Student Essay on Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15,1452, in a small Tuscan town of Vinci, near Florence. Leonardo was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary named Vincier Piero and a peasant woman named Caterina Piero. Leonardo had seventeen half brothers and sisters.

In the mid-1460s the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, the intellectual and artistic center of Italy, could offer. Leonardo quickly advanced socially and cerebrally. Leonardo soon became a fine musician and improviser.

In about 1466 Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone, or a studio boy, to Andrea del Verroccio, the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of Leonardo's day. While working in Andrea's workshop Leonardo was introduced to many activities like paintings of altarpieces and large sculptural projects in marble and bronze. In 1472 Leonardo was entered in the painter's guild of Florence, and in 1476 he was still mentioned as Andrea del Verroccio's assistant.

In 1478 became an independent master. Leonrdo's first commission, to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine town hall, was never executed.

In about 1482 Leonardo entered the service of the duke of Milan. Leonado sent an extraordinary letter about his talents to duke and soon served as principal engineer in the duke's numerous military enterprises and was active also as an architect. In the Milan there is evidence that indicates that Leonardo had apprentices and pupils, for whom he probably wrote the various texts that later, compiled as Treatise on Painting.

During the second period of Florentine, Leonardo painted several portraits, but the most famous is the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is one of the most celebrated portraits ever painted. The Mona Lisa had a special affection for the picture. For which Leonardo took with him on all of his travels.

Leonardo produced a relatively small amount of paintings but he did have other paintings besides the Mona Lisa. Leonardo had painted the Adoration of Magi as well as The Last Supper with the Christ.

Leonardo had suffered a paralysis of the right hand. Leonardo was still able to write and draw. Leonardo died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France. Legend says that King Francis was at his side when he died, cradling Leonardo's head in his arms.

Leonardo da Vinci was a Florentine artist of the High Renaissance. Leonardo is mostly known for his extravagant masterpieces that he had created. He was a very skilled artist who made one of the most famous paintings, which include the Mona Lisa. Leonardo also has a book written about him and his paintings. It is supposedly "fiction" and is called "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown.