New York, Mar 26 : Leonardo da Vinci has upstaged every genius multi-tasker in the last 500 years.
Da Vinci was a whiz as a painter (hint: "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper"), a scientist and engineer, and a futurist dead-set on fighting the gravitational pull of his own times.
He was an intellect, free thinker, vegetarian and a humanist who supported himself designing weapons of war.
He was tall, handsome and a hit with the ladies. He was great with a sword and, being ambidextrous, which hand didn't matter.
"The phrase `Renaissance Man' was derived from him," says David S. Goyer, who has spent a lot of time studying about him, and has created "Da Vinci's Demons," a sci-fi thriller set in the 1400s.
Another cool thing about da Vinci: He was a man of intrigue, ensconced in secret societies, his paternity unresolved (he was born out of wedlock), perhaps divinely inspired as he clashed with the Roman Catholic Church -- a man who seemed to defy the confinements of any simple narrative.
"There's a tantalizing five-year gap, stretching from when he was 27 to 32, where there's almost no record of where he was or what he was doing," says Goyer. "A gap like that is gold when you're the creator of this show."
