Matthew

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo Da Vinci is my person. He was born on April 15, 1452. He was born in Tuscan cities in Pistoia and Empoli. When Leonardo was young his birth name was “Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci”. He was known mostly for painting, two of his most famous were the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. A painter, a sculptor, an architect and an engineer, Leonardo Da Vinci's numerous skills have earned him the title of renaissance master.

In school he received an informal education in Latin, Geography and Mathematics. At one point of Leonardo’s life he was a teacher. He taught the talented Raphael, a young painter. Leonardo's parents were unmarried at the time of his birth. Caterina, was a young peasant woman who eventually married Leonardo.

Leonardo painted about thirty portraits but at this point only twenty-two still exist. In 1483 Leonardo painted the “Virgin of the Rocks.” Then two years later he painted the “Lady with the Ermine.” In 1515 Leonardo painted St. John the Baptist, but he also later painted the portrait of Saint John. Many of his paintings were of St. John.

Some of his struggles in life were that he was left handed and back then if you were left handed you were considered “the work of the devil.” When he was in competition he had to go up against Michelangelo. He was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. While his works are scattered our different areas of the globe, everyone can enjoy Da Vinci through the numerous books detailing his life, or through of the many Da Vinci posters that have been printed.

He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent his last years in France, at a home awarded to him by King Francis I. He wrote ideas of a Helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power and a calculator. At the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to the artist Andrea di Cione also known as Verrocchio. Leonardo is known as the “Man of Two Worlds.” Following the death of his patron Giuliano de' Medici in March of 1516, he was offered the title of “Premier Painter and Engineer” and “Architect of the King” by King Francis I in France.

Leonardo da Vinci decided to throw his efforts into another project, he had always been fascinated by water, he began making drawings and notes for a huge painting of the Great Flood, he wrote a graphic description of what he wanted the painting to look like. He lived to the age of 67.