Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, near the village of Vinci about 25 miles west of Florence. He was theillegitimate son of a prominent notary, and a peasant woman. At the age of fourteen, his father apprenticed him to Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio, the leading artist of Florence and the earlyRenaissance. After completing his apprenticeship, Leonardo stayed on as an assistant in Verrocchio's shop. His earliest known painting is in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ. Leonardo executed one of the twoangels as well as the distant landscape, and he added the final touches to the figure of Christ, determining the texture of the flesh.
About 1478 Leonardo set up his own studio. In 1481 he receiveda major church commission for an altarpiece, the Adoration of the Magi. The Magi was left unfinished because Leonardo left Florence in 1482 to accept the post of court artist to the Duke of Milan.Leonardo spent 17 years in Milan under the services of Duke Ludovico. He did many paintings, sculptures, and drawings during this time. He also designed court festivals, and did many of his sketchesrelated to engineering. When the Duke of Milan was overthrown by the French invasion in 1499, Leonardo left Milan.
In 1500 Leonardo returned to Florence, where he was received as a great man. Leonardoserved a term as military engineer for Cesare Borgia in 1502. In 1506, Leonardo was called to Milan by the French governor to work on an equestrian statue project, but he produced no new paintings.Instead he turned more to scientific observation.
In 1513 Leonardo went to Rome, where he remained until 1516. He was much honored, but he was relatively inactive and remarkably apart from its richsocial and artistic life. He continued to fill his notebooks with scientific entries. The French king, Francis I, invited Leonardo to his court at Fontainebleau, gave him the title of first painter,...