BIOGRAPHY:
Léonard de Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci) was born on April
15, 1452 with a few kilometers from the village from Vinci in
Tuscany (Italy). Wire of a notary of the republic and a country-woman,
Léonard is not a legitimate child and will be regarded
as full member of the family only when it will live in his large
father. Its family settles in Florence in 1466 and Léonard
is placed in the workshop of Andrea Del Verrocchio, famous artist
and touches with all (goldsmith, painter, sculptor, etc).
The first works of Léonard are indexed in 1472 in the
book of the guild of the painters of Florence and acquires an
unequalled experiment in the technique of the sfumato (impression
of fog).
From 1478, Léonard
becomes independent Master and delivers his first orders: The
retable of the vault of Palazzo Vecchio (unfinished), the Madonna
Benoit, the portrait of Ginevra Benchi.
In 1481, upset not to be retained for the decoration of the
vault sixtine in Rome, Léonard leaves Florence and share
to settle with the service of the Duke of Milan. This last charges
it of various tasks and if Léonard paints several portraits
of the court, he is a also architect, decorator (in particular
for the theatre or he invents machines of theatre which fill
with wonder the public), organizer of tournaments and of masked
balls, weddings, and especially he publishes tests on botany,
hydraulics (to make navigable the channel of Martezana), the
anatomy, geology and devotes themselves to all kinds of experiments.
In 1483, it delivers for the vault San Francesco Grande one
of its chief of work: The Virgin With The Rocks. In 1490, it
creates an academy bearing its name where it teaches during
a few years its knowledge. In 1495, the Dominican ones of Sainte-Marie-des-Grâces
order Cène to him which it paints on the wall of the
refectory of the convent. In 1499, the French enter Milan, the
Duke Sforza loses his throne. After a short stay in Venice,
Léonard turns over to Florence or César Borgia,
duke of Rome and Général of armed with the pope
Alexandre VI take it under his protection, the following year,
it takes share with the war against Pisa as engineer and withdraws
from them many lesson for its future "military" work.
It is at this period that it paints the Mona Lisa.
About 1507, the Marshal of France, Charles d' Amboise, governor
of Milan, takes it with his service, and as of the following
year it is Louis XII of France, residing him also in the city,
which offers its protection to him and engages it like "painter
and ordinary engineer".
In 1514, at the request of Julien de Médicis, Léonard
leaves for Rome and enters to the service of the pope Leon X,
then follows one period or it travels through the country, of
city downtown, offering its services to very notable or lord
agreeing to maintain it. It is at this period that Léonard
crosses the way of François First, who, fascinated and
allured by this man of science Léonard De Vinci, engages
it like "First painter, architect, and engineer of the
king" and installs it with the castle of Closed-Lucè
meadows of Amboise. It is there that Léonard will peacefully
finish his days while devoting itself to work of architecture
for the royal castles (staircase with double revolution of Chambord)
and to scientific research. It will die there on May 2, 1519.
Man of universal spirit, at the same time artist, scientist,
inventor and philosopher, Léonard incarnates the universalist
spirit of the Rebirth and remains one of the great men of this
time.
