Leonardo da Vinci was a television show.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( [ leoˈnardo di ˌsɛr ˈpjɛːro da ( v ) ˈvintʃi ] ; 15 April 14522 May 1519 ) , more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo , was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention , painting , sculpting , architecture , science , music , mathematics , engineering , literature , anatomy , geology , astronomy , botany , writing , history , and cartography . He has been variously called the father of palaeontology , ichnology , and architecture , and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time . Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the `` Universal Genius '' or `` Renaissance Man '' , an individual of `` unquenchable curiosity '' and `` feverishly inventive imagination '' . Marco Rosci notes that while there is much speculation regarding his life and personality , his view of the world was logical rather than mysterious , and that the empirical methods he employed were unorthodox for his time . La Vita di Leonardo Da Vinci -- in English , The Life of Leonardo da Vinci -- is a 1971 Italian television miniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci ( 1452 -- 1519 ) .