Leonardo da Vinci – Thinker and Man of Science

"Was Leonardo's pronounced vocation for scientific research a help or a hindrance to him as an artist? It is usual to quote him as an example of the possibilities of art and science allied. In him, it is affirmed, active genius received a new impetus from the analytic faculty; reason reinforced the imagination and the emotions. […] A profound savant and an incomparable creator, he is the only man in the history of mankind who has at once penetrated into the most radiant beauty, who has united the science of Aristotle with the art of Phidias."