Leonardo da Vinci

Alberti was a major influence nonetheless. Leonardo studied his treatises and consciously tried to emulate both his writing and his demeanor. Alberti had established himself as “an avatar of grace in every word or movement,” a style that very much appealed to Leonardo. “One must apply the greatest artistry in three things,” Alberti wrote, “walking

understand Leonardo, it is necessary to understand why he moved away from Florence, this time for good. One reason is simple: he liked Milan better. It had no Michelangelo, no cadre of half-brothers suing him, no ghost of his father hovering. It had royalty rather than republicans, with jubilant pageants rather than the after-stench of bonfires of

The visit marked the climax of the Medici practice of using public pageants and spectacles to dissipate popular discontent.

When Leonardo first came to Milan in 1482, he had hopes of working primarily as a military and civil engineer, as he had proposed in his letter to the de facto duke, Ludovico Sforza. That did not happen. Most of his work for the court during the ensuing decade was as a theatrical impresario, then as the sculptor of the unfinished horse monument and

Verrocchio’s bottega, like those of his five or six main competitors in Florence, was more like a commercial shop, similar to the shops of the cobblers and jewelers along the street, than a refined art studio. On the ground floor was a store and workroom, open to the street, where the artisans and apprentices mass-produced products from their easel

As a young man in Florence, he had been a second-tier recipient of Medici patronage before moving to Milan and aligning himself with the Sforzas. When they were ousted by the French, Leonardo switched allegiances, then enlisted with Cesare Borgia, and finally found a reliable patron in Charles d’Amboise, the French governor of Milan. But after Char

The scene Leonardo set out to paint in the Adoration of the Magi was one of the most popular in Renaissance Florence: the moment when the three wise men, or kings, who have followed a guiding star to Bethlehem, present the newborn Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the revelation of the

See things unseen. Leonardo’s primary activity in many of his formative years was conjuring up pageants, performances, and plays. He mixed theatrical ingenuity with fantasy. This gave him a combinatory creativity. He could see birds…

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he also took pride that his lack of formal schooling led him to be a disciple of experience and experiment. “Leonardo da Vinci, disscepolo della sperientia,”