Leonardo da Vinci did. genius leonardo da vinci

Who lies in Leonardo's grave? April 8th, 2017

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the most prominent representatives of the Renaissance. This "universal man" was far ahead of his time with his brilliant creativity, discoveries, and research. After himself, the master left many unsolved mysteries, among which is the place of his burial. Da Vinci died not at all in Italy, as many believe, but in France. However, many scientists are still arguing whose remains are actually buried under a granite slab with the name of the great master.

How did it happen?

Cloux Castle (Clos-Lucet), place of Leonardo's death.

After the death of Giuliano Medici, Leonardo da Vinci lost his powerful patron. When in 1516 he was invited by the French king Francis I to take the place of the court painter, the aged da Vinci agreed without a drop of doubt. At that time, France was actively joining the Renaissance, so da Vinci expressed universal reverence. However, the artist at that time was already 65 years old. Forces left the master, right hand numb. He rarely took paint in his hands. Fate measured him to live in France for only a couple of years.

The reconstructed room of Leonardo da Vinci in the Château de Cloux (Clos-Lusset) in Amboise. France.

According to legend, the French king Francis I was at the deathbed of da Vinci when he departed for another world. At the castle of Cloux (Clos-Luce), where he died Great master, the room in which Leonardo da Vinci lived is now open to the public. The interior of the apartment is different from general style castle, because historians have tried to reconstruct the interior in the Renaissance style to the smallest detail.

Church of Saint-Floratin, in the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci was originally buried. |

As a result of the long Huguenot wars that took place in the second half of the 16th century, the church of Saint-Floratin was gradually destroyed. The poor took away the sarcophagi of aristocrats, among whom was the grave of Leonardo da Vinci. Even the lids of the coffins were taken away, dumping the remains of the dead in one heap

Chapel of Saint-Hubert.

In 1863, thanks to the energy of the French critic Arsène Gousset, excavations were carried out on the site of the church. The found remains of the deceased were mixed, and the bones of Leonardo da Vinci were chosen at random. The critic Gusse was guided by the lifetime description of the artist's appearance - large growth, massive skull, high forehead. Next to the "suitable" remains, stones with fairly worn letters INC were found. The explorer then discovered slabs with the inscriptions LEO and DUS. Arsene Husse rejoiced: the fragments formed the name of the great master LEOnarDUS vINCius.

Tombstone of Leonardo da Vinci.

In the Gothic chapel, built into the sheer stone wall of the Amboise castle, whose fortifications dominate the town of the same name, there is a tombstone with the name of Leonardo da Vinci. Therefore, many visitors to the castle of Amboise take this graceful Gothic chapel, as if floating in the air, for the actual burial place of the great artist.

Granite slab and epitaph by Leonardo da Vinci in the Saint-Hubert chapel.

sources

Childhood

The house where Leonardo lived as a child.

Workshop of Verrocchio

Defeated teacher

Painting by Verrocchio "The Baptism of Christ". The angel on the left (lower left corner) is a creation by Leonardo.

In the 15th century, ideas about the revival of ancient ideals were in the air. At the Florentine Academy the best minds Italy created the theory of the new art. Creative youth spent time in lively discussions. Leonardo remained aloof from the stormy public life and rarely left the workshop. He had no time for theoretical disputes: he improved his skills. Once Verrocchio received an order for the painting "The Baptism of Christ" and instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. It was a common practice in art workshops of that time: the teacher created a picture together with student assistants. The most talented and diligent were entrusted with the execution of a whole fragment. Two angels, painted by Leonardo and Verrocchio, clearly demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. As Vasari writes, the amazed Verrocchio abandoned the brush and never returned to painting.

Professional activity, 1476-1513

At the age of 24, Leonardo and three other young people were attracted to litigation on a false, anonymous sodomy charge. They were acquitted. Very little is known about his life after this event, but he probably had his own workshop in Florence in 1476-1481.

In 1482 Leonardo, being, according to Vasari, very talented musician, created a silver lyre in the form of a horse's head. Lorenzo de' Medici sent him as a peacemaker to Lodovico Moro, and sent the lyre with him as a gift.

Personal life

Leonardo had many friends and students. As for love relationships, there is no reliable information on this subject, since Leonardo carefully concealed this side of his life. He was not married, there is no reliable information about novels with women. According to some versions, Leonardo had a relationship with Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of Lodovico Moro, with whom he painted his famous painting "Lady with an Ermine". A number of authors, following the words of Vasari, suggest intimate relationships with young men, including students (Salai), others believe that, despite the painter's homosexuality, relations with students were not intimate.

End of life

Leonardo was present at the meeting of King Francis I with Pope Leo X in Bologna on December 19, 1515. Francis commissioned a craftsman to construct a mechanical lion capable of walking, from whose chest a bouquet of lilies would emerge. Perhaps this lion greeted the king in Lyon or was used during negotiations with the pope.

In 1516, Leonardo accepted the invitation of the French king and settled in his castle of Clos Luce, where Francis I spent his childhood, not far from the royal castle of Amboise. In the official rank of the first royal painter, engineer and architect, Leonardo received an annual annuity of a thousand ecu. Never before had Leonardo held the title of engineer in Italy. Leonardo was not the first Italian master who, by the grace of the French king, received "the freedom to dream, think and create" - before him, Andrea Solario and Fra Giovanni Giocondo shared a similar honor.

In France, Leonardo painted almost nothing, but masterfully organized court festivities, planned a new palace in Romorantan with a planned change in the riverbed, a canal project between the Loire and Saône, the main two-way spiral staircase in the Chateau de Chambord. Two years before his death, the master's right hand went numb, and he could hardly move without assistance. Leonardo, 67, spent the third year of his life in Amboise in bed. On April 23, 1519, he left a will, and on May 2, he died surrounded by his students and his masterpieces at Clos Luce. According to Vasari, da Vinci died in the arms of King Francis I, his close friend. This unreliable, but widespread legend in France is reflected in the paintings of Ingres, Angelika Kaufman and many other painters. Leonardo da Vinci was buried in the castle of Amboise. An inscription was engraved on the tombstone: “The ashes of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom, rest in the walls of this monastery.”

