Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate Renaissance man — painter, scientist, engineer, anatomist, and philosopher. Born in Vinci, Tuscany, he apprenticed under Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence before moving to Milan and later Rome and France. His scientific curiosity infused his art with unprecedented naturalism: he studied optics to understand light, dissected corpses to master human anatomy, and filled thousands of notebook pages with observations that anticipated modern science by centuries. Only about 20 paintings survive, yet they include the two most famous works in history. His technique of sfumato — the almost imperceptible gradation of light and shadow — gave his figures a lifelike atmosphere that no painter had achieved before.
