Leonardo da Vinci was born on
April 15, 1452, near the village of Vinci about
25 miles west of Florence. He was the
illegitimate son of Ser Piero da Vinci, a
prominent notary of Florence, who had no other
children until much later. Ser Piero raised his
son himself, a common practice at the time,
arranging for Leonardo's mother to marry a
villager. When Leonardo was 15, his father
apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio, the
leading artist of Florence and a characteristic
talent of the early Renaissance.
He was a
painter, architect, inventor, and student of all
things scientific. His natural genius crossed so
many disciplines that he epitomized the term
Renaissance Man. Today he
remains best known for his art, including two
paintings that remain among the world's most
famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last
Supper. Leonardo was far more than a great
artist: he had one of the best scientific minds
of his time. He made painstaking observations
and carried out research in fields ranging from
architecture and civil engineering to astronomy
to anatomy and zoology to geography, geology and
paleontology.
Growing up in his father's Vinci home,
Leonardo had access to scholarly texts owned by
family and friends. He was also exposed to
Vinci's longstanding painting tradition, and
when he was about 15 his father apprenticed him
to the renowned workshop of Andrea del Verrochio
in Florence. Even as an apprentice, Leonardo
demonstrated his colossal talent. Indeed, his
genius seems to have seeped into a number of
pieces produced by the Verrocchio's workshop
from the period 1470 to 1475. For example, one
of Leonardo's first big breaks was to paint an
angel in Verrochio's "Baptism of Christ," and
Leonardo was so much better than his master's
that Verrochio allegedly resolved never to paint
again. Leonardo stayed in the Verrocchio
workshop until 1477 when he set up a shingle for
himself.
In search of new challenges and the big
bucks, he entered the service of the Duke of
Milan in 1482, abandoning his first commission
in Florence, "The Adoration of the Magi". He
spent 17 years in Milan, leaving only after Duke
Ludovico 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 kept Leonardo busy painting and
sculpting and designing elaborate court
festivals, but he also put Leonardo to work
designing weapons, buildings and machinery. From
1485 to 1490, Leonardo produced a studies on
loads of subjects, including nature, flying
machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal
construction, canals and architecture (designing
everything from churches to fortresses). His
studies from this period contain designs for
advanced weapons, including a tank and other war
vehicles, various combat devices, and
submarines. Also during this period, Leonardo
produced his first anatomical studies. His Milan
workshop was a veritable hive of activity,
buzzing with apprentices and students.
Leonardo's interests were so broad, and he
was so often compelled by new subjects, that he
usually failed to finish what he started. This
lack of "stick-to-it-ness" resulted in his
completing only about six works in these 17
years, including "The Last Supper" and "The
Virgin on the Rocks," and he left dozens of
paintings and projects unfinished or unrealized
(see "Big Horse" in sidebar). He spent most of
his time studying science, either by going out
into nature and observing things or by locking
himself away in his workshop cutting up bodies
or pondering universal truths.
Between 1490 and 1495 he developed his habit
of recording his studies in meticulously
illustrated notebooks. His work covered four
main themes: painting, architecture, the
elements of mechanics, and human anatomy. These
studies and sketches were collected into various
codices and manuscripts, which are now hungrily
collected by museums and individuals (Bill Gates
recently plunked down $30 million for the Codex
Leicester!).
Back to Milan... after the invasion by the
French and Ludovico Sforza's fall from power in
1499, Leonardo was left to search for a new
patron. Over the next 16 years, Leonardo worked
and traveled throughout Italy for a number of
employers, including the dastardly Cesare
Borgia. He traveled for a year with Borgia's
army as a military engineer and even met Niccolo
Machiavelli, author of "The Prince." Leonardo
also designed a bridge to span the "golden horn"
in Constantinople during this period and
received a commission, with the help of
Machiavelli, to paint the "Battle of Anghiari."
About 1503, Leonardo reportedly began work on
the "Mona Lisa." On July 9, 1504, he received
notice of the death of his father, Ser Piero.
Through the contrivances of his meddling half
brothers and sisters, Leonardo was deprived of
any inheritance. The death of a beloved uncle
also resulted in a scuffle over inheritance, but
this time Leonardo beat out his scheming
siblings and wound up with use of the uncle's
land and money.
From 1513 to 1516, he worked in Rome,
maintaining a workshop and undertaking a variety
of projects for the Pope. He continued his
studies of human anatomy and physiology, but the
Pope forbade him from dissecting cadavers, which
truly cramped his style.
Following the death of his patron Giuliano
de' Medici in March of 1516, he was offered the
title of Premier Painter and Engineer and
Architect of the King by Francis I in France.
His last and perhaps most generous patron,
Francis I provided Leonardo with a cushy job,
including a stipend and manor house near the
royal chateau at Amboise.
Although suffering from a paralysis of the
right hand, Leonardo was still able to draw and
teach. He produced studies for the Virgin Mary
from "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne",
studies of cats, horses, dragons, St. George,
anatomical studies, studies on the nature of
water, drawings of the Deluge, and of various
machines.
Leonardo died on May 2, 1519
in Cloux, France. Legend has it that King
Francis was at his side when he died, cradling
Leonardo's head in his arms.
For those who love all
things Italian...