The Face of the Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15th, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Leonardo was a Renaissance polymath. Leonardo was the son of Ser Piero and Caterina. His father, Ser Piero, was a law notary, and was slightly wealthy. His mother was a peasant. Leonardo was the first born child of Ser Piero, and he did not have any brotherly experiences in his childhood. However, he did have siblings, they just did not have any significant impact on his life. Later on, he would eventually have seven brothers.

Leonardo's educational background is quite informal for such a polymath of his caliber. He received an informal education in geometry, math, and Latin early on.

Leonardo's assumed self-portrait made of red chalk.

Then, at fourteen years old, he was apprenticed to Verrocchio, whose workshop was hailed as one of Florence's best. It is here where Leonardo began to learn a huge array of crafts and subjects, including: drafting, chemistry, drawing, painting, sculpting, metallurgy, modeling, mechanics, carpentry, and many more.

After Verrocchio's workshop, Leonardo would go on to create the most famous works of all time. The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Baptism of Christ, The Virtruvian Man, Virgin of the Rocks, and others constitute his famous works. Leonardo's major medium of painting was oil painting with a moderate amount of tempera.

During his lifetime, the Renaissance, end of the Hundred Years' War, Italian Wars, Christopher Columbus' reaching the new world, and the Protestant Reformation were all events that were ongoing.

Leonardo did not face many struggles in his life, but among them were an accusation of sodomy against him in 1476, being left-handed, and having to compete against Michelangelo.

Leonardo had many friendships, especially those with his pupils, Melzi and Salai, but he also had a friend in Francis I. However, there are no records of Leonardo being married or in a relationship at all. Due to the aforementioned accusation of sodomy, and other evidence, some experts believe that Leonardo may have been homosexual, as he kept most of his private life secret.

Perhaps the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa.

The Last Supper

The Virtruvian Man