| Leonardo da Vinci | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci Apr. 15, 1452 Vinci, Republic of Florence, in the present day Province of Florence, Italy |
| Died | May 2, 1519 (at age 67) Amboise, Touraine (in present-day Indre-et-Loire, France) |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Movement | High Renaissance |
| Field | Painting |
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is known to the world as an inventor, scientist, mathematician, and most of all, an artist. Da Vinci is considered to be a true Renaissance man. He was skilled in many subjects, and is respected because of his achievements. He helped pioneer the sciences, developed new art techniques, and was one of the first people to dissect the human body.
Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. His father was a public notary in Milan, and his mother, a simple maiden. When Leonardo was little, he would always try to invent new things, he was very intelligent. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice to one of the best painters at the time, Andrea del Verrocchio. Under Verrocchio, he learned how to paint and sculpt. He also learned skills in metallurgy, drafting, chemistry, and carpentry. Out of all these, Da Vinci chose art as his main profession, but used all that he learned throughout his life.
Da Vinci collaborated with Verrocchio on a few pieces. There is a legend that says when Leonardo painted Gabriel in The Baptism of Christ (1472), Verrocchio never painted again, because his skills could not compare to those of Da Vinci. But, this is not a certain fact.
There are only 15 paintings of Da Vinci that survive. The most famous of which is the Mona Lisa that was painted between 1503-1507. The model who posed for the painting was said to be a young merchant’s wife, but who knows. In this painting, Da Vinci used a new technique called “sfumato”, which is the hazy atmosphere in the picture. The Mona Lisa is one of the most analyzed paintings of all time, because Da Vinci’s face also fits that of Mona’s, which is unusual for any painting.
There are many drawings by Da Vinci that still exist, the most famous is the Vitruvian Man. The drawing represents the proportions of man according to the work of Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect. Along with the Mona Lisa, it is one of the most recognized and most reproduced image of all time.
Though Da Vinci was talented, he did not work on any sculptures. He had plans for an equestrian statue in 1492 but he never got started. The bronze he was use for the statue was instead used for cannons to protect the city of Milan from the invasion of Charles V, King of France at the time.
Da Vinci wrote several books throughout his lifetime. He collaborated with another mathematician to write a treatise on Mathematics, and then by himself, the Codex on the Flight of Birds (1505). After his death, his Treatise on Painting was printed in 1680, it included many drawings on anatomy.
He had many inventions. He was obsessed with flight and had plans for something similar to a helicopter. He also created musical instruments and hydraulic water pumps, most of which were never built. He was commissioned to make a mechanical lion for the King of France. It walked forward and the chest would open to reveal a bunch of lilies.
Throughout his life, Da Vinci never married, nor was he linked to anyone. In 1476, when he was 24 years old, he and three other guys were charged with sodomy, which was illegal in Florence where he was living. Records show they were acquitted.
Unlike most other artists, Da Vinci was famous during his lifetime and only became even more so after his death. He was called upon by important church officials and royals to paint for them, or invent things for them. For instance, The Last Supper, which was painted on a convent wall in 1498 was one such commission. It has deteriorated badly over the years due to Da Vinci trying tempera on plaster instead of a fresco. (Tempera is egg whites mixed with paint, and it makes the paint shiny; a fresco is paint mixed with plaster, making it more durable against the ravages of time) During war, he was employed as a military architect, to design a siege against the invading enemies, like during the Second Italian War. He was employed as a naval architect in Venice. He was a favorite of the Governor of Milan, Ludovic, and King Francois I of France.
Leonardo had two apprentices, which lived with him for most of his life. One was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, nicknamed Salaì, and the other was Count Francesco Melzi. Salaì became an apprentice in 1490, and Melzi in 1506. Neither of them ever became distinguished artists, but they worked with their master until he died.
Da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 in France. Stories say he died in King Francois’s arms. He spent the last two years of his life in France, with his apprentices, and they had lived at the King’s personal Château. Before his death, Da Vinci requested that 60 beggars walk behind his coffin through the streets to the graveyard. So they did. Most of his belongings were left to Melzi, his favorite apprentice and only his drawings, were divided up among his friends.
Good.!
Thank yhu, dhis website gave me all dha infomation i needed on dhis person, ! ! !
So nicee, (:
Dear lauryn,
No offence, but I think you might have to go back to school and learn how to spell. No offence intented.
By a concerned person who read your comment,
sincerly,
Anonymous.
P.S. with all due respect i am in no way offending you
Better spelling please
Dear Anonymous,
After seeing your comment, I thought to myself, “why has this person just complained about another person’s spelling, when he/she cannot spell that well he/she’s self.”
By a concerned person who read your comment
Sincerely,
Anonymous
P.S. I am refering to how you spelt “intended”
It is sincerely, not “sincerly”. Slightly undermined yourself there
and intended, not “intented”, oh dear
I LOVE how the first few comments were on people about complaining…
grammar too
lern to spell chick no offense its worse than my five year old bro
omg so helpful . not i dont care about this or anything else to do with this
Learn how to english
this website is perfect for my report on Leonardo da Vinci…. <3 it
Thanks i apreshate this n it helps alot n i dont care if you spelt things wrong because im not a good speller in general n im only 16 going to be 17 in dec. so yah i aprecate this thanks agen n i learnd things to day to reading this
i also know what you mean to so yah great job hope to find more repots you have done and im sure this will help others to and they arnt gonna care about the spelling cause they will no what you mean lol have a great day 🙂
this really helps me on my art project ! thanks you soooooo much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im doing a peice of art at school, old art into new art. I want to jazz up monalisa, and im meant to draw her, twice in one day. what the hell??
thanx!!!!!!!! i needed this 4 my report. this helps soooooooooooooooooo much– its amazing its the best of allll sites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg, i needed this too!!!!!! all i needed wuz right here,thanx a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! first day of six grase and my teacher made us do a project!!!!!! i amphi middle i got lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dear Sarah I need your help on my report of da vinci ?
good. I got all my necessary data.
great thanks
loved it !! and it helped me so much..!! 😀 THANK YOU !!!! 🙂 😉
This really helped me on my report. He’s one of my favorite artists so great thanks!
