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.
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Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci. The
Baptism of Christ. c.1472-1475. Oil and tempera on wood. Uffizi
Gallery, Florence, Italy. More. |
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The Annunciation. c. 1472-1475. Oil and
tempera on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. More.  |
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The Annunciation (detail).
c. 1472-1475. Oil and tempera on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
More. |
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Antique Warrior. c. 1472. Metalpoint on
prepared paper. The British Museum, London, UK. |
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Arno Landscape. 1473. Pen and ink over
a partially erased pencil sketch. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. |
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Madonna with the Carnation. c.1475. Oil
on wood. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. |
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Madonna Benois. c. 1475-1478. Oil on canvas,
transferred from panel. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. |
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Portrait of Ginevra de'Benci. c.1478-1480.
Oil and tempera on wood. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA. |
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St. Hieronymus. c.1480-1482. Oil on wood.
Vaticano, Pinacoteca Apostolica Vaticano, Rome. More. |
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Adoration of the Magi. 1481-1482. Oil on
wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. More. |
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Madonna of the Rocks. 1482-1486. Oil on
wood. Louvre, Paris, France. |
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Battle Cart with Mobile Scythes. c. 1485.
Pen and ink with wash on paper. Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy. |
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Drawing of a Flying Machine. c.1486. Pen
and ink on paper. Bibliotheque de l'Institut de France, Paris, France. |
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Two Views of the Skull. 1489. Pen, ink
over black chalk on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK. |
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Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with an Ermine).
c.1490. Oil on wood. Czartorychi Muzeum, Cracow, Poland. More. |
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Portrait of a Young Man (Portrait of the Musician
Franchino Guffurio?). c.1490. Oil on wood. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana,
Milan, Italy. |
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Madonna Litta. c. 1490. Oil on panel, transferred
to canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. |
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The Proportions of the Human Figure (Vitruvian
Man). 1490. Pen, ink and watercolour over metalpoint. Gallerie
dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy. |
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Head Measured, and Horsemen. c.1490 and
1504. Pen, ink and red chalk on paper. Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice,
Italy. |
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Five Grotesque Heads. c.1490. Pen and ink
on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK. |
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Portrait of an Unknown Woman (La Belle Ferroniere).
c.1490. Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France. |
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Coition of Hemisected Man and Woman. c.1492.
Pen and ink on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK. |
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The Last Supper. c.1495-1498. Oil and tempera
on plaster. Santa Maria delle Grazie, Refectory, Milan, Italy. More. |
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Burlington House Cartoon (Mary, Christ, St. Anne
and the Infant St. John). 1499 (?). Chalk on paper. National Gallery,
London, UK. |
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Grotesque Portrait Study of Man. c. 1500-1505.
Black chalk on paper. Oxford, The Governing Body, Christ Church, UK. |
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Madonna of the Yarnwinder. 1501. Oil on
wood. Private collection. |
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Bird's-Eye View of a Landscape. 1502. Pen,
ink and watercolour on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK. |
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Virgin and Child with St. Anne. c.1502-1516.
Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France. More. |
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Mona Lisa (La Gioconda). 1503-1506. Oil
on wood. Louvre, Paris, France. More. |
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Copy of the Leda and the Swan by Leonardo.
c.1505-1510. Oil on wood. Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Salisbury, UK.
More. |
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The Virgin of the Rocks. 1506-1508. Oil
on wood. National Gallery, London, UK. |
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The Neck and Shoulder of a Man. c.1509-1510.
Pen and ink on paper. Windsor Castle, Windsor, UK. |
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The Foetus in the Womb. c.1510-1512. Pen
and ink with wash over black chalk and red chalk on paper. Windsor Castle,
Windsor, UK. |
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Self-Portrait. 1512. Red chalk on paper.
Biblioteka Reale, Turin, Italy. |
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St. John the Baptist. c.1513-1516. Oil
on wood. Louvre, Paris, France. More. |
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John the Baptist (with the attributes of
Bacchus). c. 1513-1516. Oil on canvas, transferred from panel. Louvre,
Paris, France. More. |
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Copy of the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo. 1550-1603.
Black chalk and ink heightened with lead white, over-painted with watercolour.
Louvre, Paris, France. More. |
