town of Vinci, not far from Florence. He was the son of a Florentine notary,

Piero da Vinci, and a young woman named Caterina. Leonardo spent most of his

In 1469 he was apprenticed to Andrea Verrocchio, a leading Renaissance

master. Leonardo acquired a variety of skills while he remained at the workshop

until 1476. He left Florence for Milan in about 1482 to work for Duke Lodovico

Sforza. He stayed in Milan for nearly eighteen years. During his time there he

applied his knowledge of mechanics to his obligations as a civil and military

engineer. He also took up study in anatomy, biology, mathematics, and physics.

During that time he completed his single most important painting, The Last

Leonardo returned to Florence in 1500. Three years later, Leonardo

began several important artistic projects, including the Battle of Anghiari

mural for the council chamber of the Town Hall, the portrait of Mona Lisa, and

the lost Leda and the Swan. At the same time his interests in anatomy led him

to perform dissections, and he organized a study of the flight of birds.

VII SCULPTURAL AND ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS Because none of Leonardo's sculptural projects was brought to completion, his approach to three-dimensional art can only be judged from his drawings. The same strictures apply to his architecture: None of his building projects was actually carried out as he devised them. In his architectural drawings, however, he demonstrates mastery in the use of massive forms, a clarity of expression, and especially a deep understanding of ancient Roman sources.

In 1478 Leonardo became an independent master. His first commission, to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine town hall, was never executed. His first large painting, The Adoration of the Magi (begun 1481, Uffizi), left unfinished, was ordered in 1481 for the Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, Florence. Other works ascribed to his youth are the so-called Benois Madonna (1478?, Hermitage, Saint Petersburg), the portrait Ginevra de' Benci (1474?, National Gallery, Washington, D.C.), and the unfinished Saint Jerome (1481?, Pinacoteca, Vatican).

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