Leonardo Da Vinci

A Great Renaissance Artist

Research Report

Joseph Thielen
Art Exploration 1
September 16, 2014

Leonardo Da Vinci http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Biography
Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the most famous Renaissance artists. He was born in 1452 in
Vinci Italy. His Mother was a peasant and father was becoming a notary. From when he was
born to when he was 5 he lived in the hamlet of Anchinao. After that he moved into a house

with his father, grandparents and his uncle. At age 14 he was apprenticed to Andrea Del
Verrocchio by his dad and eventually became a paid employee. Leonard Da Vinci was about five
foot eight and in his later years he had long hair and a long beard which at the time was very
uncommon most men had short hair and a shaved face. Leonardo Da Vinci is known as a
Renaissance Man. He was an Artist, Scientist and Inventor.

Lady with an Ermine http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Context
Leonardo Di Vinci was born in a time and a place that was very supportive to him and his
talents. In the mid-1400s the Renaissance began and Italy was very excited about art, science
and new inventions. Many people began to love art in a new way. New scientific instruments

made people interested in the perspective in painting. Some of Leonardo Da Vincis style in art
came from when he was an apprentice for Verrocchio who he worked with and for years.
Leonardo continued to study and improve his painting styles throughout his entire life.

Head of a Women http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Training
Not much is known about his boyhood, his father was so impressed with some of his
paintings that he took them to his friend Verrocchio which he begged Verrocchio to give an
opinion of the art. Verrocchio was so amazed by the art that he asked his father to have

Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo joined the studio as an apprentice at age fourteen and
became a paid employee by the time he was sixteen. Leonardo Da Vinci went on to study and
taught himself on perspective. He concluded that using the human eye was the best tool to see
perspective in art. He used different lighting to study how it affected the perspective of his
paintings.

Mona Lisa http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Metamorphosis
Leonardo Da Vinci was always making improvements to his art work. In his early years
he used perspective and he studied it more to perfect it. He was the only artist at his time to

study proportions of the human body to make his paintings more lifelike. He studied the
proportions of men, women and children. Once he mastered this technique older paintings
looked like cartoons in comparison. His paintings became so life like. They were as close as you
could get to a photograph during the Renaissance period. Leonardo also was a scientist and
inventor. He was very intelligent and used his intelligence to perfect his art. The Mona Lisa is
still one of the worlds most famous paintings today.

The Vitruvian Man http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Influence
Many if not all of Leonardo Da Vincis works are masterpieces. His artwork is unique
because he mastered a new form of art very quickly. Some of the techniques he used were
unheard of at the time. His work is also very interesting because of how mysterious it is. His
portraits are unique and almost as lifelike as a picture it also is fascinating how he spent years

working on a single piece of artwork. Leonardo da Vinci influences me because he was a man
who wanted to learn about everything. He experimented, invented and he was a perfectionist
with his art. He had a true passion in his life and lived it to the fullest. There should be more
people in the world today like him, putting their talents to good use and not to harm others.

The Last Supper http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/

Critique
I chose the painting of the Last Supper. I like this painting because it makes me think
about Jesus and his disciples locked in a room enjoying there last meal with Jesus. I love how he
put so much detail into this painting, each disciples in the painting has a different sad or
worried facial expression. My Grandparents had a small version of the Last Supper in their
bedroom. It is a painting that Christians all around the world know. I also respect this painting
a lot because Leonardo Da Vinci spent four years working on it. He perfected it.

Work Cited:
Boddy-Evans, Marion. "10 Facts about Leonardo Da Vinci." Famous Artist Facts. N.p.. Web. 17
Sep 2014.
Graham-Dixon, Andrew. Renaissance. Los Angeles: University of California Press Berkeley, 1999.
152-169. Print.
"Leonardo Da Vinci Biography." Leonardo Da Vinci The Complete Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sep
2014.
"Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci." The Biography.com website. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sep 2014.