VINCI, vEn'clii-2, Leonardo da, Italian painter and sculptor.: b. Vinci, Tuscany, 1452; d. Castle Cloux, France, 1519. He was the illegitimate son of Piero da Vinci, a promi nent notary of Florence, and a woman -of the lower class. By his father he was turned over to his grandparents at Vinci, who seem to have taken a great interest in him and to have at tended to his education. When he grew older his father took him to his own house and there he lived with the other children, apparently on an equality with them and received, with them, an excellent education. He proved a good student and gradually developed an ardent desire for knowledge of every kind. But he was not a boolcworm. His wonderfully keen intellect enabled him to acquire information with very little effort; and his remarkable musical and social gifts made him one of the n3ost popular young men in Florence, then the intellectual centre of Italy and the peculiar home of art. There was nothing more natural, given his remarkable talents in so many direc tions, than that he should have learned. to paint, an art which was then taught to children as music is to-day. Among his first teachers was Andrea de Verrocchio. Little is known about his early studies in painting and sculpture, at which he seerns to have worked with as much earnest endeavor and interest as at his studies in the natural sciences, in the latter of which he excelled all his companions. At the age .of 20 he became a member of the Painter's Gudd of Florence, then one of the most notable organizations of the age. The dates and facts concerning his early work are as few .and az doubtful as the information respecting his youthful studies. It is c.ertain that he was al ready a master painter in .1478 and that he was then employing others in the bustness of .pro ducing pictures. Much legend and tradtuon have collected about this period of his career and numerous existing pictures, some of them completed and others unfinished, and others of them parts of larger worlcs, have been attrib uted to him without sufficient evidence of a really trustworthy character. It is known that on this latter date he was requested by the Signorina of Florence to paint a certain pic ture for the Saint Bernard Chapel, in the Pub lic Palacr, but what this picture was or whether any of those put forward as it are really the picture in question, or his work at all, is very doubtful. That Da Vinci had advanced well in kis art and made the most of his social tal ents seems certain for we find him in 1482 act ing as the specially commissioned bearer of a present from the famous Lorena. de'Medici, to another character of the age, now famous in history and tradition, Lodovico il Moro, ruler of Milan. The present itself indicates the favor in which Da Vinci was regarded at court It was a strangely-constructed, yet beautifully sounding instrument which the young ambas sador had himseLf invented and upon which he played with great slcill and wondrous sweet ness. This mission proved one of the most
eventful undertakings in his lifs, since it was destined to connect him most intimately, for over a quarter of a century, with the city of 4i1 Moro.* But it seems it was not as a painter that the ruler of Milan valued him, so much as for his talents as an engineer and general man ager. VVhile in Milan Da Vinci seems to ha\ e been tireless. He was, on all occasions, repre sentative and manager for the duke, and acted as the ducal engineer not in the city but on that ruler's numerous military expeditionS and undertakings; and he appears to have had a higher reputation in his day- in this activity of his life than in painting and to have prized it higher himself. Among hi, other at this period, he planned and constructed the Martesana Canal. He was also one of the most notable figures at the ducal court, where he managed the most billiant state affairs and public functions and festivals with consummate skill. He seems to have been also a sort of director of public works and, in this capacity, to have himself acted as architect of various public buildings. He is said to have had a hand in the construction of the very handsome Milan Cathedral, but what his part was is not known definitely. Notwithstanding all these wide and varied activities, he was carrying on painting on a very extensive scale and employing numerous talented painters to execute his designs or to do the less important parts of paintings which he was executing. About this time he wrote an important work on painting, which showed a wonderful knowledge of the art. This, it is said, vras intended as a guide and mentor for his own numerous pupils. Thus occupied with so many and important activities he continued in Milan until the duke was driven out of the city in 1599. After the departure of the duke, Da Vinci went to Venice, where he remained two years, which were devoted mainly to art Then he returned to Florence, where he seems to have been received with great favor by the Church and the artist fraternity. He secured numerous important commissions from churches and monastenes; and some of the work that he executed in this connection, and the designs he drew for others to paint from created a glint impression upon the artists of his days. They were consequently copied and imitated exten sively not only in Italy, but a little later on throughout all the Latin countries. One of the most remarkable of these was a Madonna, the design for which was worked over by Da Vinci several times afterward, notably in his famous Madonna and Saint Cathatine in the Louvre.