renaissance artist

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452 in Vinci, a place near Florence in Italy. Despite his fathers desire that he train as a lawyer, he was determined to become an artist. At 14, he became an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence.

There he was trained to prepare paints, learned to sketch and so on. When Leonardo finished the face of an angel on one of Verrocchio’s works, his master realised what a talent the boy had.

In 1482 Leonardo moved to Milan as work was difficult to get in Florence. He went to work for the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. While in Milan he painted The Virgin of the rocks, which showed his love for nature. He also completed The last supper on the wall of a monastery, The painting shows his excellent use of perspective.

In 1499 Vinci returned to Florence where he painted his most famous work, the Mona Lisa. He made use of the sfumato technique to make the skin appear soft.

over 5,000 pages from Leonardo’s notebooks have survived in them he drew sketches of people, animals and new ideas for machines.