989. In their divorce settlement, Amy received $100 million from Spielberg after a judge controversially vacated a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin.

22.) Irving and Spielberg’s divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history.

23.) Forbes magazine places Spielberg’s personal net worth at $3.0 billion.

24.) In 2006, Premiere listed Spielberg as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry, Time listed him as one of the `100 Most Important People of the Century and Life named him the most influential person of his generation at the end of 20^th century.

25.) She is currently married to actress Kate Capshaw whom he met when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple Doom. They married on October 12, 1991 and there are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family.

See also 

• 40Interesting Facts About the Handsome Tom Cruise
• Amazingly Interesting and Random Facts About Music and Entertainment
• The Best Films of All Time
• 50Entertaining and Interesting Facts About Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll 
• 60Entertaining and Interesting Facts About Frank Sinatra 
• 30Interesting Facts About Bob Dylan 
• 20Interesting Facts About Diana Ross 
• 25Interesting Facts About Billie Holiday

Handsomely Famous Homosexuals and Their Controversies

Here are some handsome celebrities and historic legendary figures but are gays.

1.) James Dean

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James Byron Dean was a very popular actor in the 1950s. This American actor is well remembered for the film Rebel Without a Cause. His premature death in a car crash in 1955 cemented his legendary status. Most of his relationships were with same sex.

2.) Elton John

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Sir Elton Hercules John is popular singer and one of the most successful artists of all times. He came out as bisexual in a 1976 interview with Rolling Stones but after his divorce from Blauel in 1988 he told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay. He is in a relationship with David Furnish.

3.) David Bowie

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David Bowie is an English musician and actor. He is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s, and is known for his distinctive voice and the originality of his work. One of his most famous songs is Space Oddity.

4.) Andy Warhol

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Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola. He was an American painter, printmaker and filmmaker.The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. It is thought that Warhol was homosexual, and quite likely a virgin.

5.) William Tilden

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William Tatem Tilden II, also known as "Big Bill," is often regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. This American tennis player was the World No. 1 player for seven years. He won 14 Majors including ten Grand Slams and four Pro Slams. He was arrested in 1946 on Sunset Boulevard by the Beverly Hills police and charged with a misdemeanor for soliciting an underage male, a 14-year-old boy with whom he was having sex in a moving vehicle. Tilden was arrested again in 1949, after picking up a 16-year-old hitchhiker.

6.) Yves Saint Lawrent

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Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent was a French fashion designer who died in 2008. He is one of the greatest names in fashion history. He was romantically involved to his partner Pierre Berge, an industrialist. They split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.

7.) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer who wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. The composer's closest relationships were with persons of the same sex. His brother Modest was also a homosexual.

8.) Lord Byron

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George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic Movement. His most popular works include She Was in Beauty, When We Two Parted and others. Lord Byron is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential. He was renowned for his personal beauty, which he enhanced by wearing curl-papers in his hair at night. He was athletic, being a competent boxer and horse-rider and an excellent swimmer.

9.) Emperor Hadrian

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Emperor Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman territory in Britain. He was romantically and sexually involved with Antinous, a handsome and young Bithynian Greek.

10.) Caligula

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Caligula, also known as Gaius, was the Roman emperor from 37 to 41 CE. His complete name is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.

11.) Casanova

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Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt is one of the most famous womanizers in the world. His name is synonymous with the art of seduction. This Italian adventurer and writer is bisexual. He was born on April 2, 1725 and died on June 4, 1798.

12.) Leonardo Da Vinci

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The ever famous Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is regarded as homosexual. He never got married and had no children. He was romantically involved with two of his pupils – Salai and Melzi.

13.) Michelangelo

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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Michelangelo's art such as "David" and others clearly manifested his love of male beauty and have attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally.

14.) Freddie Mercury

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Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, was a popular British rock star and best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Some of the most famous songs that he wrote were Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, We Are the Champions and others. In 1985, he began a long-term relationship with a hairdresser named Jim Hutton. Hutton, who himself was tested HIV-positive in 1990, lived with Mercury for the last six years of his life, nursed him during his illness and was present at his bedside when he died.

