Quick answerLeonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian artist. Leonardo da Vinci is best known for Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, Notebooks of inventions and anatomy and Being a Renaissance polymath. Born in Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence. His paintings and notebooks show a mind centuries ahead of its time.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian painter, engineer and thinker whose genius summed up the Renaissance. His Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world, his Last Supper one of the most reproduced, and his notebooks, full of flying machines and anatomy, show a mind centuries ahead of its time.
Key facts
| Born | 1452 in Anchiano, near Vinci, Republic of Florence |
|---|---|
| Died | 1519 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Field | Art |
| Known for | Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Vitruvian Man, Notebooks of inventions and anatomy, Being a Renaissance polymath |
Overview
Leonardo was born near Vinci, a hill town in Tuscany, the illegitimate son of a notary and a peasant woman, and was brought up in his father's house. He had no formal schooling beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, and he taught himself Latin late in life. At about fourteen he was apprenticed in Florence to Andrea del Verrocchio, a leading painter and sculptor, and by his twenties he was working on his own. In 1482 he moved to Milan, where he served the duke, Ludovico Sforza, as painter, engineer and designer of pageants and fortifications.
In Milan he painted The Last Supper, and back in Florence he began the Mona Lisa, a portrait he kept with him for the rest of his life. His notebooks, written in mirror script, hold thousands of drawings of anatomy, machines, water and flight, most of them never built in his lifetime. Only about seventeen of his paintings survive, yet they include two of the most famous images ever made. In 1516 he accepted an invitation from King Francis I of France, and he died at Cloux, near Amboise, in 1519, aged sixty-seven.
Frequently asked questions
When was Leonardo da Vinci born?
Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452, in or near the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, about 35 kilometres from Florence. His birth is recorded in a baptismal register kept by his grandfather, and the exact house of his birth is uncertain, though tradition places it at Anchiano, just outside Vinci.
What did Leonardo da Vinci paint?
Leonardo's best-known paintings are the Mona Lisa, probably the most famous painting in the world, and The Last Supper, painted on a wall in Milan. Only about seventeen of his paintings survive, including the Virgin of the Rocks, the Lady with an Ermine and the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci.
How did Leonardo da Vinci die?
Leonardo died on 2 May 1519 at Cloux, now Clos-Lucé, near Amboise in France, aged 67, while in the service of King Francis I. He was buried in the church of Saint-Florentin in Amboise, and the story that he died in the king's arms is a later legend, not a fact.
Where was Leonardo da Vinci born?
Leonardo was born in or near Vinci, a hill town in Tuscany, Italy, about 35 kilometres west of Florence. His name means 'Leonardo from Vinci', and tradition says he was born at Anchiano, a hamlet just outside the town, though the exact house has never been proved.
What is Leonardo da Vinci famous for?
Leonardo is famous as the supreme figure of the Renaissance, painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and as an inventor and scientist whose notebooks sketched flying machines, tanks and human anatomy centuries ahead of their time. He is often called the original Renaissance man.
Related people
- Michelangelo — Famous rival in Florence
Quotes by Leonardo da Vinci
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Sources & last updated
Last updated: . Figures are shown with their year; where sources disagree, the value is left out rather than estimated.