Wait? What?!?

Why are we talking about Leonardo? Well, Leonardo is a perfect example of what scientists call “Behavioral Fluency”.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452. Between 1462 and 1469 (more likely in 1469) he joined the workshop of a famous Florentine painter: Andrea del Verrocchio. There, Leonardo worked until about the year 1480. Starting from this year we have the first Leonardo’s paintings that he -surely- painted by himself.

Leonardo spent at least 10 years working as apprentice in Verrocchio’s workshop. Why did a gifted artist like Leonardo spend 10 years working as apprentice? Because, for becoming an artist, he needed to master the techniques of painting and other artistic disciplines. In the Middle Ages an apprentice became a craftsman, who could open his own shop after (more or less)10 years of work in the workshop of a Maestro. He gained little or no money and received just room and board. What did he get from his hard work?

Apprentices got the chance to learn everything about the art with which they would -eventually- earned a living. Apprentices lived, ate and slept in their master’s workshop. Twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, for ten years they were constantly flooded in their art. A long period of training then.

They started with the basics and gradually, as training progressed, they learned how to accomplish more complex tasks. For example: a painter would not have painted before he had learned how to prepare colors and supports and how different materials could, or not, work together. Leonardo did also a lot of drawing, of course. When finally he began to paint, he started with details and particulars, such as painting the backgrounds.