Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

Leonardo Da Vinci was a Florentine multifaceted Italian Renaissance. It was at once painter, anatomist, architect, artist, botanist, scientist, writer, sculptor, philosopher, engineer, inventor, musician, poet and city planner. He was born in Vinci on April 15, 1452 and died in Amboise on May 2 de1519, at age 67, accompanied by his faithful Francesco Melzi, whom he bequeathed his projects, designs and paintings. After spending his childhood in his hometown, Leonardo studied with the famous Florentine painter Andrea Verrocchio. His first important works were created in Milan in the service of Duke Ludovico Sforza. He then worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and spent the last years of his life in France, at the invitation of King Francis I.

Leonardo Da Vinci. Autorretrato

Frequently described as an archetype and a symbol of the Renaissance man, universal genius, in addition to humanist philosopher whose infinite curiosity can only be matched by his inventiveness, Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the greatest painters of all time and probably , is the person with the most talent in multiple disciplines that has ever existed. As an engineer and inventor, Leonardo developed very ahead of their time ideas, such as the helicopter, the battle tank, the submarine and the car. Very few of his projects came to be constructed (including the machine to measure the elastic limit of a cable), since most were not feasible at that time. As a scientist, Leonardo da Vinci made much progress knowledge in the fields of anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics. His most famous painting is historical activity, two of his most famous works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, copied and parodied on several occasions, like his drawing of the Vitruvian Man, who would be taken up in numerous derivative works . However, only about twenty of his works are known, mainly because of his constant (and sometimes disastrous) experiments with new techniques and chronic inconstancy. This small number of creations, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams and reflections on the nature of painting, are a legacy to succeeding generations of artists, becoming only matched by Michelangelo.

Leonardo created in the painting technique sfumatto, consisting edges figures leaving the space between the figure and the environment will fade and became more real. Sfumatto technique was applied to sculpture as seen in the past sculptures of Michelangelo.