The great genius was born in 1452 in the small village of Anchiano, the illegitimate son of the Florentine notary Piero da Vinci and Caterina, a peasant woman. In about 1469, as a youth of seventeen or so, Leonardo demonstrated a talent for drawing and design. Recognizing these achievements, Piero persuaded his friend Andrea del Verrocchio to accept his son as an apprentice in what was then one of the foremost studios in Italy.

Leonardo’s artistic education was the one available to all of Verrocchio’s young apprentices" grinding and mixing pigments, learning geometry and the chemistry of colors, preparing panels to receive paintings itself, and working clay and casting bronze into finished sculptures.

Leonardo began his training directly in the major arts of painting and sculpture. In this respect, he was relatively unusual among the artist with whom he wa

Leonardo left Florence for Milan sometime between 1482 and 1483. In Milan he remained in a self-imposed exile for nearly eighteen years. Upon arriving in Milan he was accepted at court as a favorite of Il Maro. As court retainer, Leonardo assumed a variety of duties and enlarged his activities as an artist. In Milan, home of his foremost important efforts was in sculpture (the Sforza equestrian monument) referred to as the "colossus." In addition, he devoted most of his time to military engineering, and designed architectural projects for the Milan Cathedral and various other churches. He also designed sets for theater performances, festivals, marriages, and miscellaneous celebrations. In addition to these duties he was also busy with commissions for buildings and especially for paintings, practically all of which were carried out under court patronage. The most famous painting, of course is the Last Supper. Leonardo also executed portraits of Lodovico Sforza (also known as Il Moro), his wife and two mistresses. Unfortunately only one of these portraits has survived the ages, the Cecilia Gallerani. The first work Leonardo executed in Milan is the Madonna of the Rocks, which was commissioned by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception.

In 1478 he painted the charming and youthful Benois Madonna. Around

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