Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his masterful paintings Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and The Vitruvian Man.
Aside from being a painter, sculptor, engineer and architect, his notebooks also revealed he was a remarkable scientist and inventor. Interestingly, Leonardo da Vinci was constantly on the move between various Italian cities.
Childhood Life in Tuscan Town of Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the small Tuscan town of Vinci. Born illegitimate, his father had little time for him and he was mainly looked after by his grandparents and an uncle.
As a child, he proved extraordinarily gifted. He played the lyre and sang beautifully; he was also great at horse riding, and had a brilliant aptitude for mathematics. Anywhere he went, Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook in which he wrote an account of his observations and sketched things that interested him.
Leonardo da Vinci in Florence
In 1468, when Leonardo da Vinci's grandfather died, the family moved to Florence. That time Florence was most exciting as Europe's creative city. Among the dominant structures were Brunelleschi's cathedral dome. There were also studios of brilliant art, such as Donatello's statue of David and Ghiberti's Baptistry doors.
More aware of his son's artistic brilliance and inclinations, his father, Ser Piero, sent him to study under Andrea Verrochio, the most famous sculptor, painter and goldsmith of the day in Florence. Soon, Leonardo surpassed the skill of his teacher.
It was also this time when he started wearing over-short, pink breeches that people began to speculate on his sexuality. Apparently, he seemed not to have interest in any relationship. Whatever the truth, this seeming disinterest in personal relationships gave him more time to develop and work on his ideas and art.
Leonardo da Vinci in Milan
Twelve years later, in 1480, Leonardo got his first art commission from Lorenzo the Magnificent, the head of the Medici's ruling family. He started work on his painting The Adoration of the Magi, but soon abandoned it, advertising his services as a military engineer to the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. He stayed in Milan for 17 years until the French captured the city in 1499.
Leonardo da Vinci was busy painting, advising or consulting on architecture, drains, water supplies and other activities technical in nature. As a sculptor, he sculpted a giant bronze statue of Ludovico on horseback, a work said to have been mocked by Michelangelo. So the duel by artistry eventuated between the two masters.
It was in Milan where he intensely studied for his anatomical researches, including dissecting corpses.
More Leonardo da Vinci Moves
During the 1500s political instability, Leonardo da Vinci's move to other Italian cities between Florence, Venice and Rome, became more rampant. He stayed a year or so in any one place.
By the time he was 60-years-old, feeling tired of the moves, he accepted a gift of rooms in the Vatican in Rome in 1513 and stayed there for three years. He hoped for a commission, but most projects were going to Michelangelo and Bramante.
Finally, in 1516, he accepted an invitation from the king of France and left Italy. Three years later, on May 2, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, aged 67, died in France.
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the three regarded greatest painters of the High Renaissance period, along with Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raffaello Sanzio.
Sources:
- Clark, John, Ed. Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. London: Chancellor Press, 1994.
- Farendon, J. and Woolf, A., Rooney, A. and Gogerly, L.. The Great Scientists. Capella, 2005.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers, Harrap Publishers, 2002.
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