Leonardo da Vinci

Life overview

Leonardo moved among workshops, courts and patrons in the Italian peninsula before his final years in France. Five selected stages trace these changing settings. His drawings and notebooks connect artistic practice with investigations of bodies, water, mechanisms and the natural world.

Places and turning points

Dashed lines show the order of selected places, not an exact travel route.

1. 1

   1472

   A recognised painter in Florence

   Florence City-level representative point

   Records place Leonardo in Florence’s painters’ confraternity in 1472, after training in Verrocchio’s workshop. That setting combined painting with materials, sculpture and other skilled work. The stage marks recognition as a painter rather than his birth or the beginning of every interest later visible in his notebooks.

   City-level Florence location; not the exact entrance of a reconstructed workshop.

   Representative coordinates · 43.7696°, 11.2558°

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2. 2

   Around 1482–1499

   Working for the Milanese court

   Milan City-level representative point

   Around 1482, Leonardo began his first long Milanese period. Court commissions included paintings, designs and the Last Supper, painted in the 1490s. He also pursued technical studies and reading. Such work connected workshop skills, patrons and books, rather than separating art from the investigation of nature.

   City-level Milan location; “around 1482” preserves uncertainty in the beginning of this period.

   Representative coordinates · 45.4642°, 9.19°

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   Related history

   1. World history · c. 1455 CE

      Gutenberg and the Spread of Printing in Europe

      The combination of metal movable type, ink, and press technology gradually expanded the scale of book reproduction in Europe and changed the conditions for spreading knowledge.

      Historical context · Explore the print culture that broadened access to books in Leonardo’s lifetime; he did not invent printing.

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3. 3

   From 1500

   Returning to Florence

   Florence City-level representative point

   Leonardo returned to Florence in 1500 after leaving Milan and making other stops. New commissions and studies followed, including work associated with the Mona Lisa and investigations of water. This return shares a city point with his earlier career; it does not imply an uninterrupted residence until the next selected stage.

   Same Florence point as 1472; later Milanese stays and shorter journeys are omitted from this selection.

   Representative coordinates · 43.7696°, 11.2558°

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4. 4

   1513–1516

   A later setting in Rome

   Rome City-level representative point

   Leonardo spent a later phase of his career in Rome, from 1513 until his move to France. The change of city placed his projects within another setting of patronage. These selected stages omit a second Milanese period and shorter journeys; their sequence cannot establish a direct route from Florence to Rome.

   City-level Rome location; the connecting line omits intermediate residences and is not a travel route.

   Representative coordinates · 41.9028°, 12.4964°

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5. 5

   1516–1519

   Final years near Amboise

   Amboise, Clos Lucé City-level representative point

   Leonardo settled at Clos Lucé near the French royal court at Amboise in 1516, bringing paintings and manuscripts. He continued revising work and developing projects under royal patronage. He died there in 1519. This final residence does not mean that every painting or machine associated with him originated in France.

   Amboise city-level location for the Clos Lucé residence; not a room-level historical reconstruction.

   Representative coordinates · 47.413°, 0.982°

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Legacy and context

His paintings and surviving manuscripts reveal repeated observation, revision and ambitious projects, many left unfinished. A drawing of a machine is not evidence that the machine was built or worked. His career also shows how commissions, skilled collaborators and patrons shaped Renaissance knowledge.

Bibliography

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Leonardo da Vinci
• Clos Lucé: Leonardo da Vinci’s final residence

References support specific dates and context. Bibliographies are displayed as text.