Part 1 of Essay
It started long ago as a little boy. I discovered I had many unique talents. I was born in the small town of Vinci, in Tuscany, near Florence of Italy in the year 1452. I was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. When we moved to Florence, in the mid-1460s, I was given a wonderful education. I wa ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... also called the Benois Madonna and a few others but my mind is old and I have lost most my memory. In a year around 1482, I began to give service to the Duke of Milan. After writing him a letter explaining to him my ideas of building portable bridges and other techniques I knew he made me principal engineer of his numerous military enterprises. I also acted as an architect and assisted the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli in the work Divina Proportione. During my long stay in Milan, I created drawings and pai ....