Kevin Putnam

Per. 3, World History

October 24, 2003

Mr. Haskell

Leonardo da Vinci [Audio1] [Audio2]

Childhood

Leonardo da Vinci was born on the 15^th of April 1452 in the Renaissance period.  Leonardo was born in Anchiano, which is about 3 miles away from Vinci. Vinci is a small town at the foot of "Monte Albano", in the Tuscany in Italy. In the year 1457, Leonardo moved from Anchiano, to live with his grandfather in Vinci.

In Vinci, Leonardo went to school. He was too smart for his teachers. They were clueless about almost all of the questions and doubts that he had. At school he learned to read and write, calculate numbers. Later in school he learned geometry and some of the Latin language. Later Leonardo tried to improve his Latin because he thought that he hadn't learned enough about it at school. He wrote most of his notes in Italian.

In the year 1482, Leonardo da Vinci was in search of money and new challenges; he started working with the Duke of Milan, leaving his first commission in Florence, "The Adoration of the Magi". He spent 17 years in Milan, leaving only after the Duke Ludovico Sforza's fall from power in 1499. During these years, Leonardo hit his motivation, reaching new heights of scientific and artistic achievement.

Family/Social Life

Leonardo’s family lived in Vinci since the thirteenth century. Leonardo da Vinci’s father, Ser Piero, was 25 years old. He was a public notary when Leonardo was born. Leonardo’s father married his first wife in the same year he was born.  Ser Piero’s wife was not Leonardo’s mother, because his mother was the daughter of a farmer. Her name was Catarina. They kept on having kids, although not with each other, and then eventually Leonardo ended up with a total of 17 half sisters and brothers.

When Leonardo turned fourteen in 1466, he moved to Florence where he began to work in the workshop of Verrocchio. Verrocchio was at this time considered one of the best artists in Florence. He sculpted, painted, he was a goldsmith, bronze caster and much more.  Verocchio was Leonardo’s role model. Verrocchio was fascinated by Leonardo’s drawings and sketches. He gave him a place in his workshop to work and draw. Leonardo worked at the Verrocchio’s workshop with other famous artists like  Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. In June of 1472 Leonardo was placed in the red book of painters. His membership in the painters’ guild ended his apprenticeship but he still worked with Verrocchio at his workshop. The first known and dated work that Leonardo created is a pen and ink drawing of the Arnovalley, from August of 1473. It shows Leonardo’s great talent because he drew the landscape very realistically. In a way nobody else had done before.

Around 1480, Leonardo created the small Annunciation, which is in the Louvre. The Annunciation is a small, typical painting of Leonardo da Vinci. It has a deep and misty landscape and has flowers in the foreground. There is another painting called the Annunciation that is in Florence. The painting from Florence was done by Lorenzo di Credi, who worked with Leonardo in Verrocchio’s workshop as well.

Between 1490 and 1495 Leonardo started recording his studies in highly detailed illustrated notebooks. His work covered four main themes. The four themes are painting, architecture, mechanical elements, and the human anatomy.

Achievements

Leonardo's interests were so broad and he often found new subjects to work on, that he usually never finished what he had started. This resulted in his completion of  only about six projects in these 17 years. Such things he completed include "The Last Supper" and "The Virgin on the Rocks." He also left dozens of paintings and projects unfinished or unrealized. Throughout his life he also served various other roles, including civil engineer and architect who designed mechanical structures such as bridges and aqueducts, military planners and weapons, he designed rudimentary tanks, catapults, machine guns, and even navel weapons. He spent most of his time studying science, either by going out and observing nature or by locking himself away in his workshop dissecting bodies or thinking about universal truths.

About 1503, Leonardo began working on the Mona Lisa. On July 9, 1504, he found out that his father, Ser Piero, had died. Leonardo did not receive any inheritance. The death of a beloved uncle also resulted in a shortage over inheritance, but this time Leonardo gained the use of his uncle’s land over his siblings.

From 1513 to 1516, he maintained a workshop in Rome, and undertook a variety of projects for the Pope. He continued his studies of human anatomy and physiology, but the Pope forbade him from dissecting cadavers. This put down Leonardo’s style of studies. 

 

The Golden Years

King Francis I. invited Leonardo da Vinci to spend the rest of his life in Amboise at the court of France. Late in the year 1516, Leonardo arrived in Amboise. Leonardo lived there in the small castle, now called Le Clos Luce. This castle is set in between the town and the king castle. In France he made hydrological studies rather than working on drawings and paintings.

On 23 April 1519 Leonardo wrote his last will. Vasari told the legend that King Francis I. immediately came to Amboise when he heard about Leonardo’s sickness and the near end of his life. But this is only a legend, because King Francis I. was in St. Germain en Laye on May 1, 1519  and so he could not have been in Amboise one day later with Leonardo da Vinci.

Although Leonardo was suffering from a paralysis in his right hand, he was still able to draw and teach. He produced studies of cats, horses, dragons, anatomical studies, studies on the nature of water, drawings of the Deluge, and of various machines.

Leonardo died on May 2, 1519 in Amboise. Leonardo da Vinci was 67 years old when he died. Vasari told about an illness some weeks before Leonardo died. Leonardo was buried in the center of the king castle in the cloister of San Fiorentino. After the church’s destruction parts of the castle the mortal remains of Leonardo da Vinci were transferred to the Chapel of St. Hubert. The Chapel of St. Hubert which is situated inside the area of the king castle in Amboise, is the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci.