Leonardo da Vinci

Feb 16, 20145 min read

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Published: Feb 16, 2014

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Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born in the hill town of Vinci, (Renaissance Era,
Republic of Florence.) in 1442 and lives his life as a critically
claimed artist and inventor, whose popularity has subjectively increased
in the the final years of his life and beyond. His is noted for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man and Lady With An Ermine.
He is also well noted for this scientific theories and inventions. According to studies and written journals, he is well credited for his conceptualization theories on modern day technology, such as Helicopters and Tanks, and the initialization theories behind solar power... Roughly around 500 years ago!

Leonardo the Artist

Leonardo first became acquainted with his first drawings and paintings as a child, where many writings describe his nature as 'outgoing, adventurous and extremely talented.' Even as a child.
It is said that when da Vinci was fourteen years of age, he took an apprenticeship at the workshop of artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Whilst working under Verrocchio, he has been known to contribute his talents to some famous paintings by Verrocchio that still exist to this day. The most notable being 'The Baptism of Christ'

_{The Baptism of Christ - By Leonardo da Vinci and Verrocchio.}

Following his departure of Verrocchio's workshop in 1478, Leonardo was seemingly inactive for a a period of 2 - 4 years, simply traveling across modern day Italy to gain inspirations in other areas of his expertise, such as music and engineering. It has been claimed that Leonardo had resided within the Medici house from 1480 and had been sent across to Milan during the mid 1480s, which he would remain there until late 1490s, continuing to paint and conjure up his 'extremist theories' for the Renaissance Era.

_{The Adoration of the Magi - One of Leonardo's first independent commissions of his professional career.}

Leonardo was employed for many different projects, most that include architecture, accurately designing a map of a 2D geometric style via commison, and designing dimensions needed to sculpt full scale or higher statues and sculptures, usually made out of bronze. one of the most famous commissions was for the Duke of Milan in 1482, proposed to be the largest equestrian statue in the world. But it was never sculpted until the 20th century.

_{da Vinci's study of horses commission for the Duke of Milan 1482 (right) and casting of the horse design started in 1997 (left)}

Iconic Paintings and Later Life.

Not much is known about da Vinci during the early 1500s, except he still continued to pursue and develop his skills solely on painting, and becoming somewhat of a philosopher who studied the human anatomy in a lot more detail more than any other known person for that time. His accuracy and detail in scaling the modeled works of the human body were that adept, that he was given permission to dissect corpses in Hospitals spread across Italy, and even managed to produce the first scientific drawing of the human fetus in utero.

The works of da Vinci varied mostly across his vast world of inspiration, and to say the least one of the most famous paintings in the late 15th Century was the one of 'The Last Supper'. Leonardo tells the story of the consternation that this statement caused to the twelve followers of Jesus, in which Christ is supposedly at the point of saying, 'One of you will betray me' on course that this was his last meal before his capture and execution.

Among the works created by Leonardo in the 16th century is the small portrait known as the 'Mona Lisa' or "la Gioconda". In the present age it is arguably the most famous painting in the world. Its fame rests, in particular, on the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality brought about perhaps by the fact that the artist has subtly shadowed the corners of the mouth and eyes so that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called Leonardo's Smoke.

_{The 'Mona Lisa' - Louvre, Paris, France.}

Leonardo was not a prolific painter, but he was a most prolific draftsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper. The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts study and translate his writings, analyze his paintings using scientific techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have been recorded but never found.