Tue Apr 15, 2008 — by Aaron Rosenberg

Happy Birthday: Leonardo da Vinci

The true Renaissance master

Born in Vinci, Florence, Italy in 1452, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a local notary and a peasant girl. He showed an early talent for art, and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio.

In 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master with the Guild of St. Luke and his father set him up in his own workshop. Lorenzo de Medici was so impressed by the young artist that in 1482 he sent Leonardo to serve Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan.

Leonardo remained there until 1499, when he fled to Venice to escape a French invasion. He returned to Florence the following year, and continued to travel between and work among those three cities and more for the rest of his life.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered the examplar of the Renaissance man: a brilliant painter and sculptor but also a talented mathematician and scientist and a renowned scholar. Several of his works, like the Mona Lisa, are still considered among the greatest masterpieces of all time.

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