Does anyone know Leonardo Da Vinci?, Can you give me some information on him?

Answer 1

I've certainly studied him enough to feel like I know him!!!

So what would you like to know?

I'll give you the general details first and then impart some of his more personal qualities.


Here we go.

On 15th April, Saturday, around 10.30pm ("at three o’clock in the night" in Renaissance time), Leonardo is born in Vinci out of wedlock to Caterina, a farmer’s daughter, and Ser Piero da Vinci, a notary (1427-1504). Recorded by Leonardo’s paternal grandfather, Antonio di Ser Piero da Vinci.


First Florentine period 1464/69 - 1481/83
Following the death of his grandfather, Leonardo probably moves to his father’s household in Florence, where Ser Piero is working as a notary at the Palagio del Podestà (the seat of the chief law officer, today the Palazzo del Bargello).

1472 Leonardo’s name appears in the account book of the painters’ confraternity, the Compagnia di San Luca (“Company of St. Luke”) in Florence, which implies that he was working as painter in his own rightBy now Leonardo is employed as an artist in his own right but continues to work in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio. He probably contributed to Verrocchio’s The Baptism of Christ around this time.

Leonardo is among those charged of sodomy with Jacopo Saltarelli, a 17-year old apprentice in a goldsmith’s workshop. The charge is not followed up.


First Milanese period 1481/2 - 1499
Leonardo is recorded as having agreed to paint the Adoration of the Magi altarpiece for the main altar of the convent church of San Donato a Scopeto. Leonardo is to complete the work in 24 months at most. The work remained unfinished.

In a famous letter, Leonardo offers his services as a military engineer, sculptor and painter to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. He leaves Florence sometime between September 1481 and April 1483.

Around this time, Leonardo was working on a Madonna in profile (possibly the Madona Litta).

First Milanese period 1481/2 - 1499
Leonardo travels to the Lake Como region in Lombardy, visiting Valtellina, Valsassina, Bellagio, and Ivrea.

He begins Paris Manuscript A. The Codex Ashburnham I (and II) may have also been started around this time.

Second Florentine period 1500 - 1506/08
In March Leonardo is working for the Venetian Republic on a proposal for a defence system against the threat of a Turkish invasion in the Friuli region.

The lute player Lorenzo Gusnasco da Pavia sends a letter to Isabella d’Este from Venice stating that Leonardo has shown him a drawn portrait of her.

On 24th April Leonardo arrives in Florence, and probably resides in the church complex of Santissima Annunziata, where he draws a lost cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne, when he should have been working on the high altar for the Church of SS. Annunziata.

Leonardo probably completes what is now referred to as Paris Manuscript M.

Second Florentine period 1500 - 1506/08
On 12th May Leonardo evaluates drawings of antique vases from Lorenzo de’ Medici’s collection being offered to Isabella d’Este.

On 18th May Cesare Borgia, il Valentino, Captain General of the Papal armies, names Leonardo “familiar architect and general engineer” in the Marche and Romagna. Between July and September Leonardo travels to Urbino, Cesena, Porto Cesenatico, Pesaro and Rimini in Cesare’s service


Second Milanese period 1506/08 - 1513
By 23rd April Leonardo has returned to Milan to serve Louis XII.

On 18th August Giovan Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo receive permission to remove the Virgin of the Rocks, which is newly installed in the chapel of San Francesco il Grande in Milan, so that Giovan Ambrogio can copy it, under Leonardo’s supervision.

Leonardo submits a design for the Trivulzio equestrian monument.

Leonardo probably began to paint St John the Baptist, which may not have been finished until 1516, and the Madonna, Child, St Anne and a Lamb, probably his last painting.

Roman period 1513 - 1516
On 1st December Leonardo is in Rome as part of the household of Giuliano de’Medici (brother of Pope Leo X), who sets up the artist in a workshop in the Belvedere wing of the Vatican Palace.

Between c1513-16 Leonardo probably began his painting of the seated St John the Baptist, later transformed by someone else into a Bacchus.


Paris Manuscript E is begun. Giovanni de’ Medici is elected
On 25th September Leonardo is in Parma, and on the 27th on the banks of the Po river, probably as engineer to Giuliano de’ Medici, Captain General of the papal militia.

Under Giuliano’s instigation, Leonardo becomes involved in plans to drain the malarial Pontine marshes south of Rome. On 8th October Leonardo is inscribed in the Confraternity of S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome.

Leonardo designs improvements for the port of Civitavecchia and in December, a project to drain the malarial Pontine marshes south of Rome.

French period 1516 - 1519
On 17th March, Giuliano de’ Medici dies. Leonardo writes “The Medici made me and destroyed me.” Leonardo is left without a patron.

The sixty-four year old Leonardo goes to France. He is invited as paintre du Roy by King Francis I. He is accompanied by his friend Francesco Melzi and servant Salaì.

The pension from the king for the “master Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter”, amounts to 2,000 ecus soleil for two years. “Francesco Melzi, Italian nobleman”, receives 800 ecus for two years, and Salaì, “servant of master Leonardo da Vinci”, 100 ecus.
Until 16th January, Leonardo remains in Romorantin working on the plans for the palace and related canals.

On 19th June, in celebration of the wedding of Lorenzo de’ Medici and Maddalena de la Tour d’Auvergne, niece of King Francis I, Bernardo Bellincioni’s Festa del Paradiso (“The Feast of Paradise”), originally staged by Leonardo in 1490, is performed in Cloux with mechanical scenery.

