Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo
da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer,
and scientist.He was born in Vinci, Tuscany, he was the illegitimate son
of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl.His precocious artistic talent
brought him to VERROCCHIO's workshop in 1466, where he met BOTTICELLI and
GHIRLANDAIO. The culmination of his art in this first period in Florence
is seen in the magnificent, unfinished Adoration of the Magi (Uffizi),
with its characteristic dramatic movement and chiaroscuro. In c.1482 Leonardo
went to the court of Ludovico SFORZA in Milan and there composed most of
his Trattato della pittura and the notebooks that demonstrate his versatile
genius. The severe plagues in 1484 and 1485 drew his attention to town
planning, and his drawings and plans for domed churches reflect his concern
with architectural problems. In 1483, Leonardo and his pupil Ambrogio de
Predis were commissioned to execute the famous Madonna of the Rocks (two
versions: 1483-c.1486, Louvre; 1483-1508, National Gall., London). The
now badly damaged Last Supper (c.1495-1498; Milan) was executed during
the period when he was experimenting with the FRESCO medium, and this partly
accounts for its damage. Despite this, a sublime spiritual content and
power of invention mark it as one of the world's masterpieces. Leonardo's
model for an equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza was never cast, and
in 1500 he returned to Florence, where he did much theoretical work in
mathematics and pursued his anatomical studies in the hospital of Santa
Maria Nuova. As a military engineer for Cesare BORGIA he studied swamp
reclamation and met Niccol?MACHIAVELLI. In c.1503 he executed the celebrated
Mona Lisa (Louvre). Then, as architect and engineer in Milan to the French
king LOUIS XII, he continued his scientific investigations into geology,
botany, hydraulics, and mechanics. In 1510-11 he painted St. Anne, Mary,
and the Child (Louvre), a work that exemplifies his handling of sfumato-misty,
subtle transitions in tone. His enigmatic St. John the Baptist (c.1513;
Louvre) was executed for Pope LEO X and his brother Giuliano de' Medici
in Rome. Shortly after 1515, Leonardo accepted an invitation from FRANCIS
I of France to settle in the castle of Cloux. Here he pursued his own researches
until his death. His versatility and creative power, as well as the richness
and originality expressed in his notebooks, drawings, and paintings, mark
him as one of the great minds of all time.
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