[i]Florentine artist[/i]
[table:505d class="qfTable" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Birth
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] April 15, 1452
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Death
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] May 2, 1519
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Place of Birth
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] Vinci, Italy
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Principal Residence
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] Florence
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Known for
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"]Initiating the Italian High Renaissance with paintings that set a new
standard for composition and expression of complex emotion [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"]Possessing a sprawling intellect that touched astoundingly diverse
areas of knowledge, but suffering from a tendency to assume too many
projects in various fields, and failing to complete most [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Milestones
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1466[/b] Began his career as an apprentice to Florentine artist Andrea del Verrochio
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1470 [/b]Contributed
a kneeling angel to Verrochio's Baptism of Christ. Leonardo's angel is
generally considered superior to Verrochio's central figures. [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1481 [/b]Began painting [i]Adoration of the Magi, [/i]an
unfinished work that reveals his technique of beginning with a dark
painting surface and adding elements of light, unlike most painters of
his time who started with outlined figures on a white surface [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1485 [/b]While serving the duke of Milan as a military advisor, painted [i]The Virgin of the Rocks, [/i]which demonstrated his use of sfumato, a technique he developed for blending tones to create a soft glow and sense of atmosphere
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1495-1497 [/b]At Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, painted [i]The Last Supper[/i], a dramatic depiction of the moment Jesus announced that he would be betrayed
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1503 [/b]Began but did not finish [i]Battle of Anghiari, [/i]a
work that broke with conventions of battle painting and depicted the
violent fury of battle rather than the historical narrative [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1503-1506 [/b]Painted the [i]Mona Lisa, [/i]which he kept with him for the remainder of his life
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1506 [/b]Was
summoned to Milan by Charles d'Amboise, where he designed a military
monument that was never built, and devoted his energies to anatomical
studies [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1510?-1513? [/b]Drew a self-portrait, perhaps the most famous of the many drawings he produced
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1514-1516 [/b]Resided in the Vatican and focused his attention on scientific experimentation
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][b]1516 [/b]Moved
to France to enter the service of King Francis I, and spent much of his
remaining years conversing with the king and observing the properties
of water [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"] Did You Know
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"]The subtlety of expression and glow of faces depicted by Leonardo is
attributed in part to his practice of painting by the soft light of
dusk with a linen sheet drawn overhead to further diffuse the
illumination. [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"][i]The Last Supper, [/i]which
began to deteriorate in Leonardo's lifetime, suffered further damage
when 17th-century monks cut a door through the lower portion, and was
nearly destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II. [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] Leonardo established modern techniques of scientific illustration with highly accurate renderings such as [i]Embryo in the Womb [/i](1510?).
[/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"] Knowledge of Leonardo's [i]Battle of Anghiari, [/i]which
was destroyed in the 17th century, is based on later artists' rendering
of the work, most notably a drawing by Flemish painter Peter Paul
Rubens. [/td] [/tr] [tr:505d class="qfEntry"] [td:505d class="qfEntryName"]
[/td] [td:505d class="qfEntryValue"]Leonardo performed autopsies on corpses to improve his knowledge of
physiology, and ridiculed lesser artists' depictions of human flesh,
saying they looked like 'snacks of nuts.[/td][/tr][/table]
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