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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Leonardo da Vinci was named after his home town of Vinci, near Florence. His father had hopes for his to bo a layer. However, when he saw an very good painting of a monster that the young boy had done on a block of wood, Ser Piero da Vinci sent him to train as an artist's apprentice (helper) in Florence. Leonardo was just 15 years old.
Leonardo worked with other apprentices in the stuido of the famous painter & craftsperson, Andrea del Verrocchio. Here he learned not alone the skills of painting, but also of sculpture. He was remarkably strong for his age, & legend had it that he used to entertain the others by bending horse shoes with his bare hands!!!.
Leonardo's 1st painting to note was, in fact, one of an angle in the corner of a larger work by Verrocchio called The Baptism of Crist; it is said that Verrocchio considered Leonardo's work so much better that he never painted again!
Leonardo was taken into the florentine artists' guild at the age of 20 & spent the next ten years working there, sometimes for Lorenzo de Medici himself. Then, in 1482, leaving two major paintings unfinished, he went to Milan to work for Ludovico Sforza.
Sforza often used Leonardo to organise engineering works and festivals. At this time, Leonardo was also making notebooks full of ideas for tanks, helicopters, submarines and parachutes. Sadly, Sforza did not have any interest in these ideas, though 20th century research has showen that an aeroplane that he did designed could have flowen.
Leonardo compleated only six paintings in the 17 years that he was there, noteably The Verginof the Rockes and The Last Supper.
Unfortunatly, Leonardo used a new paint mix, when making The Last Supper, which flaked badly over the the years. Damp from a neardy swamp also harmed the painting, and, years later the monks cut a doorway through the bottom of it!! A major restoration begun in the 1970's and lasted over 20 years but failed to restore the painting to it's former glory.
With the fall of Sforza in 1499, Leonardo left Milan, leaving the huge statue of a hourse & rider which he had worked on for Sforza for 12 years. Back in Florence, among other work, Leonardo did a small painting of a Francesco del Giocondo's wife- The Mona Lisa.
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Last updated: 20 March 1999