The main heir was the disciple and friend Francesco Melzi who accompanied Leonardo, who for the next 50 years remained the main manager of the master’s legacy, which included, in addition to paintings, tools, a library and at least 50 thousand original documents on various topics, of which only a third has survived to this day. Another student of Salai and a servant got half of Leonardo's vineyards each.

Main dates

• - birth of Leonardo ser Piero da Vinci in the village of Anchiano near Vinci
• - Leonardo da Vinci enters the studio of Verrocchio as an apprentice artist (Florence)
• - member of the Florentine Guild of Artists
• - - work on: "Baptism of Christ", "Annunciation", "Madonna with a vase"
• Second half of the 70s. Created "Madonna with a flower" ("Madonna Benois")
• - Saltarelli scandal
• - Leonardo opens his own workshop
• - according to the documents, this year Leonardo already had his own workshop
• - the monastery of San Donato a Sisto orders Leonardo a large altarpiece "The Adoration of the Magi" (not completed); work has begun on the painting "Saint Jerome"
• - invited to the court of Lodovico Sforza in Milan. Work has begun on the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza.
• - "Portrait of a musician" was created
• - development of a flying machine - ornithopter based on bird flight
• - anatomical drawings of skulls
• - painting "Portrait of a musician". A clay model of the monument to Francesco Sforza was made.
• - Vitruvian Man - the famous drawing, sometimes called canonical proportions
• - - completed "Madonna in the Grotto"
• - - work on the fresco "The Last Supper" in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan
• - Milan captured French troops Louis XII, Leonardo leaves Milan, model of the Sforza monument badly damaged
• - enters the service of Cesare Borgia as an architect and military engineer
• - cardboard for the fresco "Battle in Anjaria (at Anghiari)" and the painting "Mona Lisa"
• - return to Milan and service with King Louis XII of France (at that time in control of northern Italy, see Italian Wars)
• - - work in Milan on the equestrian monument to Marshal Trivulzio
• - painting in St. Anne's Cathedral
• - "Self-portrait"
• - moving to Rome under the auspices of Pope Leo X
• - - work on the painting "John the Baptist"
• - moving to France as a court painter, engineer, architect and mechanic
• - dies of disease

Achievements

Art

Leonardo is primarily known to our contemporaries as an artist. In addition, it is possible that da Vinci could also have been a sculptor: researchers from the University of Perugia - Giancarlo Gentilini and Carlo Sisi - claim that the terracotta head they found in 1990 is the only sculptural work of Leonardo da Vinci that has come down to us. However, da Vinci himself at different periods of his life considered himself primarily an engineer or scientist. He gave the fine arts not much time and worked rather slowly. That's why artistic heritage Leonardo is not large in number, and a number of his works have been lost or badly damaged. However, his contribution to the world artistic culture is extremely important even against the background of the cohort of geniuses that gave Italian Renaissance. Thanks to his work, the art of painting moved to a qualitatively new stage of its development. Renaissance artists who preceded Leonardo resolutely abandoned many conventions. medieval art. It was a movement towards realism and much had already been achieved in the study of perspective, anatomy, greater freedom in compositional solutions. But in terms of picturesqueness, work with paint, the artists were still quite conventional and constrained. The line in the picture clearly outlined the subject, and the image had the appearance of a painted drawing. The most conditional was the landscape, which played minor role. Leonardo realized and embodied a new painting technique. His line has the right to blur, because that's how we see it. He realized the phenomena of light scattering in the air and the appearance of sfumato - a haze between the viewer and the depicted object, which softens color contrasts and lines. As a result, realism in painting moved to a qualitatively new level.

Science and Engineering

His only invention, which received recognition during his lifetime, was a wheel lock for a pistol (wound with a key). At the beginning, the wheeled pistol was not very common, but by the middle of the 16th century it had gained popularity among the nobles, especially among the cavalry, which even affected the design of armor, namely: Maximilian armor for firing pistols began to be made with gloves instead of mittens. The wheel lock for a pistol, invented by Leonardo da Vinci, was so perfect that it continued to be found in the 19th century.

Leonardo da Vinci was interested in the problems of flight. In Milan, he made many drawings and studied the flight mechanism of birds of various breeds and bats. In addition to observations, he also conducted experiments, but they were all unsuccessful. Leonardo really wanted to build aircraft. He said: “He who knows everything, he can do everything. Just to find out - and there will be wings! First, Leonardo developed the problem of flight with the help of wings set in motion by human muscle power: the idea of ​​​​the simplest apparatus of Daedalus and Icarus. But then he came to the idea of ​​building such an apparatus to which a person should not be attached, but should retain complete freedom to control it; the apparatus must set itself in motion by its own power. This is essentially the idea of ​​an airplane. Leonardo da Vinci worked on a vertical takeoff and landing apparatus. On the vertical "ornitottero" Leonardo planned to place a system of retractable ladders. Nature served as an example for him: “look at the stone swift, which sat on the ground and cannot fly up because of its short legs; and when he is in flight, pull out the ladder, as shown in the second image from the top ... so you need to take off from the plane; these ladders serve as legs ... ". With regard to landing, he wrote: “These hooks (concave wedges) which are attached to the base of the ladders serve the same purpose as the tips of the toes of a person who jumps on them and his whole body does not shake while doing so, as if he jumping in heels." Leonardo da Vinci proposed the first scheme for a spotting scope (telescope) with two lenses (now known as the Kepler spotting scope). In the manuscript of the Atlantic Code, sheet 190a, there is an entry: “Make spectacle glasses (ochiali) for the eyes to see the moon big” (Leonardo da Vinci. “LIL Codice Atlantico ...”, I Tavole, S. A. 190a),

Anatomy and medicine

During his life, Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of notes and drawings on anatomy, but did not publish his work. Making an autopsy of the bodies of people and animals, he accurately conveyed the structure of the skeleton and internal organs, including small details. According to professor of clinical anatomy Peter Abrams, scientific work da Vinci was 300 years ahead of her time and in many ways surpassed the famous Grey's Anatomy.

inventions

List of inventions, both real and attributed to him:

• Lightweight portable bridges for the army
• double lens telescope

Thinker

... Empty and full of errors are those sciences that are not generated by experience, the father of all certainty, and do not end in visual experience ...

