Leonardo da Vinci (1452 to 1519) was a Florentine painter, draftsman, and polymath whose surviving body of painted work, though small, includes two of the most recognized images in Western art, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Trained in Florence in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, he later worked for patrons including Ludovico Sforza in Milan and, in his final years, the French king Francis I. Leonardo's paintings are distinguished by sfumato, a technique of soft, smoky transitions between light and shadow that avoids hard outlines, and by an unusually close study of anatomy, geometry, and the natural world, recorded across thousands of pages of notebooks that range from engineering sketches to botanical and hydraulic studies. He completed relatively few paintings, partly from perfectionism and partly from the breadth of his other interests, and several major projects, including a planned equestrian monument in Milan, were never finished. Leonardo is widely regarded as the paradigmatic example of the Renaissance ideal of the universal man, equally engaged with art and with the investigation of the natural world.
Facts
BirthplaceVinci, Republic of Florence 2 Death PlaceClos Luce, Amboise, France 2 Active From YearConventionally dated from his apprenticeship in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio to his death. Active To Year TrainingTrained in the Florence workshop of the sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio. 2 FAQs
Where did Leonardo da Vinci spend the last years of his life?
He spent his last three years at Cloux near Amboise in France in the service of King Francis I.
Leonardo spent his last years in France. At the end of 1516 he left Italy for good, together with Melzi, his most devoted pupil, after the young King Francis I invited him to enter the royal service. He lived for the last three years of his life in the small residence of Cloux, later called Clos-Luce, near the king's summer palace at Amboise on the Loire, and he died there in 1519.
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Associated With
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Wikipedia: WikipediaEarly life (1452-1472) section, Verrocchio's workshop subsection
Source Wikipedia: Wikipedia
Leonardo da Vinci pioneered sfumato, most famously in the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci used silverpoint for many of his preparatory studies.
In Movement
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Mentored By
Source Wikipedia: Wikipedia
Practices
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source The Metropolitan Museum of ArtHeilbrunn Timeline: Renaissance Drawings
Additional Source Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)Vitruvian Man, Description/Composition section
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Works Created
Source Angelo Incarnato (Wikipedia)
Source Annunciation (Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
Source Benois Madonna (Wikipedia)
Source La Bella Principessa (Wikipedia)
Source La Joconde nue (Wikipedia)
Source La Scapigliata (Wikipedia)
Painted by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1489-1491.
Source Leda and the Swan (Leonardo) - Wikipedia
Source Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
Source Medusa, Leonardo (Wikipedia)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk (Wikipedia)
Source Studies of the Fetus in the Womb - Wikipedia
Source The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio and Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
Source The Battle of Anghiari (Wikipedia)
Source The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)Vitruvian Man, lead section
In the Other Atlases
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Also in Divinity Atlas: a work attributed to this subject.
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Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
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Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Sources
1. Gardner's Art Through the Ages
Fred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner), Cengage Learning- chapter on the Italian Renaissance, section on Leonardo da Vinci
Gender reference
Trained in Florence in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, he later worked for patrons including Ludovico Sforza in Milan and, in his final years, the French king Francis I.
- In Movement: Renaissance, chapters on the Italian Renaissance
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationLeonardo da Vinci article, infobox birth_place field
possibly Anchiano, Vinci, Florence
Leonardo da Vinci article, infobox death_place field
Clos Luce, Amboise, France
Leonardo da Vinci article, infobox years_active field
circa 1470-1519
View the Source Wikidata: Leonardo da Vinci
Wikidata Q762, class allow-list match (w-bbfill-artsarchag-0926 resolve_missing)View the Source Wikipedia: Wikipedia
Leonardo da Vinci article, lead sentence
15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519
Lead section
Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time.
Leonardo da Vinci article, infobox birth_name field
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci
Mentored By: Andrea del Verrocchio, Early life section
Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time.
Associated With: Andrea del Verrocchio, Early life (1452-1472) section, Verrocchio's workshop subsection
Around the age of 14, he became a garzone (studio boy) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time.
