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The illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl Caterina, Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy. He grew up primarily with his father whereby he had access to scholarly texts owned by family and friends during his childhood. By the age of 15, Leonardo moved to the nearby city of Florence and became an apprentice to the artist, Andrea del Verrocchio. As an apprentice, he already demonstrated his colossal talent. While working with del Verrocchio, he aided his master with the Baptism of Christ, and eventually painted his own Annunciation. By 1477 Leonardo began his own practice and was commissioned the Adoration of the Magi . However, in search of new challenges, Leonardo abandoned his first commission and departed for Milan in 1482 to gain the patronage of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. He spent 17 years in Milan, leaving only after Duke Sforza's fall from power in 1499. It was during these years that Leonardo hit his stride, reaching new heights of scientific and artistic achievement. The Duke of Milan directed Da Vinci to work on paintings, sculptures, weapons, buildings, machinery, and designing elaborate court festivals. From 1485 to 1490, Leonardo pursued studies on a variety of subjects, including nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, canals and architecture. His studies from this period contain designs for advanced weapons, including a tank as other war vehicles, combat devices, and submarines. Also during this period, Leonardo concentrated on anatomical studies. Between 1490 and 1495 he developed a habit of recording these studies in meticulously illustrated notebooks. With regards to works of art, Ludovico Sforza first commissioned Leonardo to work on The Virgin of the Rocks. Thereafter, he began work on a giant bronze horse, which was to be a monument to Sforza's father. Although his design was grand, the project was never fully realized. In 1495, Leonardo begain his painting of the Last Supper, which began to deteriorate physically almost immediately upon completion. After the invasion of Milan by the French and Sforza's fall from power in 1499, Leonardo was left to search for a new patron. Over the course of the next 16 years, Leonardo traveled and worked throughout Italy. In 1500, Leonardo arrived in Florence where he painted the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. After travelling with Cesare Borgia's army as a military engineer for one year, Leonardo returned to Florence where he contributed to the engineering project of diverting the course of the Arno River. In this time, he also painted a giant war mural, the Battle of Anghiari, which was never completed due to problems with the paints. About 1504, Leonardo probably began work on his first sketches of the Mona Lisa, but it is not known when he completed the painting. In 1506, the painter traveled back to Milan to become painter and engineer to Louis XII. At this time he worked on a second version of The Virgin of the Rocks. From 1513 to 1516, Leonardo worked in Rome undertaking a variety of projects for the Pope Leo X. In Rome, he continued his studies of the human anatomy and physiology, but the Pope forbade him from dissecting cadavers. In 1516, Leonardo left Italy for France, joining King Francis I in Amboise, whom he served as a wise philosopher for three years before his death in Cloux, France on May 2, 1519. |