No human research can be called true science unless it has gone through mathematical proofs. And if you say that the sciences that begin and end in thought have truth, then we cannot agree with you on this, ... because experience, without which there is no certainty, does not participate in such purely mental reasoning.

Literature

Huge literary heritage Leonardo da Vinci has survived to this day in a chaotic form, in manuscripts written with the left hand. Although Leonardo da Vinci did not print a single line of them, however, in his notes he constantly turned to an imaginary reader and throughout the last years of his life did not leave the thought of publishing his works.

Already after the death of Leonardo da Vinci, his friend and student Francesco Melzi selected from them passages related to painting, from which the “Treatise on Painting” (Trattato della pittura, 1st ed.,) was subsequently compiled. In its full form, the manuscript legacy of Leonardo da Vinci was published only in the 19th-20th centuries. In addition to the enormous scientific and historical significance it also has artistic value due to its compressed, energetic style and unusually clear language. Living in the heyday of humanism, when the Italian language was considered secondary compared to Latin, Leonardo da Vinci admired his contemporaries for the beauty and expressiveness of his speech (according to legend, he was a good improviser), but did not consider himself a writer and wrote as he spoke; therefore, his prose is an example of the colloquial language of the 15th century intelligentsia, and this saved it as a whole from the artificiality and grandiosity inherent in the prose of the humanists, although in some passages of the didactic writings of Leonardo da Vinci we find echoes of the pathos of the humanistic style.

Even in the least "poetic" fragments, the style of Leonardo da Vinci is distinguished by vivid imagery; thus, his "Treatise on Painting" is equipped with excellent descriptions (for example, famous description Flood), striking mastery of the verbal transmission of pictorial and plastic images. Along with descriptions in which the manner of an artist-painter is felt, Leonardo da Vinci gives in his manuscripts many examples of narrative prose: fables, facets (joking stories), aphorisms, allegories, prophecies. In fables and facies, Leonardo stands on the level of the prose writers of the fourteenth century, with their ingenuous practical morality; and some of its facies are indistinguishable from Sacchetti's novellas.

Allegories and prophecies have a more fantastic character: in the first, Leonardo da Vinci uses the techniques of medieval encyclopedias and bestiaries; the latter are in the nature of humorous riddles, distinguished by the brightness and accuracy of phraseology and imbued with caustic, almost Voltaireian irony, directed at the famous preacher Girolamo Savonarola. Finally, in the aphorisms of Leonardo da Vinci, his philosophy of nature, his thoughts about the inner essence of things, are expressed in epigrammatic form. Fiction had for him a purely utilitarian, auxiliary meaning.

Diaries of Leonardo

To date, about 7,000 pages have survived from the diaries of Leonardo, which are in different collections. At first, the priceless notes belonged to the master's favorite student, Francesco Melzi, but when he died, the manuscripts disappeared. Separate fragments began to "emerge" at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. At first, they did not meet the due interest. Numerous owners did not even suspect what kind of treasure fell into their hands. But when the scientists established the authorship, it turned out that the barn books, and art history essays, and anatomical sketches, and strange drawings, and research on geology, architecture, hydraulics, geometry, military fortifications, philosophy, optics, drawing technique - the fruit of one person. All entries in Leonardo's diaries are made in a mirror image.

Students

From the workshop of Leonardo came such students (“leonardeski”) as:

• Ambrogio de Predis
• Giampetrino

The illustrious master summarized his many years of experience in educating young painters in a number of practical advice. The student must first master the perspective, explore the forms of objects, then copy the drawings of the master, draw from life, study the works of different painters, and only after that take on his own creation. “Learn diligence before speed,” advises Leonardo. The master recommends developing memory and especially fantasy, encouraging you to peer into the vague contours of the flame and find new, amazing forms in them. Leonardo calls on the painter to explore nature, so as not to become like a mirror that reflects objects without knowing about them. The teacher created "recipes" for images of faces, figures, clothes, animals, trees, sky, rain. Apart from aesthetic principles great master, his notes contain wise worldly advice to young artists.

After Leonardo

In 1485, after a terrible plague in Milan, Leonardo proposed to the authorities a project of an ideal city with certain parameters, layout and sewerage system. The Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, rejected the project. Centuries passed, and the authorities of London recognized Leonardo's plan as the perfect basis for the further development of the city. In modern Norway there is an active bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Tests of parachutes and hang gliders, made according to the sketches of the master, confirmed that only the imperfection of the materials did not allow him to take to the skies. At the Roman airport, bearing the name of Leonardo da Vinci, a gigantic statue of a scientist with a model helicopter in his hands is installed. “Do not turn around the one who aspires to the star,” wrote Leonardo.

• Leonardo, apparently, did not leave a single self-portrait that could be unambiguously attributed to him. Scientists have doubted that Leonardo's famous self-portrait of sanguine (traditionally dated to -1515), depicting him in old age, is such. It is believed that perhaps this is just a study of the head of the apostle for the Last Supper. Doubts that this is a self-portrait of the artist have been expressed since the 19th century, the last of which was recently expressed by one of the largest experts on Leonardo, Professor Pietro Marani.

• He played the lyre with virtuosity. When Leonardo's case was considered in the court of Milan, he appeared there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.

• Leonardo was the first to explain why the sky is blue. In the book "On Painting" he wrote: "The blue of the sky is due to the thickness of the illuminated particles of air, which is located between the Earth and the blackness above."

• Leonardo was ambidexter - in the same degree He was good with both right and left hands. It is even said that he could simultaneously write different texts with different hands. However, he wrote most of the works with his left hand from right to left.

• Leonardo wrote in his famous diaries from right to left in mirror image. Many people think that in this way he wanted to make his research secret. Perhaps that is the way it is. According to another version, the mirror handwriting was his individual feature(there is even evidence that it was easier for him to write in this way than in a normal way); there is even the concept of "Leonardo's handwriting."

