Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance architect, musician, inventor, engineer, and painter. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and his Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. He is also known for his inventions, which include the parachute, the helicopter, and the tank.
Table of Contents:
1. Early Life
2. Education
3. Career
4. Inventions
5. Art
6. Death and Legacy
7. Top Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes
Early Life:
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the town of Vinci in the Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. His father, Piero da Vinci, was a Florentine notary and landlord, and his mother, Caterina, was a peasant. Leonardo was their illegitimate son.
At the age of five, Leonardo was sent to live with his father’s family in the small town of Vinci. He received a basic education in reading, writing, and arithmetic. When he was 15, his father apprenticed him to the noted artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence.
Education:
As a young man, Leonardo da Vinci received a very good education, first from his father and then from the renowned artist Andrea del Verrocchio. He was also able to learn a great deal from the other artists who were working in Verrocchio’s studio, including the painters Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli.
Career:
In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci began his career in Milan, where he worked for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. He designed and created a number of works for the Duke, including the monumental horse sculpture known as the Gran Cavallo. He also painted the Duke’s mistress, Cecilia Gallerani, in the now-famous portrait known as The Lady with an Ermine.
In 1499, Leonardo left Milan for Venice. He may have been fleeing from a charge of sodomy, which was a crime punishable by death. He stayed in Venice for about a year, during which time he created a painting of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne, now known as the Burlington House Cartoon.
In 1500, Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence, where he painted the famous fresco The Last Supper on the wall of the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
In 1503, Leonardo began work on a massive mural painting of the Battle of Anghiari, which was to be hung in the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government in Florence. The painting was never completed, due to technical difficulties, and Leonardo eventually abandoned the project.
In 1513, Leonardo da Vinci left Florence for Rome, where he worked for Pope Leo X and painted a portrait of the pope’s nephew, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici. He also designed a grandiose tomb for Pope Julius II, which was never built.
In 1516, Leonardo da Vinci returned to France, where he had been employed by King Charles VIII from 1495 to 1498. He entered the service of King Francis I, for whom he designed a number of buildings, including the Chateau de Chambord. He also painted a number of portraits, including the now-famous Mona Lisa.
Inventions:
Throughout his life, Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by the workings of the natural world and the potential for human invention. He made detailed drawings of his ideas, many of which were far ahead of their time.
Some of Leonardo’s most famous inventions include the parachute, the helicopter, the tank, and the submarine. He also made significant advances in the fields of anatomy, civil engineering, and optics.
Art:
In addition to his inventions, Leonardo da Vinci was also a highly skilled artist. He is best known for his paintings, which include the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Burlington House Cartoon. He is also known for his drawings, many of which are studies for his paintings.
Death and Legacy:
Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, in the town of Amboise in France. He was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in the Chateau d’Amboise.
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most brilliant minds of the Renaissance. He was a skilled artist, musician, inventor, engineer, and scientist. His Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world and his inventions have had a lasting impact on the world.
Top Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes:
One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
Water is the driving force in nature.
Learning never exhausts the mind.
The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain
Time stays long enough for those who use it.
If you are alone you belong entirely to yourself. If you are accompanied by even one companion you belong only half to yourself or even less in proportion to the thoughtlessness of his conduct and if you have more than one companion you will fall more deeply into the same plight.
God sells us all things at the price of labor.
As you cannot do what you want, Want what you can do
The knowledge of all things is possible
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to themThey went out and happened to things.
Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.
Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.
Realize that everything connects to everything else.
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.
You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself…the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment…And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.
The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.
A poet knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood.
life without love, is no life at all
The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.
Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death
Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.
The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.
All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of Experience, the mother of all Knowledge.
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.
I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.
I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.
All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions
Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose
I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.
An average human looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking.
Art is never finished, only abandoned.
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.
One has no right to love or hate anything if one has not acquired a thorough knowledge of its nature. Great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you know it but little you will be able to love it only a little or not at all.
Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.
It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
I love those who can smile in trouble.
Our life is made by the death of others.
Sources: Wikipedia Britannica Leonardoda-vinci Mos Artsy History Theschoolrun Metmuseum Nationalgeographic Newyorker