Leonardo da Vinci - Short Biography

Leonardo da Vinci has gone down in history for being a universal genius, because his curiosity never had limits, so much so that he ended up becoming a person polymath, expert and knowledgeable in many areas of human knowledge, among which we highlight anatomy, hydraulics, aerodynamics or botany. But above all he stood out for being a great artist, in his facet of architect, sculptor, musician, poet, writer and without a doubt one of the best painters that the history of art has given us.

Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you the Summary Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, the man who par excellence became the symbol of the Renaissance.

Index

1. Early years of Leonardo da Vinci
2. From Florence to Milan
3. Milan to Florence
4. And again from Florence to Milan
5. Last years of Leonardo da Vinci

We begin this summarized biography of Leonardo da Vinci talking about the early years of this character. He was born in the year 1452

During the first five years, Leonardo received the best instructions for learning from him in the reading and writing and soon discovered his ability to draw animals that he himself invented. Aware of his talent, they allowed him enter Andrea del Verrochio's workshop as an apprentice, and for six years, he learned about painting, sculpture, as well as the techniques for these artistic creations. Along with this formation, he arranged the first anatomy studies in the workshop of Antonio Pollaiuolo, and knowledge about Greek and Latin.

His great imagination when creating, the dexterity to cope with the brush, well he was one of the first painters to use oil (a new pictorial technique at that time) the extraordinary drawings that he made before carrying out a painting… made him soon surpass his teacher.

In time, one of the most prestigious courts of the Italian Renaissance would be established in Florence, the Medici family, known to be the patrons of many scientists and artists of the time, so Leonardo da Vinci was one of them. At the Medici court he remained until he was 30 years old, when tired of receiving nothing but praise he decided to seek new horizons.

In 1482 Leonardo da Vinci he appears before Ludovico Sforza, another of the great patrons of artists, and Duke of Milan, as a painter and engineer of the Duchy, and there he remained for 17 years. In his long stay, he carried out projects related to hydraulics, mechanics, with the realization of artillery defense systems to deal with enemies and of course with paint and sculpture.

He befriended Luca Pacioli, a Franciscan mathematician and friar with whom Leonardo da Vinci illustrated the treatise on the Divine proportion. From that moment on, he devoted himself to illustrating his own treatise, Codex Atlanticus, and it included all kinds of works mixing art and scienceWell, they ranged from studies of painting, anatomy, architecture, geography, aerodynamics, hydraulics and botany.

Although Leonardo never intended to create a school during his stay in Milan (1482-1499), were many loyal followers of Leonardo, so much so that they ended up training as apprentices of it, among which we highlight Giovanni Boltraffio.

Three were the great masterpieces that he carried out in this period, the Virgin of the Rocks, which took him 20 years to complete when the contract had stipulated eight months, the Portrait of Ginevra de Benci, and a wall painting made for the refectory of the convent of Santa María dalle Grazie, The Last Supper, which has now become one of the main tourist centers to observe this masterpiece despite its visible deterioration.

We continue with this summarized biography of Leonardo da Vinci to talk about his return to Florence. In 1499, the French seized power in Milan, Ludovico Sforza lost all his power and Leonardo with Pacioli marches to Venice, there the Signoria of Venice hires Leonardo as a military engineer, as this was being threatened by the Turks and they were looking for weapons solutions to get rid of them.

Just a couple of weeks were enough for him to project a series of artifacts that turned out to be great. ideas embodied in a sketch, as lack of time and exorbitant costs prevented its realization; However, these were ideas so far ahead of his time that centuries later they became reality as was the submarine or automobile.

In 1500 he returns again to Florence, dominated by Cesar Borgia, who was preparing to conquer new territories. With him, Leonardo worked again as a military engineer and for this he traveled through all the northern territories drawing maps, showing exact distances, drawing bridges where he saw it necessary, projecting weapons of artillery. Shortly after, Cesar Borgia, sick, and his own captains began to rise up; Leonardo flees, returning three years later to the city.

By 1503 Leonardo, according to written testimonies, was already recognized as a great teacher in Italy. And among his pictorial projects, we find The Battle of Anghiari, a wall painting twice the size of the Last Supper, commissioned by a noble family Florentines, which never finished and with the passage of time deteriorated until it was detached by full.

However, the masterpiece of this Florentine period It was the portrait of the Mona Lisa or by how it is also known The Mona Lisa, one of the few works that I do conclude. The realization of this portrait had to be important, because since he painted it, he always carried it with him, until in the last years of his life he sold it to the King of France, Francis I for 4,000 escudos de gold.

In Florence, apart from the pictorial side of him, he continued researching in the field of science, he going to dissections of corpses to later make drawings and describe how the human body worked. He watched the flight of birds with the conviction that man might also do it one day and, thus, half absorbed in his concerns, he abandoned Florence in 1506 after being called by the governor of Milan, who was French, Charles d'Amboise to perform the role of architect and painter of his court.

Also during this time he devoted himself to compiling all the drawings and writings that he had made on anatomy, since his idea was to have it finished by 1510 and for this he had the collaboration of the most famous anatomist, Marcantonio de la Torre.

In 1513, again a situation of political instability, made him leave Milan again, together with two of his faithful followers, the young Francesco Melzi, who always accompanied him until his death, and Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, better known as Salai. They all left for Rome, staying in the belvedere of their protector Giuliano de Medici, a brother of Pope Leo X.

And we end this summary biography of Leonardo da Vinci to talk about the last years of him. In the Vatican he spent part of his last years of life, calm, without great responsibilities and with a good salary, until 1516 that Giuliano died and Leonardo left Italy definitively to spend his last three years in France at the Château de Clos-Lucé by Francesco I, who treated him as a member of the nobility, rather than an employee of the house real.

There he was in charge of writing what would be his last pages of Treaty of Painting, which never ended. In 1517 his state of health began to deteriorate little by little, leaving his right arm paralyzed, even so, he never stopped drawing.

The May 2, 1519 dies in the castle and next to him, three of the great masterpieces that he wanted to accompany him, The Mona Lisa, that I end up selling it, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Anne, the Virgin and Child. These last two works, along with others, as well as all the books, treatises, manuscripts and drawings, he bequeathed them to him. he left it in writing in his will to one of his disciples, Francesco Melzi, who took it upon himself to bring them back to Italy.

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