Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a universal genius of the Italian Renaissance: painter, draughtsman, scientist, engineer, architect and inventor. Born in Vinci, Tuscany, he trained in Florence in the workshop of Verrocchio and later worked in Milan, Rome and finally in France, at the court of Francis I. His curiosity embraced anatomy, hydraulics, optics, botany and mechanics, anticipating insights of centuries to come. Among his most celebrated works are the Mona Lisa, held at the Louvre, the Last Supper painted in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and the Virgin of the Rocks. His codices and notebooks, rich in drawings and annotations, remain an extraordinary testimony to his method of observation and experimentation, fusing art and science in an unequalled manner.
The farewell
2 maggio 1519 · Maniero di Clos-Lucé, Amboise (Francia)
Leonardo died on 2 May 1519 at the manor of Clos-Lucé, in Amboise, France, where he had moved at the invitation of King Francis I. The cause was a cerebral haemorrhage. His remains rest in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, within Amboise Castle, where a plaque commemorates his memory. The place is today open to the public.
