Leonardo Da Vinci
Da Vinci was born on April 15,1452 in Vinci, Italy. At the age of 14 he became apprenticed to Andre del Verrocchio in Florence. Here he was taught many techniques and soon showed signs of a great artist. In fact, he became better than Verrocchio so much so that when Da Vinci painted an angel in Verrocchio's artwork it was so much better than Verrocchio's that he vouched to never paint again. Later in 1482 he began to work for the Duke of Milan. Here his science and art took off. During this time he created two of his famous works, The Last Supper and The Virgin of the Rocks. Although in this period he had many other works started, he never got to finish them because he kept finding different subjects that he wanted to explore. Also during this time he designed and studied weapons, buildings, flying machines, architecture, and geometry. Da Vinci was well known for being so multitalented. He recorded all his studies in a notebook, which he kept detailed notes and illustrations on mechanics, paint, architecture, and anatomy. After the death of his first patron he traveled around. In 1503 he created his most famous Mona Lisa. One technique, which he used for the Mona Lisa and he was famous for, was showing emotions of a person through facial features. Francis 1 became Da Vinci’s next patron. He named Da Vinci the premier painter, engineer, and architect of the King. Francis was very good to Leonardo, and Leonardo stayed with him until his death on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France.
