Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian Renaissance polymath: an architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, geometer, musician, and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" and as a universal genius, a man infinitely curious and infinitely inventive. He is also considered one of the greatest painters who ever lived.

Leonardo is famous for his realistic paintings, such as the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper", as well as for influential drawings such as the "Vitruvian Man". He conceived of ideas vastly ahead of his time, notably inventing the helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, the calculator, a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics, the double hull, and others too numerous to mention. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were feasible during his lifetime; modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. In addition, he contributed greatly to the study of anatomy, astronomy, civil engineering, optics, and the study of water. Of his works, only a few paintings survive, together with his notebooks (scattered among various collections) containing drawings, scientific diagrams and notes.

"Mona Lisa", da Vinci's famous portrait of an Italian noblewoman, has been featured or spoofed in many Muppet productions and merchandise items. Jim Henson's earliest use of the "Mona Lisa" is in the 1965 short film Time Piece, in which the main character shoots the painting.

Da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" was parodied as part of the set of Muppet Celebrity T-shirts, as a reference to its use in the credits of Alias.