Born in Vinci

Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, "at the third hour of the night"[nb 5] in the Tuscan hill town of
Vinci, in the lower valley of the Arno River in the territory of Florence.

He was the illegitimate son of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and
Caterina, a peasant who may have been a slave from the Middle East. Leonardo had no surname in the
modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da
Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, (son) of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci".

Little is known about Leonardo's early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano, then
lived in the household of his father, grandparents and uncle, Francesco, in the small town of Vinci. His
father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera, who loved Leonardo but died young. In later
life, Leonardo only recorded two childhood incidents. One, which he regarded as an omen, was when a
kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face. The second
occurred while exploring in the mountains. He discovered a cave and was both terrified that some great
monster might lurk there, and driven by curiosity to find out what was inside.

Leonardo's early life has been the subject of historical conjecture. Vasari, the 16th-century biographer of
Renaissance painters tells of how a local peasant requested that Ser Piero ask his talented son to paint a
picture on a round plaque. Leonardo responded with a painting of snakes spitting fire which was so
terrifying that Ser Piero sold it to a Florentine art dealer, who sold it to the Duke of Milan. Meanwhile,
having made a profit, Ser Piero bought a plaque decorated with a heart pierced by an arrow, which he
gave to the peasant.

Though illegitimate, Leonardo was taken in and raised by his father. A child of unearthly beauty,
Leonardo showed precocious genius in math, music and art. His greatest desire was to be apprenticed to
a painter, a profession which was looked down upon at the time. Eventually, his father was worn down
by the boy's undeniable talent, and took him to Florence to study painting, sculpting and engineering
under the great Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo quickly outstripped his master (though he continued
to study with Verrocchio until around 1476) and was admitted to the Florence painters' guild in 1472.

Works

Annunciation
The painting "Annunciation" or "The Annunciation" by Leonardo da Vinci was painted, with Andrea
del Verrocchio, circa 1472–1475.

The wings were later extended by another artist.

The angel holds a Madonna lily, a symbol of Mary's virginity and of the city of Florence. It is supposed
that Leonardo originally copied the wings from those of a bird in flight, but they have since been
lengthened by a later artist.

When Annunciation came to the Uffizi in 1867, from the monastery of San Bartolomeo of
Monteoliveto, near Florence, it was ascribed to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who was, like Leonardo, an
apprentice in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1869, some critics recognized it as a youthful
work by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.

Verrocchio used lead-based paint and heavy brush strokes. He left a note for Leonardo to finish the
background and the angel. Leonardo used light brush strokes and no lead. When the Annunciation
was x-rayed, Verrocchio's work was evident while Leonardo's angel was invisible.

The marble table, in front of the Virgin, probably quotes the tomb of Piero and Giovanni de' Medici in
the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, which Verrocchio had sculpted during this same period.

1476

Ginevra de' Benci

Ginevra de' Benci (Born 1457) was a lady of the aristocratic class in 15th century Florence, admired for
her intelligence by Florentine contemporaries.

She is the subject of one of only about 17 existing paintings attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The oil-on-
wood portrait was permanently acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., USA, in
1967 for US$5 million paid to the Princely House of Liechtenstein, a record price at the time. This
portrait is currently the only painting by Leonardo in the Americas.
It is known from three written sources that Leonardo painted a portrait of Ginevra de' Benci in 1474 in
commemoration of her marriage to Luigi Niccolini. The painting's imagery and the text on the reverse of
the panel support this the identification of this picture. Directly behind the young lady in the portrait is a
juniper tree. The reverse of the portrait is decorated with a juniper sprig encircled by a wreath of laurel
and palm and is memorialized by the phrase VIRTUTEM FORMA DECORAT ("Beauty adorns Virtue"). The
Italian word for juniper is "ginepro", which suggests that the juniper motif has been used here be a
symbolic pun on Ginevra's name. Fittingly, juniper was also a Renaissance symbol for chastity.

The portrait is one of the highlights of the National Gallery of Art, and is admired by many for its
portrayal of Ginevra's temperament. Ginevra is beautiful but austere; she has no hint of a smile and her
gaze, though forward, seems indifferent to the viewer. A strip from the bottom of the painting was
removed in the past, presumably due to damage, and Ginevra's arms and hands were lost.

According to Giorgio Vasari, Ginevra de' Benci was also included in the fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio
of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

1478

Madonna

Madonna and Child with Flowers, otherwise known as the Benois Madonna, could be one of two
Madonnas started by Leonardo da Vinci, as he remarked himself, in October 1478.

