1. Leonardo da Vinci’s earliest known work is a drawing of the Arno valley in pen and ink, dated August 5th, 1473.
Arno landscape; Leonardo da Vinci; 1473
2. Pablo Picasso’s full name has 23 words in it: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. In keeping with tradition, named after saints and relatives.
3. Salvador Dali once delivered a lecture wearing a complete diving suit that almost suffocated him by the end of it all. Imagine attending that lecture!
Salvador Dali (in diving suit) with friends.
4. Before turning to art, Vincent van Gogh aspired to become a pastor. He felt his true calling was in the religious discourses, making him extremely passionate about preaching. He temporarily took up a job as a missionary in the coal-mining district of Borinage, Belgium.
5. There was a movement known as the “fig-leaf campaign” in the Counter Reformation period (after the Renaissance) during which statues were draped with cloth or carved fig leaves over the visible male genitalia. It is also said that a box with fig leaves was kept behind the copy of the David by Michelangelo in the Victoria and Albert museum, for the occasion when women were present. Talk about planned coverage!
Cristo della Minerva; Michelangelo
Art'o'scope 