Lady with an Ermine, oil on panel by Leonardo da Vinci. The unique fame that Leonardo enjoyed in his lifetime and that, filtered by historical criticism, has remained undimmed to the present day rests largely on his unlimited desire for knowledge, which guided all his thinking and behaviour. An artist by disposition and endowment, he considered his eyes to be his main avenue to knowledge to Leonardo, sight was manâs highest sense because it alone conveyed the facts of experience immediately, correctly, and with certainty.
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