• Among Leonardo's hobbies were even cooking and serving art. In Milan for 13 years he was the manager of court feasts. He invented several culinary devices that make the work of cooks easier. The original dish "from Leonardo" - thinly sliced ​​stew, with vegetables laid on top - was very popular at court feasts.

• In Terry Pratchett's books, there is a character named Leonard, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. Pratchett's Leonard writes from right to left, invents various machines, engages in alchemy, paints pictures (the most famous is the portrait of Mona Ogg)

• A considerable number of Leonardo's manuscripts were first published by the curator of the Ambrosian Library, Carlo Amoretti.

Bibliography

Compositions

• Natural science writings and works on aesthetics. ().

About him

• Leonardo da Vinci. Selected natural science works. M. 1955.
• Monuments of world aesthetic thought, vol. I, M. 1962.
• I. Les manuscrits de Leonard de Vinci, de la Bibliothèque de l'Institut, 1881-1891.
• Leonardo da Vinci: Traite de la peinture, 1910.
• Il Codice di Leonardo da Vinci, nella Biblioteca del principe Trivulzio, Milano, 1891.
• Il Codice Atlantico di Leonardo da Vinci, nella Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milano, 1894-1904.
• Volynsky A. L., Leonardo da Vinci, St. Petersburg, 1900; 2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 1909.
• General history of arts. T.3, M. "Art", 1962.
• Gukovsky M. A. The mechanics of Leonardo da Vinci. - M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1947. - 815 p.
• Zubov V.P. Leonardo da Vinci. M.: Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962.
• Pater V. Renaissance, M., 1912.
• Seil G. Leonardo da Vinci as artist and scientist. Experience in psychological biography, St. Petersburg, 1898.
• Sumtsov N. F. Leonardo da Vinci, 2nd ed., Kharkov, 1900.
• Florentine readings: Leonardo da Vinci (collection of articles by E. Solmi, B. Croce, I. del Lungo, J. Paladina and others), M., 1914.
• Geymüller H. Les manuscrits de Leonardo de Vinci, extr. de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1894.
• Grothe H., Leonardo da Vinci als Ingenieur und Philosoph, 1880.
• Herzfeld M., Das Traktat von der Malerei. Jena, 1909.
• Leonardo da Vinci, der Denker, Forscher und Poet, Auswahl, Uebersetzung und Einleitung, Jena, 1906.
• Müntz, E., Leonardo da Vinci, 1899.
• Peladan, Leonardo da Vinci. Textes choisis, 1907.
• Richter J. P., The literary works of L. da Vinci, London, 1883.
• Ravaisson-Mollien Ch., Les écrits de Leonardo de Vinci, 1881.

Genius in the series

Among all the films about Leonardo, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1971), directed by Renato Castellani, is perhaps the best example in which a compromise is found between entertaining and educational. The film begins with the death of Leonardo in the arms of Francis I. And then the announcer (a technique used by the director to give historical explanations without disturbing the film's overall flow) interrupts the narrative sequence to tell us that this is nothing more than a fictionalized version of the Lives of » Vasari . Thus, already the prologue of Castellani's film touches upon the problem mystical riddle personality, incredibly rich and multifaceted (“What, after all, do we know about the life of such famous person? Very little!") critical moments Castellani's biopic included scenes in which Leonardo makes a sketch of a man hanged for participating in the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, shocking his friend Lorenzo di Credi, and another episode where Leonardo dissects a corpse in the Santa Maria Nuovi hospital in order to find out "the cause easy death,” both episodes are presented as a metaphor for the irrepressible thirst for knowledge of the artist, who does not know any moral obstacles even in the face of death. The first years of life in Milan were marked by projects for Navigli and an incredibly passionate work on never-written treatises on anatomy, but there were few works of art, among them the amazing “Lady with an Ermine”, depicted so convincingly. In that Leonardo, who organized magnificent festivities and empty glorifications of il Moro, we see the fate of the artist (it seems that this is what Renato Castellani alludes to) - both yesterday and today - to be forced to drive hack-work or to do what is required of an obliging courtier in order to to be able to do what the artist himself wants.

Gallery

see also

Notes

1. Giorgio Vasari. Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Florentine painter and sculptor
2. A. Makhov. Caravaggio. - M.: Young Guard. (ZhZL). 2009. p. 126-127 ISBN 978-5-235-03196-8
3. Leonardo da Vinci. Masterpieces of graphics / Ya. Pudik. - M.: Eksmo, 2008. - S. 182. - ISBN 978-5-699-16394-6
4. Original Leonardo Da Vinci Music
5. White, Michael (2000). Leonardo, the first scientist. London: Little, Brown. p. 95. ISBN 0-316-64846-9
6. Clark, Kenneth (1988). Leonardo da Vinci. Viking. pp. 274
7. Bramly, Serge (1994). Leonardo: The Artist and the man. Penguin
8. Georges Goyau, Francois I, Transcribed by Gerald Rossi. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI. Published 1909. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2007-10-04
9. Miranda, Salvador The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Antoine du Prat (1998-2007). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
10. Vasari Giorgio Lives of the Artists. - Penguin Classics, 1568. - P. 265.
11. Reconstruction of a mechanical lion by Leonardo (Italian). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
12. "Ici Léonard, tu sera libre de rêver, de penser et de travailler" - Francis I.
13. Art historians have found the only sculpture of Leonardo. Lenta.ru (March 26, 2009). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
14. How accurate are Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings? , BBCRussian.com, 05/01/2012.
15. Jean Paul Richter The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. - Dover, 1970. - ISBN 0-486-22572-0 and ISBN 0-486-22573-9 (paperback) 2 volumes. A reprint of the original 1883 edition, cited by
16. Leonardo da Vinci's Ethical Vegetarianism
17. TV company NTV. Official site | NTV news | Another Da Vinci Mystery
18. http://img.lenta.ru/news/2009/11/25/ac2/picture.jpg