Please post some more information about Da Vinci and his works
woho finished my 500 word art essay thanks to this awsome website
note i did not copy and paste i put in my own words
thank you! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
i didn’t know he was GAY!!!
What the hell
this i,s execellentemendo best of he best
,works
Awesome job! I never knew he was gay?
he was not gay!
So good I never knew he was a scientist
this was helpful =] my project hope my teacher enjoys it as much as i did yay:}
Help me alot thanks
coooooooooooooooooooooooooool
Thank you sooo much it helped me sooo much at the lat minute assignment !!!! 🙂
luvvvvvvvvvvv mona lisa
thanks it gave me all the information i needed for my biography
helpful
it’s just out standing i just love this side only one word awesome
i need some homework in for tuesday 26th june i need info fast!!!!!
Can I know who has published this article together with the year published. Please it will help me a lot.
great for a project im doin rigt now
This website helped me alot caz im doing information report on leonald da vinch so thax for the person who made this website!
by ???
If you were doing an information report about LEONARDO DA VINCI how would you not know how to spell his name correctly?
Thank u lord my dad was hollering at me about this project
Thanks for such a nice post on Vinci. I read and enjoyed this.
I recently wrote something similar on the topic, please
check that out http://famous101.com/famous-artists-and-their-work
Thanks, I needed it for my Project 🙂 “Smile”
This is sooo great y’all. I am doing my art homewrok on Leonardo da Vinci defo!! hehe 🙂
oh my gosh!! thanks guyzzzzzzz…….
i really100x need this for my art ass.
ahh.. what a bzzar,…
this really helped me with my 5 page essay. please write more other topics.
Slightly disappointed. Is this a historical documentation of his life or a personal interpretation of historical events? Let’s let history speak for itself. But you know, simply because he wasn’t proven to have been conspired against, and falsely accused of sodomy doesn’t mean that that didn’t happen either.
Sincerely,
Disappointed.
Wow!!!
I never knew he was homosexual(that is soooo new to me)
or having so many talents(we have 1 talent in common, being an awsome artist)
🙂
WOW this is just the info i needed for my report for school exactly about leonardo so thanx oh neva listen to a girl named Andreani!!!
I need this information for my art project by tomorrow and I can’t believe this website had it all because most of the others had not enough good quality information.
I extremely appreciate for this information
-Sam
These painting were awesome. My grandma painted picture from him.
thanks helped a lot. tho you should have rote more about his years in milania.
Quality articles is the crucial to attract the visitors to go to see the web site, that’s what this website is providing.
this has very incorrect info leonardo did not infact live with his real parrents he lived with step parents and the man that took oim in married several times before he had an actual son of blood relation
Does anyone no, what he was famous for right after this death ?
thanks it was helpful
Thank you, now I I known who painted the MONA LISA
Thanks to this page I can now complete my self assigned, assignment on Leonardo Da Vinci!
Woohoo!
A complete shout out to this website>>>THANK YOU!!!!…I have Completed my work assignments on Leonardo Da Vinci…
thank you so much this site was very helpful
this has been a truly amazing experience. I will be on this sight for the rest of my life.
yep he was
PEOPLE ITS ABOUT THE ART NOT WHAT EVER YOUS ARE ON ABOUT …
VERY GOOD BUT NOTES ARE TOOO LONG MY HAND IS PAINING WRITING ALL DAY
This is great for my report <3 Thank's.
I can’t beileive that you people are complaining about that some kid just made a spelling mistake! SO what?! God you people are soe dumb! Oh look I just misspelled something!
Thank you so much for this amazing info….helped me so much with my project!!!!!
This is the best for doing a research paper.
Sumbody always gotta hate on someone elses spelling
He’s our hero we should thank him because he painted monalisa its kind of creepy but still…he’s our hero!!!!!
I wish this man will be history of forever.
And wish this man will not be forget.
Look its santa claus
I my family loves his paintings
I think that he was an amazing man. His paintings are wonderful and his ideas are even better. The amount of studying that he did, on various subjects is totally mind blowing. I just hope that the schools are still going to teach about him, not only as a painter, but a visionary.
I love everything he did.
My name is Leonard because of da Vinci. I’m learning about him now
nobudy say that y’all need calm down plz
I think that everything here in this little biography of Leonardo Da Vinci is very helpful for me because of how well written (I said written because I do not know what other word would work well for it) it is, and how good it is for my art research! Thank you so much! 🙂
P.S. I am sorry for the person who was getting told their grammar and spelling were not correct. I don’t think we should all be rude to people who make mistakes like that. Sorry for those who were saying “no offence.” I knew that the person was not the kind of person to be offended.
Sincerely,
Unknown
he is so nice i got everything i need from here