Leonardo Da Vinci

Scarlett Hernandez
 Early Life-
► He was born on April 15, 1452,
at 3 in the morning to a pair of
unmarried people.
► Little is known about his first 5
years, but we know that by the
age of five, he was living at his
grandfather's house in the small
town of Vinci, about 20 miles
away from Florence.
► His uncle Francesco became his
main guardian and friend soon
after he started living in Vinci.
Francesco was described as lazy
and good for nothing.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/hist
ory/vinci.html
Showing an Interest in art-
 Early on in life, Leonardo showed a talent for drawing. He was
apprenticed to the artist Andrea del Verrochio. Leonardo and his
trainer soon became good friends.
 At the age of 20, between 1482 and 1499, Leonardo was in the
service of the Duke of Milan, since the ruler of nearby Florence
didn't like art much.
 Leonardo also became interested in human anatomy; he cut up
dead people to find out about the human body. This got him
expelled from the painters’ guild.
(Leonardo da Vinci; by Laura Layton Strom)
 The Last Supper-
 Leonardo's stylistic innovations are  In the monumentality of the scene
even more apparent in The Last and the weightiness of the figures,
Supper, in which he re-created a Leonardo reintroduced a style
traditional theme in an entirely pioneered more than a generation
new way. Instead of showing the earlier by Masaccio, the father of
12 apostles as individual figures, Florentine painting.
he grouped them in dynamic Leonardo Da Vinci; by Kathleen Tracy
compositional units of three,
framing the figure of Christ, who
is isolated in the center of the
picture.
 Seated before a pale distant
landscape seen through a
rectangular opening in the wall,
Christ—who is about to announce
that one of those present will
betray him—represents a calm
nucleus while the others respond
with animated gestures.
 The Mona Lisa-
 The Mona Lisa, Leonardo's
most famous work, is as well
known for its mastery of
technical innovations as for
the mysteriousness of its
legendary smiling subject.
 This work is a consummate
example of two techniques—
sfumato and chiaroscuro—of
which Leonardo was one of
the first great masters.
Sfumato is characterized by
subtle, almost infinitesimal
transitions between color
areas, creating a delicately
atmospheric haze or smoky
effect; it is especially evident
in the delicate gauzy robes
worn by the sitter and in her
enigmatic smile.
 Chiaroscuro is the
technique of modeling
and defining forms
through contrasts of
light and shadow; the
sensitive hands of the
sitter are portrayed with
a luminous modulation
of light and shade,
while color contrast is
used only sparingly.
 http://www.gap-
system.org/~history/Bi
ographies/Leonardo.ht
ml
Leonardo’s Work-
 Leonardo's many extant drawings, which reveal his brilliant
draftsmanship and his mastery of the anatomy of humans,
animals, and plant life, may be found in the principal
European collections; the largest group is at Windsor
Castle in England.
 Probably his most famous drawing is the magnificent Self-
Portrait.
 Leonardo produced only a dozen paintings in his entire
life, yet two of them are among the most famous works in
the history of art.
(Leonardo Da Vinci; by Margaret Hall)
Ideas about the Universe
 Da Vinci helped revolutionize science. And sometimes he just
dreamed up fanciful concepts. Always, he thought in ways no
one else had.
 Da Vinci sure liked mirror writing: most of his journals are
scrawled in reverse.
 Da Vinci modeled his perfect human form after the proportions
laid out by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect. The angry-
looking man drawn by Da Vinci has reason to smile - he's now
considered one of the most recognizable figures on earth.
 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/l/leonardo/biograph.html
After His Death
 On May 2, 1519, Leonardo died and
was buried in Saint-Forentine in
Amboise. Yet even in death, the
artist's travels were not ended.
During the Wars of Religion
Leonardo's remains were moved
several times. Eventually he was
buried in the Chapel of St. Hubert in
the castle of Amboise.
 Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, a
musician, a philosopher, an engineer,
a botanist, an anatanomist, a
mathematician and a humanitarian.
He did not believe in life after death
and he did not agree with the
teachings of the church. He was
generous but suspicious. He
questioned everything around him
and excelled at everything he
undertook.
 He spent 30 years keeping meticulous
records and journals documenting his
experiments and designs. "Vassari
observes with reference to Leonardo's
writings, "he wrote backwards in rude
characters, and with the left hand, so
that anyone who is not practiced in
reading them, cannot understand
them."" He did not number the five
thousand pages he documented but
was adamant that each observation or
experiment documented be completed
on the page it was begun. Leonardo
took great pains to finish his
notebooks. Yet, in contrast to his
scientific studies, this artist who
epitomizes the Renaissance left much
of his artistic endeavors unfinished.
 http://www.mezzo-
mondo.com/arts/mm/leonardo/leonard
o-da-vinci.html
 Work Cited Page
 http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/vinci.html
 Leonardo Da Vinci; by Laura Layton Strom: New York: Children’s Press,
2008.
 Leonardo Da Vinci; by Kathleen Tracy: Hock essin, Del.: Mitchell Lane,
c2009.
 http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Leonardo.html
 Leonardo Da Vinci; by Margaret Hall: Edina, Minn.: ABDO Pub., c2008
 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/l/leonardo/biograph.html
 http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/leonardo/leonardo-da-vinci.html