Literature

• Antseliovich E. S. Leonardo da Vinci: Elements of physics. - M .: Uchpedgiz, 1955. - 88 p.
• Volynsky A. L. The life of Leonardo da Vinci. - M.: Algorithm, 1997. - 525 p.
• Dityakin V. T. Leonardo da Vinci. - M .: Detgiz, 1959. - 224 p. - (School library).
• Zubov V.P. Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519 / V. P. Zubov; Rep. ed. cand. art history M. V. Zubova. The Russian Academy of Sciences . - Ed. 2nd, add. - M .: Nauka, 2008. - 352 p. - (Scientific and biographical literature). - ISBN 978-5-02-035645-0(in trans.) (1st edition - 1961).
• Camp M. Leonardo / Per. from English. K. I. Panas. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2006. - 286 p.
• Lazarev V. N. Leonardo da Vinci: (1452-1952) / Design by the artist I. F. Rerberg; Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - M .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1952. - 112, p. - 10,000 copies.(in trans.)
• Mikhailov B.P. Leonardo da Vinci architect. - M.: State publishing house of literature on construction and architecture, 1952. - 79s.
• Mogilevsky M. A. Optics from Leonardo // Science first hand. - 2006. - No. 5. - S. 30-37.
• Nicholl C. Leonardo da Vinci. Flight of the mind / Per. from English. T. Novikova. - M.: Eksmo, 2006. - 768 p.
• Seil G. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist and scientist (1452-1519): An experience of psychological biography / Per. from fr. - M.: KomKniga, 2007. - 344 p.
• Filippov M. M. Leonardo da Vinci as Artist, Scientist and Philosopher: A Biographical Sketch. - St. Petersburg, 1892. - 88 p.
• Zoelner F. Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519. - M.: Taschen; Art spring, 2008. - 96 p.
• Zoelner F. Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519: complete collection painting and graphics / Per. from English. I. D. Glybina. - M.: Taschen; Art spring, 2006. - 695 p.
• "100 People Who Changed the Course of History" Leonardo da Vinci Weekly Edition. Issue #1
• Jessica Taish, Tracey Barr Leonardo da Vinci for dummies = Da Vinci For Dummies. - M .: "Williams", 2006. - S. 304. -

Leonardo da Vinci (born April 15, 1452, Anchiano village, near the town of Vinci, near Florence - died May 2, 1519, Cloux castle, near Amboise, Touraine, France) - a great Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, mathematician, physicist, naturalist) bright representative type of "universal man" (lat. homo universale) - the ideal Italian Renaissance. Painter, engineer, mechanic, carpenter, musician, mathematician, pathologist, inventor - this is not a complete list of the facets of universal genius. He was called a sorcerer, servant of the devil, Italian Faust and divine spirit. He was ahead of his time by several centuries. Surrounded by legends during his lifetime, the great Leonardo is a symbol of the boundless aspirations of the human mind. Revealing the ideal of the Renaissance "universal man", Leonardo was comprehended in the subsequent tradition as a person who most clearly outlined the range creative pursuits era. He was the founder of art High Renaissance.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiano near Vinci: not far from Florence. His parents were the 25-year-old notary Piero and his beloved, a peasant woman Katerina. Leonardo spent the first years of his life with his mother. His father soon married a rich and noble girl, but this marriage turned out to be childless, and Piero took his three-year-old son to be raised. Separated from his mother, Leonardo tried all his life to recreate her image in his masterpieces. In Italy at that time, illegitimate children were treated almost like legitimate heirs. Many influential people of the city of Vinci took part in the further fate of Leonardo. When Leonardo was 13, his stepmother died in childbirth. The father remarried - and again soon became a widower. He lived for 78 years, was married four times and had 12 children. The father tried to introduce Leonardo to the family profession, but to no avail: the son was not interested in the laws of society.

Do not feed the loafer with bread, but let him reason, and you will not refuse him the ability to denigrate others. He is always ready to find an excuse for his own worthlessness.

Da Vinci Leonardo

Leonardo did not have a surname in modern sense; "da Vinci" simply means (comes from) the town of Vinci." His full name is Italian. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, that is, "Leonardo, son of Mr. Piero of Vinci."

There is a legend about the beginning of the path of a great artist. It was as if a peasant turned to Father Leonardo. He gave the notary a round fig-wood shield and asked him to find an artist who could paint this shield. Piero did not look for a specialist and entrusted the work to his son. Leonardo decided to portray something "terrible". He brought to his room many "models", snakes and bizarre insects, and wrote a fantastic dragon on the shield. The stunned father then sent Leonardo to study with the best painter in Tuscany, Andrea del Verrocchio. So the young man found himself in the famous art workshop of that time.

In the 15th century, ideas about the revival of ancient ideals were in the air. At the Florentine Academy, the best minds of Italy created the theory of the new art. Creative youth spent their time in lively discussions. Leonardo remained aloof from the hectic social life and rarely left the workshop. He had no time for theoretical disputes: he improved his skills. Once Verrocchio received an order for the painting "The Baptism of Christ" and instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. It was a common practice in art workshops of that time: the teacher created a picture together with student assistants. The most talented and diligent were entrusted with the execution of a whole fragment. Two angels, painted by Leonardo and Verrocchio, clearly demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. As Vasari writes, the amazed Verrocchio abandoned the brush and never returned to painting.

At the age of 24, Leonardo and three other young men were brought to trial on false and anonymous accusations of sodomy. They were acquitted. Very little is known about his life after this event, but he probably had his own workshop in Florence in 1476-1481.

In 1482, Leonardo, being, according to Vasari, a very talented musician, created a silver lyre in the shape of a horse's head. Lorenzo Medici sent him as a peacemaker to Lodovico Moro, and sent the lyre with him as a gift.

Leonardo had many friends and students. As for love relationships, there is no reliable information on this subject, since Leonardo carefully concealed this side of his life. According to some versions, Leonardo had a connection with Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of Lodovico Moro, with whom he painted his famous painting “Lady with an Ermine”.

The wine was consumed by the drunkard - and this wine took revenge on the drunkard. Wine takes revenge on the drunkard.

Da Vinci Leonardo

In France, Leonardo hardly painted. The master's right hand was numb, and he could hardly move without assistance. Leonardo, 68, spent the third year of his life in Amboise in bed. On April 23, 1519, he left a will, and on May 2 he died surrounded by his students and his masterpieces. Leonardo da Vinci was buried in the castle of Amboise. An inscription was engraved on the tombstone: “In the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo of Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom.”

