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Early life:
Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15th, 1452 in Florence, Italy. His father, Ser Piero, was a Florentine notary and he was a landlord. His mother, Caterina, was a peasant woman. Leonardo grew up on his father's family's estate. He grew up as a "legitimate" son and received a basic elementary education; reading, writing, and arithmetic. When Leonardo was about 15 years old when his father, who had a high reputation in the Florence community, apprenticed him to artist Andrea Del Verrocchio. In this apprenticeship, Leonardo received training that included painting, sculpting, and the technical-mechanical arts.
In 1472 Da Vinci was accepted into the painters’ guild of Florence, but he remained in his teacher’s workshop for five more years. After a time he worked independently in Florence until 1481. In this period Da Vinci had mainly only done sketches and drawings, for example, pumps, military weapons, mechanical apparatus.
First Milanese Period:
In 1482 Leonardo moved to Milan to work in the service of the city’s duke. Leonardo then spent 17 years working there until Ludovico's fall from power in 1499. Da Vinci was in the register of the royal household as a pictor et ingeniarius ducalis which translates into painter and engineer of the duke. In this period Da Vinci turned into a highly esteemed artist, he was constantly kept busy as a variety of things- including painter, sculptor, designer of court festivals, He consulted as a technical advisor in the fields of architecture, fortifications, military matters, and a hydraulic and mechanical engineer. While in Milan, Da Vinci completed six works in 17 years. From 1483 to 1486, Da Vinci worked on the alter painting The Virgin of the Rocks, this painting led to a legal dispute between the Confratenity of the Immaculate Conception, who commissioned it, and Leonardo for 10 years. During this period he also made one of his most famous works, The Last Supper (1995-98) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. He also worked on a sculpture in honor of Francesco Sforza, the founder of the Sforza dynasty. This sculpture was an equestrian made of bronze. Leonardo devoted 12 years of his life, with interruptions. in 1493 the clay model of the horse was put on public display for the wedding of Emperor Maximilian and preparations were made to cast the figure. Due to the imminent danger of war, the metal was used to make cannons causing the project to come in a permanent halt. As a master artist, Leonardo maintained an extensive workshop in Milan, employing apprentices and students.
Second Florentine Period:
In about December 1499-January 1500, Leonardo left Milan and came back to Florence. After being gone for so long Da Vinci was appointed an architectural expert on a committee investigating damages to the foundation and structure of the church of San Francesco al Monte. Leonardo left Florence in the summer of 1502 to enter the service of Cesare Borgia as a senior military architect and general engineer. For about 10 months Da Vinci traveled across the condottiere's territories and surveyed them. In this time he sketched some of the city plans and made topographical maps. In the spring of 1503 Da Vinci returned to Florence. In that same year he received a prized commission to paint a mural for the council hall in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio. Da Vinci then worked for about three years in the mural named the Battle of Anghiari. During these same years he painted one of his most famous art works, the Mona Lisa (1503-19). The second Florentine period was also a time of intensive scientific study. Leonardo did dissections in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova and broadened his anatomical work into a comprehensive study of the structure and function of the human organism.
Second Milanese Period:
In May 1506 Charles d’Amboise, the French governor in Milan, asked the Signoria in Florence if Leonardo could travel to Milan. The Signoria let Leonardo go, and the monumental Battle of Anghiari remained unfinished. In the winter of 1507–08 Da Vinci went to Florence, where he helped the sculptor Giovanni Francesco Rustici execute his bronze statues for the Florence Baptistery. After a while Leonardo moved back to Milan. During this period in Milan, Leonardo created very little as a painter.
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, an Italian aristocrat and condottierro, commissioned Leonardo to sculpt his tomb. Leonardo’s scientific activity flourished during this period. His studies in anatomy achieved a new dimension in his collaboration with Marcantonio della Torre, a famous anatomist from Pavia. Leonardo outlined a plan for an overall work that included detailed reproductions of the human body and its organs.
Late Years:
In 1513 political events cause Leonardo to move to Rome. When he was in Rome he worked on his mathematical studies and technical experiments. At the end of 1516, he left Italy forever, moving to a small residence in Cloux, France. When he was living there he mainly did sketches and reviewed his scientific studies. Leonardo died at Cloux on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67. He was buried in the palace church of Saint-Florentin but the church was then destroyed during the French Revolution and was completely torn down at the beginning of the 19th century.
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