Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was a Tuscan polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, poet and writer. Born at Vinci in the region of Florence, the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan where several of his major works were created. He also worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, spending his final years in France at the home given him by King François I.
Recommended books on Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo's Notebooks, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; Leonardo Da Vinci: 1452-1519: The Complete Paintings and Drawings, Taschen; The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Oxford University Press, USA; Leonardo da Vinci: Revised Edition, Penguin (Non-Classics); Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man, Oxford University Press, USA; Mona Lisa: Inside the Painting, Harry N. Abrams, Inc; Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series); Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings, Harry N. Abrams.