Leonardo was born an illegitimate child to a notary and a young woman by the name of Caterina. He lived with his father from the beginning and soon developed an interest in nature, which soon spread to every aspect of his life. Leonardo and his father moved to Florence when he was 8 years old to start an apprenticeship with an artisan named Verrocchio. Leonardo’s greatest influence came from this man, but soon his skill surpassed that of even his master.

Another of Leonardo’s paintings that is extremely well known throughout the world, probably one of the most well known works of art in the world, is the Mona Lisa. Leonardo started work on this painting while he was living in Rome. He was not very well liked in Rome as the Pope had other artists who he preferred over Leonardo. The painting was thus taken to France where Leonardo was to become master painter and architect. One thing about the painting that one would only notice after looking for awhile, would be the background. The first thing to notice about it, is that it is rather odd. We can not really tell where it is or why he chose to put it with Mona Lisa. To use an art term, however, we can see perspective in the fact that the lines of the mountains converge on point the happens to be at the tope of Mona Lisa’s head. Roy McMullen said “The barren uneven background in the Mona Lisa is as dispassionate as the sitter,” which would refer to the enigmatic smile that Leonardo has decided to put on this woman. This particular characteristic of the painting is the famous “half smile.” With this particular smile one can not quite decide what exactly the gesture is trying to tell us. Whether or not she is happy, sad, or merely trying to look happy is up to an individual’s own interpretation. Nobody, but two people, who are dead, have ever nor will ever know for sure what the smile means.

He developed several techniques that would soon be used by many other painters. One of these techniques came to be known as Sfumato, which was a softening of edges, making them look almost hazy. In one of his most known works, “The Mona Lisa,” this technique is all too evident. If one looks at her cheekbones, one can see that her cheekbone and her neck almost m

Some topics in this essay:
Renaissance Leonardo, Mona Lisa, Verrocchio Leonardo’s, Jesus Messiah, Leonardo Raphael, Man” Leonardo, Mona Lisa”, Italian Renaissance, France Leonardo, Lisa Leonardo, italian renaissance, mona lisa, leonardo decided, difficult painting, raphael technique, leonardo davinci,