Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(1452-1519)
Kevin J. Benoy
Early Life
Leonardo was born in Vinci, a short distance from Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a notary. His father married four times and had 11 children but Leonardo was 20 before the 2nd child was born
The village of Vinci
Training
His father apprenticed him to Andrea del Verrocchio (True Eyes) in Florence. Leonardo was likely the model for Verocchios David.
A Young Master
By the age of 20 he surpassed his master, painting The Baptism of Christ in 1472. It is rumoured that Verrochio never painted again after this.
A Young Master
By 1474 he had his own workshop, producing The Adoration of the Magi, which artists studied from his time onward.
A Flawed Genius
Leonardo was witty, charming and exceedingly handsome. He sang and played music brilliantly. He was a superb host and organizer, but he was reluctant to get close to anyone probably because of his homosexuality, which was a crime at the time. He thought sex with women hideous, though he admired their ability to produce life. He was twice charged with sodomy, though each time the charge was dropped.
A Flawed Genius
At 38, a 10 year old boy, Gian Gicomo de Caprotti , was sent to his workshop and a strange relationship developed. Leonardo called him Salia little Satan, and he described him as thievish, lying, obstinate and greedy, yet the artist doted on him.
A Universal Man
There was little that Leonardo did not excel at. He was a painter, a sculptor, an engineer, a musician, a singer, a mathematician, a physicist, a botanist, an anatomist, a cartographer, a geologist, a geographer, a poet, a town planner and an athlete.
A Universal Man
He always wanted to write a treatise on painting (like Alberti), but never did. He seems to have not mastered Latin, the language of scholarship. - or perhaps he was simply too busy.
The Notebooks
Leonardo kept notes on everything. Around 5,000 pages still exist. However, he used mirror-writing to ensure privacy while and after he wrote. More mundanely, perhaps he did so because he was left handed and found this easier.
The Notebooks
Leonardo made notes on everything. His notes and sketches reveal a mind constantly searching for understanding. He was constantly examining and disecting the world.
The Notebooks
His studies were large and small from anatomical studies of the human arm to plans for a bridge to cross the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
The Notebooks
Curiously, the Sultan declined building Leonardos span, thinking it impossible. In 2006 the Turkish government commissioned Bulent Gungor to build the structure.
Leonardos design
In Florence.
From 1500 to 1513 he lived productively in Florence. There he competed, with Michelangelo, for a large battle mural for the town hall. This work was lost when he again attempted a new medium oil and varnish. Michelangelo also failed to complete his work.
Leonardo in Rome
In 1513, Leonardo departed to Rome, to avoid being hounded to complete the civic mural. Pope Leo X was loathe to commission the great artist, knowing his reputation for not completing his work.
Leonardo in France
In 1516, Leonardo was invited to join the court of Frances Francis I a great patron of the arts. There, he spent his last years in luxury, chatting with the King and fussing with his manuscripts.
Leonardo in France
Leonardos home was just a short distance from Francischateau at Amboise. He is rumoured to have died in Francis arms. Francis said of him: no man has been born who knew as much as Leonardo.
Finis