Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), one of the great artists of the Renaissance era was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and researcher. His innovations influenced Italian art for one century after his death and his studies of anatomy, optics and hydraulics anticipated a lot of the modern scientific discoveries.
Leonardo was born in the small town of Vinci near Florence. He was the son of a rich notary and a peasant woman. In 1460 his family moved to Florence where Leonardo got his education. In 1478, he became an independent master/maestro/artist after he had been in service of many other artists. In 1482 he moved to Milan, where he worked for the duke of Milan. During the years spent in Milan, Leonardo painted “The Virgin of the Rocks”, his most important painting until that time.
Between the years 1495-1497 he worked on his masterpiece "The Final Supper".
In 1502 he returned to Florence where he painted the “Mona Lisa” between 1503 and 1506. It seems that the artist was very fond of this painting because he was always carring it with him in his travels. At the moment, the painting can be found at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
