Leonardo DaVinci

Born on April 15, 1452, in Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, painter, scientist, engineer, theorist, and draughtsman and is best known for his paintings. Two of his paintings were the most precious gift to the world: Mona Lisa and The Last supper. Da Vinci was very connected with science, nature, and art. He was self-taught, and he had filled many Notebooks with observation theories, inventions, and theories from aeronautics to anatomy. But the world didn't evolve enough to understand his artwork and experiment. He used his creativity in every field with the extraordinary power of observation, amazing intellect, and art of drawing to study nature. Check  Oil Paintings  of this famous Artist  at our Art Shop

Life and works

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany (Italy) near a town called Vinci, from where his surname comes from. He was known as "II Florentine" or Leonardo because he lived near Florence. Leonardo's father was an attorney and was never married to his peasant mother. Leonardo was the only child they had together. Da Vinci's mother then got married to another man when da Vinci was a child. Then he lived with See Peiro, an attorney and Dan Vinci's uncle who raised him. 

Early career

Da Vinci never received formal education except for basic writing, reading, and mathematics. But his father loved his arts, and around the age of 15, his father apprenticed him to a painter, Andrea del Verrocchio. After that, da Vinci polished his skills as a painter and learned mechanical arts. When da Vinci was 20, the painter's guild of Florence has his membership. But he worked with Verrocchio until he became a master in 1948. In the year 1482, da Vinci began to paint his first artwork but never completed it because he shifted to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza clan. He worked there as a painter, engineer, sculptor, and designer of court festivals.

The Last Supper and Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are known as two of the most admired paintings in the world to date. The Last Supper was da Vinci's first painting during his time in Milan. It took three years, from 1495 to 1498. 

Da Vinci created The Last Supper for the refectory of "the cenacle". This art was 15 by 29 feet. When the French attacked Milan in 1499, the Sforza family escaped, and da Vinci went away. The La Gioconda, a 21 by 31-inch work popular as Mona Lisa, was painted between 1503 and 1506. The mysterious smile of the women has been the subject of discussion for centuries. Mona Lisa was the only portrait that survives, and currently, it is in the Louvre Museum, France. And it has become a centre of attraction for the visitors. Around the year 1506, da Vinci returned to Milan with a group of disciples and students, where he spent seven years.

Leonardo da Vinci- more than just an artist

Da Vinci's interest was more than just fine arts. He learned mechanics, nature, architecture, physics, weaponry, and more. He had created workable designs for helicopters, bicycles, submarines, and weapons that didn't come to the world for centuries. No one was able to see his advanced visions. That's why he always felt like a man who awoke too early while everyone is still asleep. Due to a wide area of interest, da Vinci couldn't finish his paintings and projects. He spent so much time learning nature, dissecting bodies, testing laws, and writing about his observations. In the early 1490s, da Vinci started filling his ideas about paintings, mechanics, architecture, and human anatomy in notebooks. The notebooks are known as Vinci's codices which are in the museum now.

Some pages of his notebooks include a 65-foot mechanical bat, designed like a flying machine on the laws of physics and aeronautics. 

Other notebooks filled with da Vinci's studies on human muscles, skeleton, brain, and reproductive system helped to understand a new concept about the human body. Da Vinci's observation was his best ability, and he tried to understand every phenomenon to the utmost detail. Since he didn't take formal education on mathematics, Latin, so people mostly ignored him as a scientist. Although he learned Latin by himself, and in the 1490s, he studied mathematics user Luca Pacioli. Da Vinci drew scientific drawings, but it was far ahead of that time, and most of them are lost now. Still, the experts are trying to search for the remains of it to date.

Later years

In 1516 da Vinci left Italy when the French ruled. Francis-I offered him the "premier painter and engineer and architect to the king" title. It allowed da Vinci to paint in his free time while living in a Manor house, near Amboise France. Da Vinci died in 1519 at age 67 and was buried near the Chapel of Saint- Hubert in France. Vasari was a close friend of da Vinci; at the time of his death, and he described that da Vinci wanted a priest to make his confession and receive the holy sacrament. Vasari also said the king held da Vinci's head in his arms in his final moment.

Legacy

Da Vinci's fame was so great at his time the king of France treated him like a precious gem. Even nowadays, people stand in queue for hours to see his artworks. Some people are born with remarkable talents, but a man like da Vinci with godlike intelligence, grace and beauty to such extent that he leaves other people far behind. His actions came from God rather than human skill. Everyone knows that Leonardo da Vinci was a great man with outstanding mental abilities, and he showed his grace in everything he did. The interest in da Vinci's genius is one of the most mysterious topics to date. The experts are still studying his writings, paintings, and scientific techniques and trying to understand them.