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(Leonardo da Vinci) (1452-1519) - the greatest figure, the multifaceted genius of the Renaissance, the founder of the High Renaissance. Known as an artist, scientist, engineer, inventor.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Anchiano near the town of Vinci, located near Florence. His father was Piero da Vinci, a notary who came from famous family the city of Vinci. According to one version, the mother was a peasant woman, according to another - the owner of the tavern, known as Katerina. At about the age of 4.5 years, Leonardo was taken to his father's house, and in the documents of that time he is called the illegitimate son of Piero. In 1469 he entered the workshop of the famous artist, sculptor and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio ( 1435/36–1488). Here Leonardo went the whole way of apprenticeship: from rubbing paints to working as an apprentice. According to contemporaries, he painted the left figure of an angel in a painting by Verrocchio Baptism(c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence), which immediately attracted attention. The naturalness of movement, the smoothness of lines, the softness of chiaroscuro - distinguishes the figure of an angel from the more rigid writing of Verrocchio. Leonardo lived in the house of the master and after in 1472 he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, the guild of painters.

One of the few dated drawings by Leonardo was created in August 1473. View of the Arno Valley from a height was made with a pen with quick strokes, transmitting vibrations of light, air, which indicates that the drawing was made from nature (Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

First painting attributed to Leonardo, although its authorship is disputed by many experts, - Annunciation(c. 1472, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Unfortunately, unknown author made later corrections, which significantly worsened the quality of the work.

Portrait of Ginevra de Benci (1473–1474, National Gallery, Washington) is permeated with a melancholy mood. Part of the picture below is cut off: probably, the hands of the model were depicted there. The contours of the figure are softened with the help of the sfumato effect, created before Leonardo, but it was he who became the genius of this technique. Sfumato (it. sfumato - foggy, smoky) - a technique developed in the Renaissance in painting and graphics, which allows you to convey the softness of modeling, the elusiveness of object outlines, the feeling of the air environment.

Between 1476 and 1478 Leonardo opens his workshop. To this period belongs Madonna with a flower, so-called Madonna Benois(c. 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The smiling Madonna addresses the baby Jesus sitting on her lap, the movements of the figures are natural and plastic. In this picture, there is a characteristic interest in the art of Leonardo to show the inner world.

TO early work applies to the unfinished painting Adoration of the Magi(1481-1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The central place is occupied by a group of the Madonna and Child and the Magi placed in the foreground.

In 1482, Leonardo left for Milan, the richest city of that time, under the patronage of Lodovico Sforza (1452–1508), who supported the army, spent huge amounts of money on lavish festivities and the purchase of works of art. Introducing himself to his future patron, Leonardo speaks of himself as a musician, military expert, inventor of weapons, war chariots, machines, and only then speaks of himself as an artist. Leonardo lived in Milan until 1498, and this period of his life was the most fruitful.

The first commission received by Leonardo was the creation of an equestrian statue in honor of Francesco Sforza (1401–1466), father of Lodovico Sforza. Working on it for 16 years, Leonardo created many drawings, as well as an eight-meter clay model. In an effort to surpass all existing equestrian statues, Leonardo wanted to make a grandiose sculpture in size, to show a rearing horse. But faced with technical difficulties, Leonardo changed the idea and decided to depict a walking horse. In November 1493 model Horse without a rider was put on public display, and it was this event that made Leonardo da Vinci famous. It took about 90 tons of bronze to cast the sculpture. The metal collection that had begun was interrupted, and the equestrian statue was never cast. In 1499, Milan was captured by the French, who used the sculpture as a target. After a while, it collapsed. Horse- a grandiose, but never completed project - one of the significant works of monumental plastic art of the 16th century. and, according to Vasari, "those who have seen the huge clay model ... claim that they have never seen a work more beautiful and majestic," called the monument "the great colossus."

At the court of Sforza, Leonardo also worked as a decorator for many festivities, creating hitherto unseen scenery and mechanisms, and made costumes for allegorical figures.

unfinished canvas Saint Jerome(1481, Vatican Museum, Rome) shows the saint at the moment of repentance in a complex turn with a lion at his feet. The picture was painted in black and white paints. But after coating it with varnish in the 19th century. the colors turned to olive and golden.

Madonna in the rocks(1483–1484, Louvre, Paris) - famous painting Leonardo, painted by him in Milan. The image of the Madonna, baby Jesus, little John the Baptist and an angel in a landscape is a new motif in Italian painting that time. In the opening of the rock, a landscape is visible, which has been given sublimely ideal features, and in which the achievements of linear and aerial perspective are shown. Although the cave is dimly lit, the picture is not dark, faces and figures gently emerge from the shadows. The thinnest chiaroscuro (sfumato) creates the impression of dim diffused light, models faces and hands. Leonardo connects the figures not only with a common mood, but also with the unity of space.

LADY WITH ERMIN. 1485–1490. Czartoryski Museum

lady with ermine(1484, Czartoryski Museum, Krakow) - one of the first works of Leonardo as a court portrait painter. The painting depicts the mistress of Lodovik Cecilia Gallerani with the emblem of the Sforza family, an ermine. The complex turn of the head and the exquisite bend of the lady's hand, the curved pose of the animal - everything speaks of the authorship of Leonardo. The background was repainted by another artist.

Portrait of a musician(1484, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan). Only the face of the young man is completed, the rest of the picture is not spelled out. The type of face is close to the faces of Leonardo's angels, only executed more courageously.

Another unique work was created by Leonardo in one of the halls of the Sforza Palace, which is called the Donkey. On the vaults and walls of this hall, he painted willow crowns, whose branches are intricately intertwined, tied with decorative ropes. Subsequently, part of the paint layer crumbled, but a significant part was preserved and restored.

