Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
-- Michelangelo, born March 6, 1475

A recent issue of Brain Aerobics Weekly celebrates the rebirth that comes with spring by honoring two icons of the Italian Renaissance (rebirth), Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci. As noted above, Michelangelo famously spoke of releasing the carvings that already existed in a block of marble. The unfinished slave statue at left gives an inkling of that practice. Both men learned human anatomy from corpses, and both were multi-talented artists, architects and engineers, but Michelangelo was also an accomplished poet and Leonardo an accomplished scientist and inventor. Sign up for Brain Aerobics Weekly to learn more or check out their biographies online.