Born 15th April 1452 – Died 2nd May 1519

Leonardo da Vinci lived in the time of the Renaissance.
He was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and a writer. Many people think that Da Vinci was one of the greatest painters of all time; other people think that he was the most talented person ever to have lived. He was born in Vinci, which is a small town near Florence in Italy. He was trained to be an artist by the sculptor and painter Verrocchio. He spent most of his life working for rich Italian noblemen. In his last years, he lived in a beautiful home given to him by the King of France. Da Vinci was perhaps most famous as a painter. Two of his pictures are among the best-known paintings in the world: The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. His best-known drawing is Vitruvian Man. Da Vinci was also an inventor, and although most of his inventions were never made, his notebooks survived and they show evidence of the earliest versions of a helicopter, a tank, a calculator, a parachute, a robot, the telephone, evolution and solar power.