|
|
|
|
BACK ISSUES | APRIL 2010 | CURRENT ISSUE
|
||
APRIL 2010
NUGGETS
Anecdotes of the Great
 IN 1466 at the age of 14, Leonardo da Vinci was apprenticed to renowned artist Andrea del Verocchio, whose workshop was one of the finest in Florence. Young Leonardo improved so fast that Verocchio could not but acknowledge that the pupil was little inferior to the master. In 1470, partly to prove or disprove this, Verocchio allowed Leonardo to paint the head of an angel on a painting on which he was himself engaged. With diligence Leonardo completed the figure. Varocchio looked at it in silence; it was infinitely superior to the rest of the painting. "I will never touch a pencil more," said Verocchio. And he kept his word; he never painted again.
[Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452-May 2, 1519) was an Italian painter, sculptor, inventor noted for his many inventions and scientific observations; and for such paintings as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time he is perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of his time.]
FACTOID
The three wise monkeys are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru or Kikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru or Iwazaru (Speak no evil). This pictorial maxim was popularized by a 17th century carving over a door of the famous Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko, Japan. BAD PREDICTION 
Gardiner G. Hubbard, Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law, on seeing Bell's telephone in 1876 How about that?  A MILLIONAIRE is giving away all his money and possessions to fund orphanages and other charity projects in South America. Karl Rabeder, 47, says that his fortune never made him happy. "Money is counter-productive - it prevents happiness to come." The Austrian businessman is selling his $2.5 million villa and farmhouse; already gone are his collection of six gliders and luxury car, as well as the furnishings and accessories business that made his $4.8 million fortune. The tipping point came while he was on holiday in Hawaii. "It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is," he said. "The worst that can happen to me is that I have to take a small job to get by," he said. Compiled by Caroline C. D’Souza |
THIS MONTH INHISTORY April 06, 1896 |
