Leonardo Da Vinci's Life And Work

Born an illegitimate son to an affluent and noble-bred notary, Leonardo da Vinci lived with his peasant mother, Caterina, for five years in a village called Anchiano; his father then decided that Leonardo would stay in the Vinci house with him. There, Leonardo had contact with friends and family members alike who provided him with writings to supplement his education. Several years following his birth on April 15, 1452, his family moved from Vinci, a small Tuscan town, to the innovative city of Florence. Until he became Andrea del Verrocchio’s apprentice when he was approximately fifteen, Leonardo earned his Florentine reputation of being attractive, persuasive, and musically-inclined. Andrea del Verrocchio’s workshop where Leonardo was

Though the Sforza court was a competitive place to find employment, Leonardo nevertheless secured a position as an artist. A monument erected for the duke’s father, Francesco, was organized by Leonardo, and was to be one of the largest bronze statues conceived in the Renaissance period, weighing in at almost seventy tons and with a height of nearly twenty-four feet. The sculpture was to be accomplished in a sole pouring. Preparation for the commemoration lasted almost two decades as Leonardo struggled to balance aesthetics and statics with notes that are held as some of the best detailed collection of plans in art history. Unfortunately, Ludovico Sforza fell from power in 1499, so the memorial was never produced; only a clay model of the horse survived, and even that was brutally dismembered by Gascon crossbowmen who were a part of the group of soldiers that

Due to the immense detail Leonardo recorded in his journals considering this particular pupil, Salal seemed to be a particularly important-or rambunctious- apprentice. Salal wrecked considerable havoc on Leonardo’s workshop, among others, in various ways. For example, Salal stole the money that Leonardo had intended to offer the boy for clothing, as was the custom for masters to do in the Renaissance period. Salal also purloined styluses from nearby artists’ studios. In spite of this, Leonardo appeared to continue to hold the boy in high regard, overlooking his mishaps in the workshop, as Salal later traveled with Leonardo for the rest of his life and was one of the few inheritors listed in Leonardo’s last will and testament. Leonardo also toiled on a few paintings throughout this Milanese period, such as Virgin of the Rocks and his illustrious Last Supper. Regrettably, the Last Supper was a result of Leonardo’s rather unsuccessful experiment of using oil on plaster (instead of the traditional egg yolk), and it began to deteriorate in 1500. As luck would have it, both the Last Supper and Virgin on the Rocks still exist