NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Leonardo da Vinci was born in April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Leonardo's accomplishments have earned him a place among the most prolific geniuses of history. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance, and the greatest experimental scientist of his age. He displayed genius in almost all of the arts and sciences. Leonardo was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and art critic. He studied sciences as an inventor, civil and military engineer, botanist, an astronomer and a geologist.
He became the leading student of anatomy of his time. Da Vinci also pioneered studies of flying. He sketched flying machines bases on the way birds fly. Leonardo's? many designs show he had a knowledge of aviation far beyond his own time. Leonardo was born in a little village called Vinci.
His father Piero da Vinci, may have been the town? s notary and lawyer. His mother was a peasant girl named Caterina. Piero? s parents took Leonardo into their home and raised him. The young boy showed on side of his genius by working out difficult mathematical and engineering problems.
But he showed his greatest promise in art and painting. As a result, his father took him to Florence to study with Andrea del Verrocchio. Da Vinci studied painting, sculpture, and engineering under Verrocchio. He painted the figure of an angel in Verrocchio?
s Baptism of Christ while he was still a student. Many people thought that the angel was the best part of the painting. The angel was Leonardo? s first completed work, as far as art historians know. Da Vinci soon painted better than his teacher, and the painters?
guild in Florence admitted him in 1472. He went working with Verrocchio until about 1476, but he developed a different style. In his Adoration of the Magi, an unfinished panel, he showed that he preferred more idealistic painting than did Verrocchio. In the early 1480? s, Leonardo entered the service of Lodovico Sforaz, who later became duke of Milan. Leonardo may have gone to Milan to design and cast an immense bronze statue in memory of Francesco Sforaz.
Leonardo never finished this work, but he did complete a painting, The Madonna of the Rocks, in his early years in Milan. This painting was the first to show completely the the style for which Leonardo is best known. He arranged his figures formally, making a triangular composition, and filled the foreground with detailed studies of plants. During this period, Leonardo also painted a mural, The Last Supper, in the dining hall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
Many persons consider this mural one of the greatest paintings in the world, even though the colors have faded badly. It still shows Leonardo? s amazing knowledge of anatomy and perspective. Leonardo worked on projects for the diversion of rivers wile he served the duke, and developed a canal system with locks that are still in operation today. He designed court pageants and new fortifications for Milan. He delighted the duke with his great ability as a musician and singer.
He preformed on his lute and many mechanical instruments he invented, making up both words and music as he went along. French troops seized Milan in 1499 and forced the duke to flee. Leonardo returned to Florence, where he painted a portrait of the wife of a merchant Giocondo. The mysterious smile Leonardo painted in The Mona Lisa or La Giocondo has been the subject of endless discussion.
People especially like the simplicity and dignity of this painting. The mountainous landscape in the background is the perfect atmospheric perspective, and seems to lead the viewer on and on. Da Vinci resumed his studied of theoretical mathematics while in Florence. He also made many drawings of the anatomy of the human body. He began work on The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne at this time, but did not complete the painting for several years.
In 1502 and 1503, Leonardo took some time from his studies in Florence to work for the general Cesare Borgia. Da Vinci studied provincial fortifications in Italy for him, and drew some excellent maps of important military areas. Later, the maps were used to plan a peacetime system of canals for his own city of Florence. He also designed a breech-loading cannon and an armored vehicle like a tank... Back in Florence, Leonardo started a series of frescoes of the Battle of Anghiari in the Palazzo Vecchio. He never finished the Frescoes, and they have since been completely destroyed.
His clay models, sketches, and parts of the finished cartoon, as well as copies of the finished central panel by other artists, enable us to reconstruct the painting. Leonardo returned to Milan in 1506, this time in service of Louis XII of France. He went on studying anatomy, and concentrated his energy on research on hydraulics and aeronautics. Six years later, he joined Bramante, Raphael, and Michelangelo in Rome to work for Pope Leo X.
The four great artists worked on designs and construction of the new Church of St. Peter. Some of them also worked on other new or enlarged rooms and buildings in the Vatican. Several French kings admired Leonardo? s work and invited him to live in France. Da Vinci Finally accepted Francis I?
s invitation in 1516, and settled in the small castle of Club, near Amboise. He lived there in a princely fashion until he died on May 2, 1519. Historians Regard Leonardo as one of the most original and capable men of the Renaissance. He dealt with all kinds of problems. His paintings reveal a sensitive approach to color and a keen sense of detail. Unfortunately, his many other activities prevented him from completing many of his paintings.
Scholars often read Leonardo? s Treatise on Painting to see what he thought about his own works and about the works of others. People interested in the many sides of Leonardo? s genius study other pages of his numerous notebooks.
Leonardo was ambidextrous, and he wrote his notes backwards with his left hand. He then read them with a mirror. Nearly 7, 000 pages from his notebooks exist today. He sketched ideas and inventions on them, along with his notes.
His comments range over the fields of painting, anatomy, and the philosophy of living which reiterates the fact that Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest Italians that ever graced the world.
Free research essays on topics related to: leonardo da vinci, leonardo returned, vinci, leonardo, one of the greatest
Research essay sample on Leonardo Da Vinci One Of The Greatest