In 1495 Leonardo began work on last supper(area 4.5 × 8.6 m). The fresco is located on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, at a height of 3 m from the floor and occupies the entire end wall of the room. Leonardo oriented the perspective of the fresco to the viewer, thus it organically entered the interior of the refectory: the perspective reduction of the side walls depicted in the fresco continues real space refectory. Thirteen people are seated at a table parallel to the wall. In the center is Jesus Christ, to the left and to the right of him are his disciples. The dramatic moment of exposure and condemnation of betrayal is shown, the moment when Christ just uttered the words: “One of you will betray Me”, and various emotional reaction apostles to these words. The composition is built on a strictly verified mathematical calculation: in the center is Christ, depicted against the background of the middle, largest opening of the back wall, the vanishing point of the perspective coincides with his head. The twelve apostles are divided into four groups of three figures each. Each is given a vivid characteristic by expressive gestures and movements. The main task was to show Judas, to separate him from the rest of the apostles. By placing him on the same line of the table as all the apostles, Leonardo psychologically separated him by loneliness. Creation last supper became a notable event in artistic life Italy of that time. As a true innovator and experimenter, Leonardo abandoned the fresco technique. He covered the wall with a special composition of resin and mastic, and painted in tempera. These experiments led to the greatest tragedy: the refectory, which was hastily repaired by order of Sforza, the pictorial innovations of Leonardo, the lowland in which the refectory was located - all this served a sad service to safety last supper. The paint began to peel off, as already mentioned by Vasari in 1556. Secret supper it was repeatedly restored in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the restorations were unqualified (the paint layers were simply reapplied). By the middle of the 20th century, when The Last Supper came into a deplorable state, began scientific restoration: first, the entire paint layer was fixed, then later layers were removed, and Leonardo's tempera painting was opened. And although the work was badly damaged, these restoration works made it possible to say that this Renaissance masterpiece was saved. Working on the fresco for three years, Leonardo created greatest creation the Renaissance.

After the fall of Sforza's power in 1499, Leonardo went to Florence, stopping by Mantua and Venice on the way. In Mantua he creates cardboard with Portrait of Isabella d "Este(1500, Louvre, Paris), executed in black crayon, charcoal and pastel.

In the spring of 1500, Leonardo arrived in Florence, where he soon received an order to paint an altar painting in the monastery of the Annunciation. The order was never completed, but one of the options is the so-called. Burlington House Cardboard(1499, National Gallery, London).

One of the significant commissions received by Leonardo in 1502 for the decoration of the wall of the Council Hall of the Signoria in Florence was Battle of Anghiari(not saved). Another wall for decoration was given to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), who painted a painting there. Battle of Kashin. Sketches by Leonardo, now lost, showed the panorama of the battle, in the center of which the battle for the banner took place. Cardboards by Leonardo and Michelangelo, exhibited in 1505, were a huge success. As in the case with last supper, Leonardo experimented with paints, as a result of which the paint layer gradually crumbled. But preparatory drawings, copies, have survived, which partly give an idea of ​​the scale of this work. In particular, a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) has been preserved, which shows the central scene of the composition (c. 1615, Louvre, Paris).
For the first time in history battle painting Leonardo showed the drama and fury of the battle.

MONA LISA. Louvre, Paris Mona Lisa- the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1506, Louvre, Paris). Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the third wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. Now the picture is slightly changed: columns were originally drawn on the left and right, now cut off. Small in size, the picture makes a monumental impression: Mona Lisa is shown against the backdrop of a landscape, where the depth of space, the air haze are conveyed with the greatest perfection. Leonardo's famous sfumato technique is brought here to unprecedented heights: the thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro, enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows. There is something elusive, bewitching and attractive in a slight smile, in the liveliness of facial expression, in the majestic calmness of the pose, in the immobility smooth lines hands

In 1506 Leonardo received an invitation to Milan from Louis XII of France (1462-1515). Having given Leonardo complete freedom of action, regularly paying him, the new patrons did not demand certain jobs from him. Leonardo is fond of scientific research, sometimes turning to painting. Then the second version was written Madonnas in the rocks(1506-1508, British National Gallery, London).

MADONNA WITH CHILD AND ST. ANNO. OK. 1510. Louvre, Paris

St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child(1500-1510, Louvre, Paris) - one of the themes of Leonardo's work, to which he repeatedly addressed. The last development of this theme remained unfinished.

In 1513, Leonardo went to Rome, to the Vatican, to the court of Pope Leo X (1513–1521), but soon lost the pope's favor. He studies plants in the botanical garden, draws up plans for draining the Pontin marshes, writes notes for a treatise on the organization human voice. At this time, he created the only self-portrait(1514, Reale Library, Turin), executed in sanguine, showing a gray-haired old man with a long beard and a fixed gaze.

Leonardo's last painting was also painted in Rome - Saint John the Baptist(1515, Louvre, Paris). St. John is shown pampered with a seductive smile and feminine gestures.

Again, Leonardo receives an offer from the French king, this time from Francis I (1494-1547), the successor of Louis XII: to move to France, to an estate near the royal castle of Amboise. In 1516 or 1517, Leonardo arrives in France, where he is assigned apartments in the Cloux estate. Surrounded by the respectful admiration of the king, he receives the title of "The first artist, engineer and architect of the king." Leonardo, despite his age and illness, is engaged in drawing canals in the Loire Valley, takes part in the preparation of court festivities.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, bequeathing his drawings and papers to Francesco Melzi, a student who kept them all his life. But after his death, all countless papers were distributed around the world, some were lost, some were stored in different cities, in museums around the world.

