Leonardo da Vinci Facts Born as: "Leonardo da Vinci" Leonardo was born on: April 15, 1452 Born at: Anchiano, Italy Da Vinci Died: May 2, 1519 Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most celebrated artists of all time. The Italian Renaissance artist was a master painter, engineer, architect, anatomist, inventor and sculptor. Leonardo is considered to be a genius, creating some of the most famous paintings ever painted (Including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper) and his notebooks filled with drawings of many inventions that were to become the machines and technology that we now use (flying machines, submarines and war machines). Leonardo da Vinci on the 15th of April in 1452, in Anchiano, Vinci, not far from Florence in Italy. Hi father was a notary "ser Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci" and mother Caterina was a peasant woman. Leonardo was born an illegitimate child and raised in his father's home in Florence. Leonardo impressed his father with his early drawings, prompting him to introduce the young Leonardo to the painter Andrea del Verrocchio. At just 14 Leonardo da Vinci became an apprentice of Verrochio and quickly became his most talented worker. In the painting "Baptism of Christ", Leonardo was assigned to paint one angel, while Verrocchio painted the other. Da Vinci chose to paint his angel in the relatively new medium of oil, while Verrocchio painted his in the usual tempera medium. The young Leonardo clearly upstaged his master, and left the studio of Verrocchio in 1477 to work in his own. Da Vinci was employed by the Duke of Milan (Ludovico Sforza) in 1482, allowing him to work in his own workshop until after the Duke's fall to the French in 1498. Leonardo stayed until 1499, but moved on to Mantua, then to Venice where he was employed as a military engineer. He then worked for Cesare Borgia as a military architect in Florence until 1506, before returning to Milan. Leonardo worked in Rome between 1513 and 1516 where his contemporaries included great Renaissance painters like Michelangelo and Raphael. He then moved to France where he worked for the French King until his death in Clos Lucé, 1519. Copyright © ArtQuotes.net This Leonardo da Vinci biography may not be reproduced online.