Join Greg Jenner in 15th-century Italy to meet Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most influential artists to ever live. While Leonardo is renowned for creating the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world, he was also a fantastic inventor and dreamed up all kinds of marvellous creations that wouldn’t become reality for another 500 years. Script: Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Historical Consultant: Professor Catherine Fletcher Research Assistant: Hannah MacKenzie Producer: Abi Paterson Produced by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4
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Hello and welcome to Homeschool History.
I'm Greg Jenner, the historian behind tv's horrible histories and the host of the BBC podcast you're dead to me.
I'm here to deliver a snappy history lesson to entertain and educate the whole family.
Who says that homeschooling can't be fun?
If you were to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, you might find yourself in a room surrounded by massive, colourful, exciting writing, paintings by amazing artists.
And yet the biggest crowd would be gathered around one small, mostly brown picture of a smiling woman who wasnt even famous when she was painted.
This is the Mona Lisa by the italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.
It is perhaps the most famous artwork ever made.
To find out why this week were travelling back to 15th century Italy to learn all about the extraordinarily talented but very easily distracted Leonardo da Vinci.
Da Vinci.
No, not da Vinci.
Da Vinci.
In fact, da Vinci wasn't his last name, because da Vinci just means from Vinci, the town in Tuscany where Leonardo was born in 1452.
Calling him da Vinci would be like calling me Tunbridge Wells, so let's call him Leonardo.
Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo wasn't from a particularly fancy family.
He was the son of a lawyer called Ser Piero and his girlfriend Caterina.
Ser Piero dumped Caterina to marry someone Posha.
But his new wife died very young and so did his second wife.