... the artist was so impressed that he offered Leonardo a position. A little while after beginning his apprenticeship, Piero requested that his son produce a work of art. Piero took his son a shield that was to be painted for a worker in his estate in Vinci. Leonardo decided something frightening should be painted onto the shield, yet did not want to rely solely on his imagination so he collected lizards, snakes, grasshoppers, bats, crickets, among other creatures which he then observed and studied. He took bits and pieces from each creature combining them to create his own dragonlike creature. The painted dragon looked so lifelike that when Leonardo's father came to inspect it he was frightened at first sight. Piero then sold the painted shield to a Florentine merchant for a large sum of money, and bought a cheap painted shield to give to his worker. (O' Connor) " ...

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