(Vinci 1452 -1519 Château de Cloux)
His full name is Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci. Painter, sculptor, engineer, architect, and Italian scholar, he was the quintessential Renaissance man and one of the greatest painters of all time.
Leonardo, who had inherited all the artistic aspirations of the Florentine quattrocento, contributed brilliant conclusions to the investigations of his century. In painting, he confirmed the conquest of chiaroscuro and a subtle, blurred tonal enveloping that had a decisive resonance. In sculpture and architecture, he also provided an impetus regarding the need for expression. His drawings possess an unmatched precision and visionary power.
He was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, a notary of the Florentine lordship, who in 1469 entrusted him to Verrocchio, who initiated him in sculpture and painting; by 1472, Leonardo was already registered in the list of Florentine painters, and he must have remained in Florence until late 1481 or early 1482. The paintings from this period, The Annunciation and Portrait of Ginevra Benci, show how the style and subtlety of Florence had influenced the young artist. In The Adoration of the Magi, a work commissioned by the monks of Scopeto, which he left unfinished when he moved to Milan, he brought personal conclusions to contemporary problems: the sfumato dilutes the contours and plastic masses into a new, more suggestive, more poetic reality, where expressive discoveries play.
In 1482 he moved to Milan and offered himself as an architect, military engineer, painter, and sculptor to Ludovico Sforza, who employed him as an organizer of festivities and commissioned the colossal equestrian statue of his father, Francesco Sforza, which Leonardo worked on for sixteen years and which was never cast.
Leonardo da Vinci also addressed architectural problems and participated in discussions about the construction of the cathedrals of Milan and Pavia. At the same time, he continued his investigations into painting techniques. In The Virgin of the Rocks, he definitively achieved the transfiguration of the theme through diffuse light, which was one of his main concerns. In 1499, he painted one of his masterpieces, The Last Supper in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where a regular and symmetrical arrangement supports intense emotion.
With the fall of the Duchy of Milan in 1499, Leonardo was already known throughout Italy. He went to Mantua, where he painted the portrait of Isabella d'Este, and then returned to Florence, where his presence marked the beginning of a new era. He then created a series of works that had great resonance: the cartoon for Saint Anne, and shortly after the definitive painting (Louvre): the portrait of Mona Lisa and The Battle of Anghiari, a mural painting for the Great Council Hall of the Old Palace that he left unfinished and which was lost.
He later returned to Milan and created an equestrian monument for the tomb of Trivulzio. In Milan, he formed a school: Ambrogio de Predis, Luini, and Solario. The Spaniards Hernán Yáñez de la Almedina and Hernando Llanos were the first to spread Leonardo's influence outside Italy. After spending two years in Rome, Leonardo moved to France in 1515, where he dedicated himself mainly to architectural studies for the royal castles.
Although many of his works have been lost or remain unfinished, the significance of his work is immense.
His full name is Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci. Painter, sculptor, engineer, architect, and Italian scholar, he was the quintessential Renaissance man and one of the greatest painters of all time.
Leonardo, who had inherited all the artistic aspirations of the Florentine quattrocento, contributed brilliant conclusions to the investigations of his century. In painting, he confirmed the conquest of chiaroscuro and a subtle, blurred tonal enveloping that had a decisive resonance. In sculpture and architecture, he also provided an impetus regarding the need for expression. His drawings possess an unmatched precision and visionary power.
He was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, a notary of the Florentine lordship, who in 1469 entrusted him to Verrocchio, who initiated him in sculpture and painting; by 1472, Leonardo was already registered in the list of Florentine painters, and he must have remained in Florence until late 1481 or early 1482. The paintings from this period, The Annunciation and Portrait of Ginevra Benci, show how the style and subtlety of Florence had influenced the young artist. In The Adoration of the Magi, a work commissioned by the monks of Scopeto, which he left unfinished when he moved to Milan, he brought personal conclusions to contemporary problems: the sfumato dilutes the contours and plastic masses into a new, more suggestive, more poetic reality, where expressive discoveries play.
In 1482 he moved to Milan and offered himself as an architect, military engineer, painter, and sculptor to Ludovico Sforza, who employed him as an organizer of festivities and commissioned the colossal equestrian statue of his father, Francesco Sforza, which Leonardo worked on for sixteen years and which was never cast.
Leonardo da Vinci also addressed architectural problems and participated in discussions about the construction of the cathedrals of Milan and Pavia. At the same time, he continued his investigations into painting techniques. In The Virgin of the Rocks, he definitively achieved the transfiguration of the theme through diffuse light, which was one of his main concerns. In 1499, he painted one of his masterpieces, The Last Supper in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where a regular and symmetrical arrangement supports intense emotion.
With the fall of the Duchy of Milan in 1499, Leonardo was already known throughout Italy. He went to Mantua, where he painted the portrait of Isabella d'Este, and then returned to Florence, where his presence marked the beginning of a new era. He then created a series of works that had great resonance: the cartoon for Saint Anne, and shortly after the definitive painting (Louvre): the portrait of Mona Lisa and The Battle of Anghiari, a mural painting for the Great Council Hall of the Old Palace that he left unfinished and which was lost.
He later returned to Milan and created an equestrian monument for the tomb of Trivulzio. In Milan, he formed a school: Ambrogio de Predis, Luini, and Solario. The Spaniards Hernán Yáñez de la Almedina and Hernando Llanos were the first to spread Leonardo's influence outside Italy. After spending two years in Rome, Leonardo moved to France in 1515, where he dedicated himself mainly to architectural studies for the royal castles.
Although many of his works have been lost or remain unfinished, the significance of his work is immense.
