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Leonardo Da Vinci was Born in Vinci,Italy.His farther was Ser Piero di Antonio Da Vinci,he was 25 at the time,and came from a weathy family of notaries.Leonardo's mother,Caterina, was a young peasant.Ser Piero and Caterina were not married,but they celebrated his birth like a formal family would.Because they weren't married,Caterina soon married a lime burner,and moved away.She had 5 other kids.As for Ser Piero,he married 4 times,and had eleven other children. Leonardo lived with his dad.
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Leonardo went to train as an artist on his 15th birthday,and was an apprentice for 10 years.During this time he works on group paintings,as well as observes other artist's tecniques.
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The 1st version of The Virgin of the Rocks was kind-of a rough draft for the 2nd version.The 2nd version was the last version.Both versions were almost the same.Some of the only differences were shading,skin tone,and choice of color.This version of the painting is at the Louvre.
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Leonardo refused to be rushed over The Last Supper,and that angered his patrons. It is said that in a dispute with the abbot over his progress, Leonardo threatened to potray his patron as Judas. The painting was finally finished in 1498.Unfortunately ,Leonardo's exsperamental paint technique of using a mixture of oil paint and tempra on dry plaster,leaving the whole painting in bad shape by 1566.
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In Leonardo's workshop there was discovered to be hundreds of notebooks with pages filled with sketches,research,and inventions. Most of Leonardo's ideas were to extreme for his day.For example ,in one of his notebooks there was a sketch of a giant crossbow, and a giant bronze tank with cannons coming out all the sides,both being way ahead of his day.Leonardo also wrote in mirror writing,because he was left handed,and would smudge the ink.
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This painting is Leonardo's favorite,and the only one he kept.No one really knows who Mona Lisa really is.In some crazier theories people think it's a female self-portrait.Another theorie is that, because another name for Mona Lisa is La Gioconda,meaning The Merry Woman,she could also be the wife of a silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo.
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This was the last out of two versions of this painting.This version is in London.In a way, Leonardo didn't think that the first version was just right,so he made this version into a type of final draft.
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He leaves for Rome to work for Giuliano de Medici(brother of Pope Leo X).He lived in the Vatican.During this time Leonardo painted St. John the Baptist.This was Leonardo's last painting.He showed St. Johnas being very ruggedly dressed, and yet soft and feminine.In addion,the painting has silent mystery,very much like the Mona Lisa.
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He's invited by the king of France to be his court painter.This later becomes Leonardo's death place.He only stays there 3 years being the rest of his life.He lives in a big house,close to the royal palace.
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He died in Ambiosse,France at Clos Luce,at the age of 67.Leonardo lived a lot longer than the average live acspectancy back then. His body was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in France.