15.) Ricky Martin

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One of the most sensational and controversial singers of the new generation is Ricky Martin. Born Enrique Martín Morales, this handsome celebrity shocked the whole world on March 29, 2010 when he publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. He said, "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am."

16.) Johnny Mathis

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John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer is one of the most successful artists in the world having been sold 350 million records worldwide. In a 1982 Us Magazine article, Mathis was quoted as having said, "Homosexuality is a way of life that I've grown accustomed to." Us Magazine later retracted the statement. After more than 20 years of silence on the subject, Mathis revealed in an interview, in 2006, that his silence was due to death threats he received as a result of that 1982 article.

See also

Controversial and Famous Same SexRelationships in World History

60 Entertaining and Interesting Facts About Frank Sinatra

One of the most famous and sensational singer of the 20^th century is Frank Sinatra. Here are some interesting and entertaining tidbits about him.

1.) Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA on February 17, 1915.

2.) Sinatra was married 4 times - Nancy Barbato, Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow and Barbara Marx. Although Sinatra did not remain faithful to his wife, he was by many accounts a devoted father.

 

3.) His first wife is Nancy Barbato. They have 3 children – Nancy (1940), Frank Jr. (1944) and Tina (1948).

 

4.) Nancy, Sinatra’s eldest daughter, is a singer, actress and writer.

 

5.) Frank Jr. is a singer, conductor and songwriter and Tina is a producer and actress.

 

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6.) His daughter Nancy, at age 54 posed for Playboy in the May 1995.

 

7.) A certain Julie Sinatra claims to be Sinatra's daughter through an unacknowledged affair that he had with a showgirl, Dorothy Bunocelli, in the 1940s. She was born Julie Ann Maria Lyma on February 10, 1943

 

8.) Julie Sinatra legally changed her last name to Sinatra in 2000 and was awarded $100,000 by the Sinatra estate in 2002.

 

9.) In 1963, at the age of 19, his son Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped and released two days later after payment of a ransom.

 

10.) Sinatra’s first controversial extra-marital affair was with Marilyn Maxwell, an American actress and entertainer.

 

11.) Sinatra should have 4 children with his wife Nancy if the latter didn’t abort it when she became pregnant in 1946.

 

12.) Nancy and Frank were married in 1939 and they were divorced in 1951.

 

13.) Sinatra married Ava Gardner in 1951 and separated in 1953 and divorced in 1957. She had an abortion too. It could have been Sinatra’s 4^th child.

 

14.) Sinatra married the actress, Mia Farrow on July 19, 1966. She was 21 and he was 50. They divorced in 1968.

 

15.) He married Barbara Marx in 1976 and remained his wife until his death.

 

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Nancy Sandra Sinatra – Frank Sinatra’s daughter

 

16.) Sinatra was also romantically involved to the legendary singer Judy Garland in 1949.

He was also romantically involved to Lauren Bacall, wife of the late Humphrey Bogart.

 

17.) Sinatra was also engaged to the actress Juliet Prowse and have had a 10 year relationship with Angie Dickinson.

 

18.) Sinatra was an Italian American singer and motion-picture actor whose career lasted for many decades.

19.) He is one of the most famous American entertainers of his generation.

20.) His complete name is Francis Albert Sinatra.

21.) Sinatra was an only child and his parents wanted him to become an engineer.

22.) He preferred athletics to academics participated in a variety of sports, including boxing.

23.) At his teens, Sinatra worked for the Jersey Observer newspaper, often writing about school sporting events in which he was also a participant.

24.) In 1938, he signed his first professional contract as a singing waiter and master of ceremonies at a club in Englewood, New Jersey.

25.) Harry James, a trumpet player, after watching Sinatra perform, James recruited Sinatra to be the lead singer in his band, the Music Makers.

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Frank Sinatra Jr.

26.) Sinatra’s music is influenced by American singers Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday.

27.) In the 1940s Sinatra embarked on a solo career and became the idol of so-called bobby-soxers, teenage girls who swooned over his crooning, soft-voiced singing.

28.) He had many close relationships throughout his life. He was married four times, and had many other notable relationships before, after and during these marriages.