The other one could be Madonna with the Carnation from Munich.

It is likely that the Benois Madonna was the first work painted by Leonardo independently from his
master Verrocchio. The British Museum owns two of Leonardo's preliminary sketches for this piece.

The composition of Madonna and Child with Flowers proved to be one of Leonardo's most popular. It
was extensively copied by young painters, including Raphael, whose own version of Leonardo's design
(the Madonna of the Pinks) was acquired in 2004 by the National Gallery, London.
For centuries, Madonna and Child with Flowers was considered lost. In 1909, the architect Leon Benois
sensationally exhibited it in St Petersburg as part of his father-in-law's collection. The painting had been
apparently brought from Italy to Russia by the notable connoisseur Alexander Korsakov in the 1790s.
Upon Korsakov's death, it was sold by his son to the Astrakhan merchant Sapozhnikov for 1400 roubles
and so passed by inheritance to the Benois family in 1880. After many a squabble regarding attribution,
Leon Benois sold the painting to the Imperial Hermitage Museum in 1914. Since then, it has been
exhibited in St Petersburg.

1478-1480

the Carnation

The Madonna of the Carnation, a.k.a. Madonna with vase or Madonna with child, is an oil painting by
Leonardo da Vinci created sometime around 1478-1480 (Renaissance). It is permanently displayed at the
Alte Pinakothek gallery in Munich, Germany since 1889 after it was in private ownership.

The central (and centered) motif is young Virgin Mary with her naked Baby Jesus on her lap. Mary is
seated and wears precious clothes and jewellery. With her left hand, she is holding a carnation
(interpreted as a healing symbol. The faces are put into light while all other objects are darker, f.e. the
carnation is covered by a shadow. The child is looking up, the mother is looking down — there is no eye
contact. The setting of the portrait is a room with two windows on each side of the figures.

Originally this painting was thought to have been created by Andrea del Verrocchio but subsequent art
historians agree that it is Leonardo's work.

Madonna and Child was a common motif in Christian art during the Middle Ages. This painting is the
only one of Leonardo's work which is permanently on display in Germany.

1480

Paints St. Jerome in the Wilderness

It depicts Saint Jerome during his retreat to the Syrian desert, where he lived the life of a hermit.
St Jerome kneels in a rocky landscape, gazing toward a crucifix which can be discerned faintly sketched
in at the extreme right of the painting. In Jerome's right hand he holds a rock with which he is
traditionally shown beating his chest in penance. At his feet is the lion which became a loyal companion
after he extracted a thorn from its paw. The lion, the stone and a cardinal's hat are the traditional
attributes of the saint.

On the left-hand side of the panel the background is a distant landscape of a lake surrounded by
precipitous mountains shrouded in mist. To the right-hand side, the only discernible feature is a faintly-
sketched church, seen through the opening in the rocks. The church's presence may allude to Jerome's
position in Western Christianity as one of the Doctors of the Church.

The composition of the painting is innovative for the oblique trapezoid form of the figure of the saint.
The angular forms contrast with the sinuous form of the lion which transcribes an "S" across the bottom
of the painting. The form of St Jerome prefigures that of the Virgin Mary in the Madonna of the Rocks.
The anatomy of the saint relates to a page of anatomical drawings of the shoulder girdle.

1481

Scopeto in Florence

The Adoration of the Magi is an early painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo was given the commission by the Augustinian monks of San Donato a Scopeto in Florence, but
departed for Milan the following year, leaving the painting unfinished. It has been in the Uffizi Gallery in
Florence since 1670.

The Virgin Mary and Child are depicted in the foreground and form a triangular shape with the Magi
kneeling in adoration. Behind them is a semicircle of accompanying figures, including what may be a
self-portrait of the young Leonardo (on the far right). In the background on the left is the ruin of a pagan
building, on which workmen can be seen, apparently repairing it. On the right are men on horseback
fighting, and a sketch of a rocky landscape.

