stephen---leonardo+da+vinci

=**Leonardo da Vinci**= media type="custom" key="16572354"

Background
Leonardo da Vinci was born on 4/15/1452 in Vinci, Italy and died on 5/2/1519 in Amboise, France. His dad was a wealthy legal notary  named Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci. His mom was a peasant n Catrina. Leonardo had 7 brothers and no sisters. He is considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and one of the smartest people and most talented people who ever lived.

Childhood
Leonardo's dad was wealthy but his mom was poor. He spent the first 5 years of his life with his mother and then moved to Vinci, Italy and lived with his father, grandparents and uncle.

Education
Leonardo was homescooled when he was young. He recieved an informal education and was taught latin, geomatry and mathematics. When he was 14, he began apprenticing with an artist named Verrochero. He also learned many technigues such as metal working, leather arts, carpentry, drawing and sculpting.

Career
Leonardo was most famous as a painter. He also worked as a scientist, a mathematician, an engineer, an inventor, a sculptor, an architect, a botanist, a zoologist, a musician and a writer.

Jobs
In January 1478, he painted an altar piece for the Chapel of St. Benard in the Palazzo Vecchio. In March 1481, he painted The Adoration of the Magi for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto. By age 20 he started his own art practice. Leonardo worked in Milan from 1482 until 1489 and was hired to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

**Accomplishments **
Leonardo’s most famous achievements were his paintings. His most famous paintings were the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. The Mona Lisa was a painting of an Italian women. The Last Supper was a picture of the last meal Jesus had with his apostles. These paintings are two of the most popular paintings in the world. Leonardos most famous drawings are the Vitruvian Man, which is a study of the Human Body, and the Virgin of the Rocks, which is the head of an Angel. As an engineer, Leonardo created many drawings which were later used to build musical instruments hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, steam cannons and bridges. He also drew plans for several flying machines, including a light hang glider and a machine resembling a helicopter.

**Influence on the World **
Leonardo was one of the most influential persons of the Renaissance period and is still very popular today. Artists and engineers continue to study his work and are often amazed at how intelligent and far ahead of his time he really was. Writers from all over the world continue to write about him and people from all over the world continue to see his paintings and drawings in museums located in cities such as Paris, London, Milan and New York.