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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Basseg.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method

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<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

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<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>Imagine a painting. A young, brown haired woman peers out

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<v Speaker 1>at us. Her expression is subtle. It is difficult to

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<v Speaker 1>tell if she is smiling or not. Behind her is

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<v Speaker 1>a foggy land filled with hills and mountains. Like the

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<v Speaker 1>woman's smile, these landforms are unclear. They do not seem

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<v Speaker 1>to fit in any one place on this earth. They

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<v Speaker 1>could just as well belong in a dream. The background

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<v Speaker 1>of this painting makes the woman even more mysterious. She

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<v Speaker 1>looks out from the painting as if she has a

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<v Speaker 1>secret to tell.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. It

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<v Speaker 2>is one of the most famous pieces in all of

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<v Speaker 2>Western art. Though mostly known for his paintings, Leonardo's interests

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<v Speaker 2>included everything from the human body to engineering. These interests

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<v Speaker 2>were not always useful. He did not gain much from

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<v Speaker 2>his interest in many different subjects, but these diverse interests

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<v Speaker 2>made him one of the most important talents the world

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<v Speaker 2>has ever known. To day's spotlight is on Leonardo da Vinci.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo was born in fourteen fifty two in Vinci, near

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<v Speaker 1>the Italian city of Florence. He was his mother's firstborn son,

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<v Speaker 1>bo Ud. His birth was not considered legitimate. His father

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<v Speaker 1>and mother were not married, nor would they ever be.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo would not get the same rights as his brothers,

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<v Speaker 1>who were from his father's wife. He would not be

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<v Speaker 1>part of the family business.

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<v Speaker 2>This may have saved Leonardo's work. The family's business in

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<v Speaker 2>law and property made the family wealthy, but it would

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<v Speaker 2>not have let him follow his interests. Even at a

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<v Speaker 2>young age, Leonardo had many of these. He watched birds

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<v Speaker 2>to understand how they flew. He painted, He made things

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<v Speaker 2>out of sticky clay. He studied how water flows in

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<v Speaker 2>streams and rivers. He observed how the muscles of horses

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<v Speaker 2>worked together to create movement.

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<v Speaker 1>When he was twelve, Leonardo moved to Florence, a center

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<v Speaker 1>of art. In learning, his father got him a chance

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<v Speaker 1>to learn with Andreo de Verroccio, a well known artist.

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<v Speaker 1>This special kind of schooling fit Leonardo well. He did

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<v Speaker 1>not learn well from books. Verruccio would teach Leonardo how

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<v Speaker 1>to paint. He would give the boy real experience and

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<v Speaker 1>train him as a craftsman an artist.

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<v Speaker 2>But Verruccio taught Leonardo more than just painting. He taught

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<v Speaker 2>the young man how to observe. He believed a person

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<v Speaker 2>needed to understand something in order to paint it. It

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<v Speaker 2>was not enough just to paint a person. You needed

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<v Speaker 2>to understand how the body moved. You needed to understand

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<v Speaker 2>the relationship between light and darkness. Verruccio and his students

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<v Speaker 2>studied life to make their paintings appear more life like.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo took this teaching to heart. His note books collected

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of his life show a huge array

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<v Speaker 1>of interests. Some contain paintings of animals and plants he

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<v Speaker 1>found in the city. Others show his interest in the

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<v Speaker 1>human body. He even cut up several dead bodies to

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<v Speaker 1>show how bones and muscles connected and to know the

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<v Speaker 1>internal parts of the body. The paintings and drawings he

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<v Speaker 1>made of these bodies are very true to life. His

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<v Speaker 1>studies gave him a better understanding of how and why

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<v Speaker 1>people moved.

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<v Speaker 2>By the time he was twenty, most people in Florence

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<v Speaker 2>recognized that Leonardo was a great artist in his own right.

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<v Speaker 2>He opened up his own workshop he began making his

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<v Speaker 2>own paintings. He would move many times to work in

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<v Speaker 2>different cities, but this workshop marked the beginning of Leonardo's

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<v Speaker 2>most famous paintings.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most famous of these paintings is The

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<v Speaker 1>Last Supper. This painting shows a story from the Christian Bible.

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<v Speaker 1>In this story, Jesus, who Christians believe is the son

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<v Speaker 1>of God, invites his friends to a meal. He tells

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<v Speaker 1>his friends that he is going to die the next day.

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<v Speaker 1>But Jesus knows how these men will act. He even

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<v Speaker 1>knows the man who will betray him. But he forgives

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<v Speaker 1>them and tells them they will be saved by trusting him.