On 24th June, Leonardo writes that he has left Romorantin to go to the castle of Cloux at Amboise.
On 23rd April, Leonardo aged 67 goes before the Royal Court at Amboise to acknowledge his will.

On the 2nd May, Leonardo dies in the Castle of Cloux. Following his wish, he is buried in the cloister of the church of Saint-Florentin at Amboise, now destroyed.

On 1st June Leonardo’s beloved companion and artistic heir Francesco Melzi writes to Leonardo’s half-brother Ser Giuliano da Vinci to notify the family of Leonardo’s death

That should do for an outline of Leonardo, now a little about the man himself and his works.

We have very few of his paintings which have survived from antiquity but we do have hundreds of pages of his notes, nature, anatomical drawings etc.

Leonardo made quite a few discoveries but not always the ones you think he did. However many times people say to you that he invented the helicopter, HE DID NOT!!! The drawing was an aerial screw which people always confuse. He discovered the maxilliary sinus cavity, some functions of the heart etc., but he did not publish his work so his findings remained 'undiscovered' by the scientific world until 're discovered' by others. Leonardo was at times very unsure of himself and his ability and never thought he had enough information.

He like to experiment with painting techniques. Some went while like his sfumato used on The Mona Lisa. Some were disasterous like the methods he used on The Last Supper fresco and the fabled Battle of Anghiari.

He was a vegetarian, he loved horses and kept them all of his life. He had a little dog, picture of which is probably the picture I was looking at in the British Museum a while ago. (I've been luck enough to handle some of his original works personally).

He was probably a homosexual, he dressed very well, was handosme and got bored with work for others usually after the planning stage. He had a bit of an ego and thought it a little beneath him to do all of the painting! He's draw the cartoons, plant the composition etc then he'd be bored.

He had a great sense of humour and loved to plan balls for his patrons and make automatons. He even glued bits of things onto a lizard to turn it into a fantastical creature!

He was friends with Sandro Botticelli but said that his landscapes were very sorry! He and Michelangelo didn't like each other at all and there was a war of words between them.

He thought of his own interests alot and took work with patrons which mainly allowed him to follow his own interest.

He was a very sensible man who seemed savvy enough to know the political workings of his world and to use them to his best advantage and when to say very little.

I hope this helps as an introduction to the man. If you need anything further don't hesitate to ask.

Answer 2

Da Vinci's name is actually the name of a city.
His name means "from Vinci"
He was an artist and painted the Mona Lisa.
Lived around the time of the Renaissance (1500-1600s)
Was a Renaissance Man; meaning he was skilled in many things. Such as art, inventing, science, and engineering. Lot's more to know! look up link!!

Answer 3

Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Leonardo's mastery in art, science and engineering have earned him a place among the most prolific geniuses of history. He was one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance, a period when the arts and sciences flourished.

At age 17, Leonardo and his father moved to Florence, where he apprenticed to Verrocchio. His brilliance soon eclipsed that of his master. In 1472 Leonardo became a member of the painter's guild of Florence, where he had contact with other great Florentine artists including Michelangelo Buonarroti.

In 1481 Leonardo left Florence for Milan to offer his service to the local Duke. During this period he painted the Virgin of the Rocks and the Last Supper. In 1499 Leonardo left Milan, traveling through Mantua, to the court of Isabella d'Este; to Venice, where he consulted on architecture from 1495 to 1499; and in 1502 and 1503 was military engineer for Cesare Borgia. After his service to the Borgias, Leonardo returned to Florence. It was during the period between 1503 and 1506, while working primarily in Florence, that he had his greatest following and painted such classics as the Mona Lisa.

Leonardo left Florence for Milan in 1506, although he returned in 1507-8 to fight for his inheritance from his Uncle. In 1509 he returned to Milan and devoted much of his time to scientific studies, and to engineering projects such as channeling the course of the Adda river. In 1512 Leonardo left Milan again, and from 1513 to 1516 was in Rome under the protection of Giuliano de Medici, the brother of Pope Leo X. Here Leonardo came into contact with Michelangelo, and another young rival, Raphael.

After the death of Giuliano dei Medici, Leonardo accepted an invitation from French friends and moved to the castle of Cloux near Amboise, where he stayed with his faithful pupil Melzi until the end of his life. Leonardo died on May 2, 1519, and was buried in the cloister of San Fiorentino in Amboise.

Answer 4

Leonardo da Vinci is a very famous artist and inventor. Google him and you will find all the information to your heart's content. Here is a start: www. mos.org/sln/Leonardo/

www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/

www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/leonardo_da_vinci.html

Answer 5

Fun fact: the Mona Lisa is actually a self portrait. Some claim that its a painting of his mistress, but Leonardo was not overtly sexual and was obsessed with young males. It is the only painting he kept with him throughout his life. If you were to put up his self portrait and the Mona Lisa, the similarities are obvious.

Answer 6

Didn't he star in the movie Titanic?

Answer 7

KNOW him??? no..i'm not exactly that old....renaissance man, painter, inventor.....
http://www.mos.org/leonardo/

Answer 8

No, man. we don't hang out too much anymore. He started talking about some, code....

Answer 9

i met his yesterday at the fruitstall in baker street and he wants to paint me nude, but i said no not with out my thong,

Answer 10

uhh.....he's been dead like for 500 years

Answer 11

just google him.