The ruins are a possible reference to the Basilica of Maxentius, which, according to Medieval legend, the
Romans claimed would stand until a virgin gave birth. It is supposed to have collapsed on the night of
Christ's birth (in fact it was not even built until a later date). The ruins dominate a preparatory
perspective drawing by Leonardo, which also includes the fighting horsemen. The palm tree in the
centre has associations with the Virgin Mary, partly due to the phrase 'You are stately as a palm tree'
from the Song of Solomon, which is believed to prefigure her. Another aspect of the palm tree can be
the usage of the palm tree as a symbol of victory for ancient Rome, whereas in Christianity it is a
representation of martyrdom--triumph over death-- so in conclusion we can say that the palm in general
represents triumph. The other tree in the painting is from the carob family, the seeds from the tree are
used as a unit of measurement. They measure valuable stones and jewels. This tree and its seeds are
associated with crowns suggesting Christ as the king of kings or the Virgin as the future Queen of
heaven, also that this is nature's gift to the new born Christ. As with Michelangelo's Doni Tondo the
background is probably supposed to represent the Pagan world supplanted by the Christian world, as
inaugurated by the events in the foreground.

Leonardo develops his pioneering use of chiaroscuro in the image, creating a seemingly chaotic mass of
people plunged into darkness and confusion from which the Magi peer towards the brightly lit figures of
Mary and Jesus, while the pagan world in the background carries on building and warring unaware of
the new revelation.

Due to Leonardo's inability to complete the painting the commission was handed over to Domenico
Ghirlandaio. The final altarpiece was painted by Filippino Lippi and is now also at the Uffizi.

1483-1486

Madonna of the Rocks

The Virgin of the Rocks (sometimes the Madonna of the Rocks) is the usual title used for both of two
different paintings with almost identical compositions, which are at least largely by Leonardo da Vinci.

They are in the Louvre, Paris, and the National Gallery, London.

This version is in the Louvre, painted around 1483-1486, or earlier. Most authorities agree that the work
is very largely by Leonardo, and is the earlier of the two works. The fine brush work and use of
chiaroscuro, or contrast between light and dark, are considered characteristic of many of Leonardo's
works. It is about 8cm taller than the London version. The first record of this picture is in 1625, when it
was in the French royal collection.

1485
Sketches the Design for a Scythed Chariot

The scythed chariot is potentially one of the most lethal battlefield weapons and has ancient origins,
though Leonardo noted their propensity to damage friend as readily as foe.

The drawing for these war machines dates from his first years in Milan.

In Renaissance times, war was the order of the day and war machines were at the centre of interest not
only for their practical use but also from a cultural point of view, with the rediscovery of inventions from
classical times.

1487

Man

The Vitruvian Man is a world-renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1487.

It is accompanied by notes based on the work of Vitruvius. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on
paper, depicts a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and
simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of
Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man. It is stored in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy,
and, like most works on paper, is displayed only occasionally.

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the
ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the
human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture.
Other artists had attempted to depict the concept, with less success. The drawing is traditionally named
in honour of the architect.

1489-1490

Leonardo da Vinci Paints Lady with an Ermine

Lady with an Ermine is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, from around 1489–1490.

The subject of the portrait is identified as Cecilia Gallerani, and was probably painted at a time when she
was the mistress of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and Leonardo was in the service of the Duke.

The painting is one of only four female portraits painted by Leonardo, the others being the Mona Lisa,
the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci and La Belle Ferronière. It is displayed by the Czartoryski Museum,
Kraków, Poland and is cited in the museum's guide as the first truly modern portrait. When exhibited in
Museum of Fine Arts in Huston, it was described as "signal[ling] a breakthrough in the art of
psychological portraiture".

1495-1498

Paints the Last Supper

The Last Supper (Italian: Il Cenacolo or L'Ultima Cena) is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created
by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este.

It represents the scene of The Last Supper from the final days of Jesus as narrated in the Gospel of John
13:21, when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him.

The Last Supper measures 460 × 880 centimeters (15 feet × 29 ft) and covers the back wall of the dining
hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. The theme was a traditional one for refectories, but
Leonardo's interpretation gave it much greater realism and depth. The lunettes above the main painting,
formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with Sforza coats-of-arms. The opposite
wall of the refectory is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, to which
Leonardo added figures of the Sforza family in tempera. (These figures have deteriorated in much the
same way as has The Last Supper.) Leonardo began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in
1498—however, he did not work on the piece continuously throughout this period. This beginning date
is not certain, as "the archives of the convent have been destroyed and our meagre documents date
from 1497 when the painting was nearly finished."

1503-1506
Paints the Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda) is a 16th century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by
Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance.

The work is owned by the Government of France and is on the wall in the Louvre in Paris, France with
the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo.

The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a woman whose expression is often described as
enigmatic. The ambiguity of the sitter's expression, the monumentality of the half-figure composition,
and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have
contributed to the painting's continuing fascination. Few other works of art have been subject to as
much scrutiny, study, mythologizing, and parody