A scientist by vocation, Leonardo even now impresses with the breadth and diversity of his scientific interests. His research in the field of aircraft design is unique. He studied the flight, planning of birds, the structure of their wings, and created the so-called. ornithopter, an aircraft with flapping wings, and never realized. He created a pyramidal parachute, a model of a spiral propeller (a variant of the modern propeller). Observing nature, he became an expert in the field of botany: he was the first to describe the laws of phyllotaxy (the laws governing the arrangement of leaves on a stem), heliotropism and geotropism (the laws of the influence of the sun and gravity on plants), discovered a way to determine the age of trees by annual rings. He was an expert in the field of anatomy: he was the first to describe the valve of the right ventricle of the heart, demonstrated anatomy, etc. He created a system of drawings that still help students understand the structure human body: showed an object in four views in order to examine it from all sides, created a system for depicting organs and bodies in a cross section. His research in the field of geology is interesting: he gave descriptions of sedimentary rocks, explanations of marine deposits in the mountains of Italy. As an optical scientist, he knew that visual images on the cornea of ​​the eye are projected upside down. He was probably the first to use a camera obscura for sketching landscapes (from Latin camera - room, obscurus - dark) - a closed box with a small hole in one of the walls; rays of light are reflected on the frosted glass on the other side of the box and create an inverted color image, was used by landscape painters of the 18th century. for accurate reproduction of views). In the drawings of Leonardo there is a project for an instrument for measuring the intensity of light, a photometer, brought to life only three centuries later. He designed canals, locks, dams. Among his ideas can be seen: light shoes for walking on water, a life buoy, webbed gloves for swimming, an underwater movement device similar to a modern spacesuit, machines for the production of rope, grinders and much more. Talking to mathematician Luca Pacioli, who wrote the textbook On Divine Proportion, Leonardo became interested in this science and created illustrations for this textbook.

Leonardo also acted as an architect, but none of his projects was ever brought to life. He participated in the competition for the design of the central dome of the Milan Cathedral, created the design of the mausoleum for members of the royal family in the Egyptian style, a project proposed by him Turkish sultan, on the construction of a huge bridge across the Bosphorus, under which ships could pass.

Left a large number of Leonardo's drawings made with sanguine, colored crayons, pastels (it is Leonardo who is credited with the invention of pastels), silver pencil, chalk.

In Milan, Leonardo begins to write Treatise on painting, work on which continued throughout his life, but was never completed. In this multi-volume guide, Leonardo wrote about how to recreate on canvas the world, about linear and aerial perspective, proportions, anatomy, geometry, mechanics, optics, the interaction of colors, reflexes.

John the Baptist. 1513-16

Madonna Litta 1478-1482 Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

Leda with a swan 1508 - 1515 Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci left a colossal mark not only in art, but also in science and technology. Painter, sculptor, architect - he was a naturalist, mechanic, engineer, mathematician, made many discoveries for future generations. It was the greatest personality of the Renaissance.

"Vitruvian Man"- common name for graphic drawing da Vinci, made in 1492. as an illustration to the entries in one of the diaries. The figure depicts a naked male figure. Strictly speaking, these are even two images of the same figure superimposed on each other, but in different poses. A circle and a square are described around the figure. The manuscript containing this drawing is sometimes also referred to as The Canon of Proportions or simply The Proportions of Man. Now this work is stored in one of the museums in Venice, but it is exhibited extremely rarely, since this exhibit is truly unique and valuable both as a work of art and as a subject of research.

Leonardo created his "Vitruvian Man" as an illustration of the geometric studies he carried out on the basis of a treatise by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius (hence the name of da Vinci's work). In the treatise of the philosopher and researcher, the proportions of the human body were taken as the basis of all architectural proportions. Da Vinci, on the other hand, applied the studies of the ancient Roman architect to painting, which once again clearly illustrates the principle of the unity of art and science, put forward by Leonardo. In addition, this work also reflects the master's attempt to correlate man with nature. It is known that da Vinci considered the human body as a reflection of the universe, i.e. was convinced that it functions according to the same laws. The author himself considered the Vitruvian Man as "the cosmography of the microcosm". In this picture, there is also a deep symbolic meaning. The square and circle in which the body is inscribed do not simply reflect physical, proportional characteristics. The square can be interpreted as the material existence of a person, and the circle represents its spiritual basis, and the points of contact of geometric figures between themselves and with the body inserted into them can be considered as a connection between these two foundations of human existence. For many centuries this drawing was considered as a symbol of the ideal symmetry of the human body and the universe as a whole.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiato near the city of Vinci (hence the prefix to his surname). The boy's father and mother were not married, so Leonardo spent his first years with his mother. Soon his father, who served as a notary, took him to his family.

In 1466, da Vinci became an apprentice in the studio of the artist Verrocchio in Florence, where Perugino, Agnolo di Polo, Lorenzo di Credi also studied, Botticelli worked, Ghirlandaio visited, etc. At this time, Leonardo became interested in drawing, sculpture and modeling, studied metallurgy, chemistry , drawing, mastered work with plaster, leather, metal. In 1473, da Vinci qualified as a master at the Guild of Saint Luke.

Early creativity and scientific activity

At first creative way Leonardo devoted almost all his time to working on paintings. In 1472 - 1477 the artist created the paintings "The Baptism of Christ", "Annunciation", "Madonna with a Vase". In the late 1970s, he completed The Madonna with a Flower. Madonna Benois"). In 1481, the first major work in the work of Leonardo da Vinci, The Adoration of the Magi, was created.

In 1482 Leonardo moved to Milan. Since 1487, da Vinci has been developing a flying machine, which was based on bird flight. Leonardo first created the simplest apparatus based on wings, and then developed the mechanism of an airplane with full control. However, it was not possible to bring the idea to life, since the researcher did not have a motor. In addition, Leonardo studied anatomy and architecture, discovered botany as an independent discipline.

Mature period of creativity

In 1490, da Vinci creates the painting “Lady with an Ermine”, as well as the famous drawing “Vitruvian Man”, which is sometimes called “canonical proportions”. In 1495 - 1498, Leonardo worked on one of his most important works - the fresco "The Last Supper" in Milan in the monastery of Santa Maria del Grazie.

In 1502, da Vinci entered the service of Cesare Borgia as a military engineer and architect. In 1503 the artist creates the painting "Mona Lisa" ("La Gioconda"). Since 1506, Leonardo has served under King Louis XII of France.

Last years

In 1512, the artist, under the auspices of Pope Leo X, moved to Rome.

From 1513 to 1516, Leonardo da Vinci lived in the Belvedere, working on the painting "John the Baptist". In 1516, Leonardo, at the invitation of the French king, settled in the Clos-Luce castle. Two years before his death, the artist's right hand went numb, it was difficult for him to move independently. The last years of his short biography Leonardo da Vinci spent in bed.

Died great artist And scientist Leonardo da Vinci on May 2, 1519 at the Clos Luce castle near Amboise, France.

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