View the SourceThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkPractices: Drawing, Heilbrunn Timeline: Renaissance DrawingsView the Source Wikipedia: Wikipedia
Associated With: Michelangelo, Michelangelo article, lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Michelangelo, Michelangelo article, lead section
Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci.
The Battle of Anghiari (Wikipedia)
Works Created: The Battle of Anghiari (Leonardo), LeadQuote, Works Created: The Battle of Anghiari (Leonardo), Lead
The Battle of Anghiari (Italian: La Battaglia di Anghiari, 1505) is a lost fresco painting by Leonardo da Vinci
Studies of the Fetus in the Womb - Wikipedia
Works Created: Studies of the Fetus in the Womb, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Studies of the Fetus in the Womb, lead paragraph
Studies of the Fetus in the Womb are two coloured annotated sketches by Leonardo da Vinci made in around 1511. The studies correctly depict the human fetus in its proper position inside a dissected uterus. Leonardo depicted the ut
Leda and the Swan (Leonardo) - Wikipedia
Works Created: Leda and the Swan (Leonardo), lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Leda and the Swan (Leonardo), lead paragraph
The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503-1510. Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, espe
Medusa, Leonardo (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Medusa (Leonardo), lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Medusa (Leonardo), lead paragraph
Medusa is either of two paintings described in Giorgio Vasari's Life of Leonardo da Vinci as being among Leonardo's earliest works. Neither painting survived.
Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo), lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo), lead paragraph
The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist is a lost composition by Leonardo da Vinci. The composition is known through a handful of paintings attributed to artists in Leonardo's circle. An original underdrawing
La Scapigliata (Wikipedia)
Works Created: La Scapigliata, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: La Scapigliata, lead paragraph
La Scapigliata (Italian for 'The Lady with Dishevelled Hair') is an unfinished painting generally attributed to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, and dated c. 1506-1508. Painted in oil, umber, and white lead p
La Bella Principessa (Wikipedia)
Works Created: La Bella Principessa, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: La Bella Principessa, lead paragraph
La Bella Principessa (English: "The Beautiful Princess"), also known as Portrait of Bianca Sforza, Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress and Portrait of a Young Fiancée, is a portrait in coloured chalks and ink, on vellum, of
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist (Wikipedia)
Works Created: The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, lead paragraph
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, sometimes called the Burlington House Cartoon, is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing is in charcoal and black and white chalk, on eight sheets of paper that
Benois Madonna (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Benois Madonna, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Benois Madonna, lead paragraph
The Benois Madonna, otherwise known as the Madonna and Child with Flowers, is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. One of two Madonnas begun by Leonardo in Octob
La Joconde nue (Wikipedia)
Works Created: La Joconde nue, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: La Joconde nue, lead paragraph
La Joconde nue or Monna Vanna is a 1514-1516 charcoal drawing with white highlights by the school of Leonardo da Vinci. It is a semi-nude portrait of a woman, 28-by-21 inch in size. The position of the subject's hands and body are
Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk, lead paragraph
Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk (c. 1510) is a drawing currently in the collection of the Royal Library of Turin. It is widely, though not universally, accepted as a self-portrait of the Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is
Angelo Incarnato (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Angelo Incarnato, lead paragraphQuote, Works Created: Angelo Incarnato, lead paragraph
Angelo incarnato is a sketch attributed to the renowned Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing is believed to be a portrait of Leonardo's apprentice, Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, also known as Salaì. Salaì se
Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Vitruvian Man, Vitruvian Man, lead section
a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490.
Practices: Drawing, Vitruvian Man, Description/Composition section
The drawing was executed primarily with pen and light-brown ink, while there are traces of brown wash (watercolor).
View the SourceAnnunciation (Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
Works Created: Annunciation (Leonardo), Infobox: artistQuote, Works Created: Annunciation (Leonardo), Infobox: artist
Leonardo da Vinci
The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio and Leonardo) (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWorks Created: The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio and Leonardo), Infobox: artistQuote, Works Created: The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio and Leonardo), Infobox: artist
Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci
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