29.) His popularity drew the attention of Hollywood, and Sinatra appeared in such film musicals as Anchors Aweigh (1945), Till the Clouds Roll By (1947), and On the Town (1949).

30.) As an actor, he won an Academy Award for his non-singing performance in From Here to Eternity (1953).

31.) He also starred in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Detective (1968).

32.) His most popular songs in the 1950s were Swing Easy (1955), In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958) and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958)

33.) Sinatra’s hits in the 1960s include Nice 'N' Easy (1960), and Strangers in the Night (1966).

34.) In the 1960s he also recorded with the big bands of American jazz musicians Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

35.) After a brief retirement from 1971 to 1973, Sinatra resumed his singing career, continuing to tour and appearing frequently in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Ava Gardner 

36.) In 1993 he released the album Frank Sinatra Duets, on which many of his standard songs were engineered as duets with other famous singers. Contributors to the album included American singers Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, Latin American recording star Julio Iglesias, and Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2.

37.) The album sequel Duets II (1994), which won Sinatra a Grammy Award, includes collaborations with country-and-western star Willie Nelson, jazz singer Lena Horne, and pop singer and songwriter Neil Diamond.

38.) Many songs recorded by him, such as “All of Me” (1952), “Come Fly with Me” (1958), “All the Way” (1957), and “I've Got You Under My Skin” (1956), are still widely performed.

39.) Sinatra’s professional awards and accolades include 9 Grammy Awards, 3 Academy Awards, a Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985), and a Congressional Gold Medal (1997).

40.) Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings and bouts of depression.

41.) He was an ardent supporter of Democratic Party until the early 1970s. He switches as a Republican.

42.) Sinatra supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Presidential Elections and donated $4 million to Reagan's campaign.

43.) Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998 of heart attack as a complication of heart, kidney diseases and bladder cancer. He was 82 years old.

44.) Elton John stated that Sinatra, "was simply the best – no one else even comes close".

45.) The U.S. Postal Service issued a 42-cent postage stamp in honor of Sinatra on May 13, 2008.

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46.) The U.S. Congress passed a resolution on May 20, 2008 designating May 13 as Frank Sinatra Day to honor his contribution to American culture.

47.) Frank Sinatra is also known as “Ol’ Blue Eyes” and “The Chairman of the Board”.

48.) His song "My Way" is often quoted as the most covered song in history.

49.) Sinatra left high school without graduating, having attended only 47 days before being expelled because of his rowdy conduct. 

50.) He began singing professionally as a teenager in the 1930s, although he learned music by ear and never learned how to read music.

51.) Sinatra worked as a delivery boy at the Jersey Observer newspaper and as a riveter at the Tietjan and Lang shipyard.

52.) His mother, Dolly Sinatra, ran an illegal abortion business from her home and was arrested several times and convicted twice for this offense.

53. Antonino Martino Sinatra served with the Hoboken Fire Department as a Captain.

54.) He began singing for tips at the age of eight, standing on top of the bar at a local nightclub in Hoboken, New Jersey.

55.) Sinatra’s first commercial record is "From the Bottom of My Heart" which was released in July, 1939.

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Mia Farrow

56.) Fewer than 8,000 copies of "From the Bottom of My Heart" were sold, making the record a very rare find that is sought after by record collectors worldwide.

57.) Sinatra did not serve in the military during World War II because he was a "neurotic" and "not acceptable material from a psychiatric standpoint".

58.) During the Second World War, active-duty servicemen and journalist William Manchester said of Sinatra, "I think Frank Sinatra was the most hated man of World War II, much more than Hitler", because Sinatra was back home making all of that money and being shown in photographs surrounded by beautiful women.

59.) Sinatra’s exemption in the World War II would resurface throughout his life and cause him grief when he had to defend himself.

60.) Sinatra was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

See also 

• 40 Interesting Facts About the Handsome Tom Cruise 
• Amazingly Interesting and Random Facts About Music and Entertainment
• The Best Films of All Time 
• 50 Entertaining and Interesting Facts About Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll 
• 25 Entertaining and Interesting Facts About Katharine Hepburn