Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci: Born April 15, 1452 in Florence, Italy. Died May 2, 1519 at the age of 67 years in Amboise, Indre-et-Loire France. Born as the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant girl, Caterina, at Vinci, Italy in the region of Florence. Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome and Bolongna and Venice, spending his final years in France at the home given to him by King Fran?ois I of France.
Leonardo has often been described as the Archetype of Polymath, a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.
It is primarily as a painter that Leonardo was and is renowned. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper occupy unique positions as the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also iconic. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
As an engineer, Leonardo's ideas were vastly ahead of his time. He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank, concentrated Solar energy, a calculator, the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of Plate techtonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. As a scientist, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of Anatomy, Civil engineering, optics and hydrodynamics.
Self Portrait
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/200px-Leonardo_self.jpg
Mona Lisa: 1503-1505 Oil on cottonwood, size 76.8 x 53 cm, currently in the Louvre Museum
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/Mona_Lisa.jpg
Study of the Horse: Located in the Royal Library, Castle Windsor.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-Study_of_horse.jpg
Annunciation is thought to be Leonardo?s earliest completed work. 1475-1480
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/420px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_Annunciatio.jpg
Vitruvian Man, drawing from 1485, currently in the Accademia, Venice.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg
Last Supper, painted in 1498 located in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/480px-The_Last_Supper_pre_EUR.jpg
Lady with an Ermine, painted 1488 ? 1490, is in the Czartoryski Museum, Krakow, Poland
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-The_Lady_with_an_Ermine.jpg
(( All images and biography from Wikipedia, all credits due to that article.))
Leonardo has often been described as the Archetype of Polymath, a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.
It is primarily as a painter that Leonardo was and is renowned. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper occupy unique positions as the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also iconic. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
As an engineer, Leonardo's ideas were vastly ahead of his time. He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank, concentrated Solar energy, a calculator, the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of Plate techtonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. As a scientist, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of Anatomy, Civil engineering, optics and hydrodynamics.
Self Portrait
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/200px-Leonardo_self.jpg
Mona Lisa: 1503-1505 Oil on cottonwood, size 76.8 x 53 cm, currently in the Louvre Museum
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/Mona_Lisa.jpg
Study of the Horse: Located in the Royal Library, Castle Windsor.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-Study_of_horse.jpg
Annunciation is thought to be Leonardo?s earliest completed work. 1475-1480
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/420px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_Annunciatio.jpg
Vitruvian Man, drawing from 1485, currently in the Accademia, Venice.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg
Last Supper, painted in 1498 located in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/480px-The_Last_Supper_pre_EUR.jpg
Lady with an Ermine, painted 1488 ? 1490, is in the Czartoryski Museum, Krakow, Poland
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj171/Azjahh/Museums/Art%20Museum/180px-The_Lady_with_an_Ermine.jpg
(( All images and biography from Wikipedia, all credits due to that article.))