Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the great creative minds of the Italian Renaissance, hugely influential as an artist and
sculptor but also immensely talented as an engineer,
scientist and inventor.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15th April 1452 in the Tuscan town of Vinci, the illegitimate son of a local
notary. Little is known about Leonardo's early life.
He spent his first five years in the village of Anchiano,
then lived in the household of his father, grandparents
and uncle, Francesco, in the small town of Vinci.
He was an apprentice at the workshop of the sculptor
and painter Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence.
By 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master
in the Guild of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors
of medicine.
Leonardo's earliest known dated work
is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno valley, drawn
on 5th August 1473.
In 1478 Leonardo became an independent master. Around 1483 he moved to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza family as an engineer, sculptor, painter and architect.
20 From 1495 to 1497 he produced a mural of
'The Last Supper' in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
His work for Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, included pageants for special occasions, designs for a dome for Milan's Cathedral and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, Ludovico's predecessor. Leonardo modelled a huge horse in clay, which became
25 known as the 'Gran Cavallo'.
Seventy tons of bronze were set aside for casting it.
The monument remained unfinished for several years, which was not unusual for Leonardo.
In 1492 the model was completed, and Leonardo was making detailed plans for its casting.
Michelangelo rudely implied that Leonardo was unable to cast it. In November 1494 Ludovico gave the bronze to be used for cannons to defend the city from invasion by Louis XII.
After Milan was invaded by the French, Leonardo left the town. He may have visited Venice before returning to Florence. During his time in Florence, he painted several
portraits, but the only one that survives is the famous
'Mona Lisa'(1503-1506).
In 1506, da Vinci returned to Milan, remaining there until 1513. This was followed by three years based in Rome. In 1517, at the invitation of the French king Francis I,
Leonardo moved to the Chateau of Cloux, near Amboise in France, where he died on 2nd May 1519.
what was Leonardo earliest dated work?
