Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance, active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect. Born near Vinci in Tuscany, he trained in Florence and later worked for patrons in Milan, Rome and France. His fame rests chiefly on paintings such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but he is equally known for his notebooks, which record drawings and observations on anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography and mechanical invention decades ahead of his time. He is widely regarded as embodying the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his work profoundly shaped the later development of European art and science.