Date of Birth: 1452-1519
Rome, Italy

Schooling/Training:

• No formal education.
• Recorded extensive sketching/drafting in personal notebook
Sketches include:
studies of paintings
observation of nature
ideas for flying machines and parachutes
(Notebooks have not been published)
• Trained by the master Verrocchio
• Worked in three dimensional art
• Studied anatomical and biological diagramming

• Dissected the bodies of executed criminals to make paintings of the human body more accurate
• Commissioned by the Duke of Milan as a military engineer
Designed inventions: cannons, movable bridges, armored vehicles, flying machines, and machine guns.
• Commissioned in 1503 by the city of Florence to paint a mural depicting a famous battle in which the Florence was victorious
• Painted the "Last Supper" on the walls of the refectory of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan, Italy
• Painted the "Mona Lisa"

• Set the standard for humanism, and the use of profiles and perspectives
• Used drawings to develop the underlying structure of the human body rather than the surface detail
• Created the modern scientific illustration essential for biologists and anatomists

Other Interests:

• Engineering, mathematics, architecture, geology, botany, physiology, anatomy, music, and poetry