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<v Speaker 2>This is a very important story for Christians. It describes

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<v Speaker 2>a tradition called communion. It shows them that their God

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<v Speaker 2>is a loving God for all people.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo's painting tries to show all of this in a

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<v Speaker 1>single image. Jesus sits in the very center of the painting.

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<v Speaker 1>His face is calm, he has accepted what is going

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<v Speaker 1>to happen to him. But his friends are anything but calm.

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<v Speaker 1>Each of them is frozen in a different state of emotion,

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<v Speaker 1>some show anger, some fear. One named Judas seems guilty.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo created their faces using real people in the city

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<v Speaker 1>as his models. This gives the painting a lifelike quality

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<v Speaker 1>that was shocking at the time. Kenneth Clark was a

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<v Speaker 1>British historian.

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<v Speaker 3>He said, you cannot look long at the Last Supper

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<v Speaker 3>before you stop thinking about it as a painting, you

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<v Speaker 3>start speaking about it like theater.

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<v Speaker 2>Leonardo saw no real difference between science and art. He

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<v Speaker 2>made medical discoveries while he studied. For his paintings, he

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<v Speaker 2>painted ideas that appeared to be plans for inventions. His

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<v Speaker 2>interests were deep. He followed these interests wherever they took him.

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<v Speaker 2>These scientific interests were important for his inner process of

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<v Speaker 2>creating art.

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<v Speaker 1>But Leonardo was sometimes difficult to work with. He was

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<v Speaker 1>interested in almost everything, but he had a hard time

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<v Speaker 1>finishing his work. He left many of his great paintings

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<v Speaker 1>half done. Many he did not consider finished, even when

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<v Speaker 1>most people would. Leonardo worked on the Mona Lisa itself

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<v Speaker 1>for sixteen years. Even then he did not consider it done.

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<v Speaker 1>Ludovico Svorza was the ruler of Milan, a kingdom in

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<v Speaker 1>modern day Italy. He paid Leonardo to paint the Last supper.

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<v Speaker 1>Once Savartza protested his timeliness, Leonardo told him.

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<v Speaker 4>Men of great talent sometimes do the most when they

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<v Speaker 4>work the least. Their minds are occupied with it ideas

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<v Speaker 4>and making them perfect. Afterward, they give these ideas form.

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<v Speaker 2>Leonardo's talents often seemed aimless. He did not always produce

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<v Speaker 2>what others wanted from him, but his interest in observing

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<v Speaker 2>everything around him led him to projects outside the world

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<v Speaker 2>of art. When he was in Milan, he designed new

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<v Speaker 2>water pipes for the city. He designed a machine to

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<v Speaker 2>take water out of a wetland. On another occasion, he

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<v Speaker 2>created machines for theater. His notebooks are full of inventions

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<v Speaker 2>like flying machines, futuristic weapons, and even a car. Many

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<v Speaker 2>of these inventions were never built. Some were too modern

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<v Speaker 2>for their time. They were not realistic, but Leonardo was

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<v Speaker 2>the first person to think of them. Walter Isaacson hes

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<v Speaker 2>a history writer, in his book on Leonardo da Vinci,

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<v Speaker 2>he said.

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<v Speaker 3>The things Leonardo saw for the future often happened. It

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<v Speaker 3>took a few centuries. Machines to breathe under the water,

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<v Speaker 3>flying machines and helicopters now exist, Pumps now empty, wetlands

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<v Speaker 3>sometimes dreams lead to reality.

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<v Speaker 1>Leonardo da Vinci died in fifteen nineteen. He was sixty

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<v Speaker 1>seven years old. Today, art historians consider him one of

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<v Speaker 1>the most important painters in history. He invented hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>machines and explored ideas others would consider impossible. In his lifetime,

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<v Speaker 1>he was known for the beauty of his work. Today

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<v Speaker 1>we also recognize him for the beauty of his mind.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a mind that imagined w wildly, that explored

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<v Speaker 1>everything it touched. It was a mind that has led

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<v Speaker 1>some historians to call him the most interested man in

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<v Speaker 1>the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Leonardo was a master of many areas. Is this mastery

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<v Speaker 2>of so many different subjects still possible for someone today?

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<v Speaker 2>You can leave a comment on our website at www

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<v Speaker 2>dot Spotlight English dot com. You can also find us

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<v Speaker 2>on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and x You can also get

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<v Speaker 2>our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device

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<v Speaker 2>through our free official Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 1>The writer and producer of this program was Dan Chrisman.

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<v Speaker 1>The voices you heard were from the United States and

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<v Speaker 1>the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program

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<v Speaker 1>and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called Leonardo da Vinci,

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<v Speaker 1>the most interested man in the world.

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<v Speaker 2>We hope you can join us again for the next

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight program. Good Bye,