Atlantic Codex (Codex Atlanticus), f. 673 recto. Hand-painted oil painting reproduction

The Life of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15 April 1452 near the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the illegitimate son of a successful notary, Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, and a lower-class woman named Caterina Cambi. This beginning, born out of wedlock, meant his early years were shaped by the specific social structures of the Tuscan countryside. He grew up in or close to the village of Vinci, a place of hills and quiet landscapes.

His life followed a path that moved through the major centers of the High Renaissance. He spent much of his time in Florence, where he began his career, and later moved to Milan. His work took him to Rome and eventually to France, where he spent his final years. He was a man of many interests, acting as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. His notebooks reveal a mind that never stopped observing the mechanics of the world, from the way water flows to the structure of human bone.

Early Life and Artistic Training

The beginnings of his career took place in Florence. He received his education there, absorbing the atmosphere of a city focused on the precision of disegno. This method emphasized the importance of exact drawing and a deep understanding of anatomy, providing a foundation for everything he would later attempt. His training was not limited to the brush; he learned the mechanics of sculpture and the physical properties of various materials.

At the age of fourteen, he entered the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. These formative years were spent under the direct guidance of a master who taught him to observe the world with a rigorous eye. In this studio, the boundaries between different crafts were thin. He learned to handle the tools of a painter and a sculptor, developing a way of seeing that connected the movement of a muscle to the way light falls across a surface. This apprenticeship provided the discipline required to move from simple sketches to complex, layered compositions.

• The Baptism of Christ

Periods of Activity in Italy and France

His movements across the Italian peninsula were marked by long stretches in a few key cities. He was principally active in Florence from 1472 until about 1482, and again between 1500 and 1508. Much of his time was spent in Milan, serving Ludovico Sforza from approximately 1482 to 1499, and returning there between 1508 and 1513. These years were spent navigating the shifting politics of the Italian courts while working on various projects.

After his time in Milan, he moved to Rome, where he worked from 1513 to 1516. His final years took him away from Italy entirely. Following an invitation from Francis I, he traveled to France. He spent his last three years there, living and working until his death in 1519.

Patrons and Major Commissions

In Milan, Leonardo spent much of his time in the service of Ludovico Sforza. This period of activity saw him working closely with the Duke, who provided the space and resources for large-scale projects. One of the most significant tasks involved the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Sforza commissioned the decoration of the wall of the mausoleum, a project that led to the creation of The Last Supper. This mural was intended to transform the dining hall, capturing a specific moment of tension and human reaction.

The work in Milan was not limited to single walls. His presence in the city was marked by a continuous dialogue with the court, where his interests in engineering and science often intersected with his commissions. The scale of his projects reflected the ambitions of his patrons, moving between religious subjects and the needs of the Sforza court. His time in Milan was a long stretch of experimentation, where the requirements of a patron often dictated the physical boundaries of his art.

• The Last Supper

Masterpieces and Key Works

The Mona Lisa remains the most famous painting in existence. It sits in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, holding a gaze that has drawn observers for centuries. Nearby, the Vitruvian Man drawing has become a cultural icon, mapping the proportions of the human form. In Krakow, the Czartoryski Museum holds the Lady with an Ermine. This work shows a quiet, controlled grace. His 1475 work, The Baptism of Christ, captures a mist-covered riverbank where light and shadow begin to blur.

The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time. It occupies a wall in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The mural depicts the moment after Jesus announces a betrayal, using perspective to pull the viewer into the room. In 2017, the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, a figure that reflects the intense interest in his surviving canvases.

• The Adoration of the Magi
• Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
• Madonna of the Rocks
• The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
• Saint John the Baptist

Technique and Artistic Style

Leonardo’s hand moved between the precision of a scientist and the eye of a painter. He did not merely look at the world; he sought to understand its mechanics, often through the meticulous study of human cadavers. This anatomical investigation allowed him to render muscle and bone with a accuracy that changed the way the human form was illustrated. His work shows a constant dialogue between scientific inquiry and aesthetic choice, where the way light hits a surface is treated with the same seriousness as the way a muscle pulls against skin.

He developed a method known as sfumato, using subtle gradations of tone to blur the edges of his subjects. This technique allowed colors and tones to melt into one another, creating a soft, smoky transition that removed the harshness of outlines. He paired this with chiaroscuro to manage the interplay of light and shadow. His materials varied from tempera on gesso and pitch to oil paint. In his attempt to work more flexibly, he experimented with an oil-based paint mixed with mastic for the mural in Milan, a choice that allowed for layers but proved difficult for the wall to hold over time.

• The Last Supper (c. 1495–1498)
• Mona Lisa (ca. 1503–6 and later)
• The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Young St John

Legacy and Enduring Influence

Leonardo da Vinci is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance. His collective works contributed to the development of European art to an extent rivalled only by Michelangelo. He was a man who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, a figure whose restless intellect sought to decode the mechanics of existence. This drive to understand the world through both observation and invention means his influence reaches far beyond the canvas. His genius continues to inspire both artists and scientists who look to his studies of nature and human form.

The way he approached a subject—treating every stroke of the brush as an extension of scientific investigation—left a permanent mark on how we perceive the connection between the eye and the mind. His notebooks, filled with sketches of flying machines and botanical studies, show a mind that was centuries ahead of its time. He did not merely paint; he investigated. This method of seeing the universe in a drop of water or the cosmos in a single gaze remains a fundamental part of his presence in history.

• Mona Lisa
• The Last Supper
• Vitruvian Man
• Salvator Mundi

Where to See His Works Today

To see his hand in person, one must travel through several European cities. In Paris, the Mona Lisa resides within the Musée du Louvre. The painting's presence in that hall is a constant part of the museum's landscape. For those in Milan, the The Last Supper is found in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It remains in that specific dining space, where the walls hold the traces of his experimental paint and mastic.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence holds the Annunciation. Here, the light catches the subtle transitions of color he developed. In Krakow, the Czartoryski Museum houses the Lady with an Ermine. If you find yourself in Washington, the National Gallery of Art contains the Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci. These locations offer a way to observe the physical reality of his work, away from the pages of books.

• The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist - National Gallery, London
• Salvator Mundi - attributed in whole or part
• Vitruvian Man - undated