Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo is considered one of the world’s greatest artists. He was an Italian Renaissance architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, geometer and painter. His scientific discoveries and inventions amaze historians and scientists alike.

Leonardo Da Vinci was born at the little town of Vinci, which is about 6 miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence in 1452.

In about 1465, when he was a young teenager Leonardo’s life changed. He left quiet, predictable comfort of Vinci and began a new life in the big city of Florence.

Later he became an apprentice in Verrocchio’s workshop, one of the most flourishing of the day, which received important commissions even from the powerful Medici family.

In 1495 Leonardo began painting a dramatic scene in the Last Supper. It shows the Apostle’s reactions after Jesus Christ tells them that he will be killed. The work finished in 1498.

Throughout his long career, Leonardo worked for everyone from kings and dukes to warlords. He wasn’t just a painter, either – he travelled as a military engineer with the infamous Cesare Borgia in 1502, using his genius to create machines of war.

During more peaceful times, Leonardo was fond of making mathematical discoveries, investigating the secrets of the human body, and inventing parachutes.

He spent a lot of time studying the way birds and bats fly. And he dreamed of inventing a way for people to fly. His notebooks are filled with drawings of flying machine.

In 1507, Leonardo Da Vinci is named painter of the court of Louis XII of France.

Leonardo Da Vinci dies on 2 May of 1519 at Cloux and is buried in the Church of Saint Valentine in Amboise.
Leonardo Da Vinci