Leonardo da Vinci was a person.
Leonardo da Vinci . Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute , helicopter and tank , he epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal . Born out of wedlock to a notary , Piero da Vinci , and a peasant woman , Caterina , in Vinci in the region of Florence , Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio . Leonardo was , and is , renowned primarily as a painter .