Leonardo da Vinci was the embodiment of the Renaissance ideal of the universal man, the first artist to attain complete mastery over all branches of art. He was a painter, sculptor, architect and engineer besides being a scholar in the natural sciences, medicine and philosophy.
He was born on the 15th of April, 1452 as an illegitimate son of the notary Ser Piero di Antonio da Vinci and his mother, a peasant woman Caterina, in a small town called Vinci, near Empoli, Tuscany. The first four years of his life were spent in a small village near Vinci with his mother. After 1457, he lived in his father's family, which soon moved to Florence. At the age of 15 he became an apprentice of the Florentine painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio and although in 1472 he entered the San Luca guild of painters in Florence, which would indicate that he had attained a degree of professional independence, he remained with Andrea del Verrocchio until 1480.
c.1472-1475. Oil and tempera on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Read Note.
c.1472-1475. Oil and tempera on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Read Note.
c.1472. Metalpoint on prepared paper. British Museum, London, UK.
1473. Pen and ink over a partially erased pencil sketch. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
c.1475. Oil on wood. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany.
c.1475-1478. Oil on canvas, transferred from panel. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
c.1478-1480. Oil and tempera on wood. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.
c.1480-1482. Oil on wood. Vaticano, Pinacoteca Apostolica Vaticano, Rome. Read Note.
1481-1482. Oil on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Read Note.
1482-1486. Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France.
c.1485. Pen and ink with wash on paper. Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy.
c.1486. Pen and ink on paper. Bibliotheque de l'Institut de France, Paris, France.
1489. Pen, ink over black chalk on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK.
c.1490. Oil on wood. Czartorychi Muzeum, Cracow, Poland. Read Note.
c.1490. Oil on wood. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy.
c.1490. Oil on panel, transferred to canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1490. Pen, ink and watercolour over metalpoint. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy.
c. 1490 and 1504. Pen, ink and red chalk on paper. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy.
c.1490. Pen and ink on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK.
c.1490. Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France.
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Leonardo da Vinci. by V. Zubov. Moscow-Leningrad. 1961.
Leonardo da Vinci. by A. Gastev. Moscow. 1972.
The Art of the Italian Renaissance. Architecture. Sculpture. Painting. Drawing. Könemann. 1995.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Volume 1) by Leonardo Da Vinci. Dover Pubns, 1975.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Volume 2) by Leonardo Da Vinci.. Dover Pubns, 1975.
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day by Michael J. Gelb. Dell Books, 2000.
The How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci Workbook and Notebook: Your Personal Companion to How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci by Michael J. Gelb. Bantam Books, 1999.
Leonardo Da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance (Discoveries) by Alessandro Vezzosi (Editor). Harry N Abrams, 1997.
Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Leonardo da Vinci with a Selection of Documents Relating to His Careerby Martin Kemp (Editor), Margaret Walker (Translator). Yale Univ Pr, 2001.
Leonardo: The Artist and the Man by Serge Bramly, Sian Reynolds. Penguin USA, 1995.
Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings and Drawings by Frank Zollner, Johannes Nathan. TASCHEN America Llc, 2003.
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper by Vito Zani. Rizzoli, 2003. Life of Leonardo Da Vinci DVD.
Biography - Leonardo Da Vinci (1997) VHS