Leonardo da Vinci
Renaissance artist and inventor · 1452–1519
Italian Renaissance artist whose paintings, anatomical studies and technical designs combined art with scientific observation.
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance artist, designer and investigator whose work ranged across painting, anatomy, engineering and the natural sciences. Born near Vinci in Tuscany, he trained in Florence in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. His surviving paintings include the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, works noted for their composition, observation of human expression and innovative painting techniques.
Leonardo recorded much of his wider work in notebooks containing drawings, diagrams and written observations. He studied human and animal anatomy through dissection, examined subjects including water, geology, optics and flight, and devised concepts for machines, weapons and hydraulic systems. Many of these designs were never constructed during his lifetime. He worked for patrons in Florence, Milan and Rome before entering the service of Francis I of France. Leonardo spent his final years at Clos Lucé, near Amboise, where he died in 1519.
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A thematic collection of Leonardo’s notes on painting, sculpture, architecture, anatomy, mechanics, natural phenomena and practical observation.
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