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1452
1452: Leonardo born on April 15, in Vinci.
Leonardo was born to Ser Piero, a notary, and Caterina, a peasant girl; his parents were never married. -
1467
1467: Leonardo becomes an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio, in Florence.
This date is an estimate, the apprenticeship could have begun a year or two later. But even 1467 would have been a bit late according to the customs of the time: Leonardo would have been fifteen, and most apprentices began at a younger age. -
1472
1472: Leonardo becomes a member of the Florence painters' guild. Birth of Copernicus. Dante's The Divine Comedy is published.
Other famous painters to join the painters' guild in 1472 were Botticelli and Perugino. -
1475
1475: Michelangelo born
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1481
1481: Leonardo receives a commission to paint the Adoration of the Magi.
The painting was never completed, yet was–and is–considered a masterpiece. This same year, most of the other noteworthy painters in Florence were sent to Rome to work on projects for the Pope. -
1482
1482: Leonardo moves from Florence to Milan, entering the patronage of Ludovico Sforza.
By this time, Leonardo is writing in his notebooks regularly. -
1489
1489: Leonardo studies anatomy.
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1495
1495: Leonardo begins his Last Supper in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
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1498
1498: Leonardo decorates the walls and ceiling of the Sala delle Asse. He also made his first attempts at planning a flying machine around this time.
In 1498, Savonarola is burned at the stake. -
1500
1500:Leonardo and Pacioli go to Mantua, then Leonardo continues on to Florence.
In Mantua, he draws the Portrait in Profile of Isabelle d'Este. In Florence, he paints the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. -
1502
1502: Leonardo becomes Cesare Borgia's military engineer.
Leonardo travels around the Romagna, inspecting fortifications. He meets Machiavelli. -
1507
1507: Leonardo is appointed Louis XII's painter and engineer.
He paints a second version of the Virgin of the Rocks. He meets his beautiful young assistant, Francesco Melzi. Also, he travels to Florence in a lawsuit against his brothers of his inheritance from his uncle Francesco. -
1515
1515: Around this time, Leonardo paints the painting John the Baptist.
He also constructs a mechanical lion for the coronation of the new king of France, Francis I. -
1516
1516: Leonardo permanently leaves Italy for France, where he will serve Francis I in his court in Amboise.
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1519
1519: In May, Leonardo dies at Cloux.