Leonardo da Vinci

Born in 1452, the illegitamate son of a notary and landlord, Da Vinci displayed his artistic talent early. At seventeen, he moved to Florence where he was an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio, a master of the early Renaissance. After surpassing the talents of his teacher, he went to Milan where he completed portraits, botanical, anatomical and scientific sketches, and The Last Supper frescoe. In 1500, he returned to Florence and painted with Michelangelo and Raphael. In this period, he completed his masterpieces - the Mona Lisa and Leda and the Swan, which is now lost. Da Vinci lived a long life and died in Cloux France in 1519. Several of his experimental frescoes no longer exist and only seventeen paintings can be defintely attributed to him, several of them remaining unfinished. A master of the Italian High Renaissance, he is known for his love of science and his works epitomize the Renaissance humanist ideal. In addition to being a painter, Da Vinci was a draftsman, sculptor, architect and an engineer whose mechanical inventiveness was clearly ahead of his time.

Leonardo da Vinci Images:
Angel (Detail from the Annunciation)
Christ’s Head
Giant Catapult
La Scapigliata
Leda And The Swan
Mona Lisa
St. Anne
Studi per un monumento equestre
Study of Human Proportions
The Last Supper,1497
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John the Baptist
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John The Baptist,c.1499
The Virgin, Child, and St. Anne
The Vitruvian Man
Vetruvian Man
War Machine