Editing Leonardo da Vinci (section)

=== Early life (1452–1472) ===
==== Birth and background ====
[[File:Baptism record of Leonardo Da Vinci.jpg|thumb|220x124px|right|Leonardo da Vinci's baptism record]]
Leonardo da Vinci, properly named Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci{{efn|{{IPAc-en|,|l|i:|@|'|n|a:r|d|ou|_|d|@|_|'|v|I|n|tS|i|,_|,|l|i:|ou|'|-|,_|,|l|ei|ou|'|-}} {{respell|LEE|ə|NAR|doh|_|də|_|VIN|chee|,_|LEE|oh|-,_|LAY|oh|-}}; {{IPA|it|leoˈnardo di ˌsɛr ˈpjɛːro da (v)ˈvintʃi|lang|it-Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.ogg}}.|name=IPA}} ("Leonardo, son of ser Piero from Vinci"),{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=7}}{{sfn|Kemp|2006|p=1}}{{efn|name=ser|The inclusion of the title {{lang|it|ser}} (shortening of Italian {{lang|it|messer}} or {{lang|it|messere}}, title of courtesy prefixed to the first name) indicates that Leonardo's father was a gentleman (a low-ranking nobleman).}} was born on 15 April 1452 in, or close to, the [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] hill town of [[Vinci, Tuscany|Vinci]], 20 miles from [[Florence]].{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}}{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/17 17]}}{{efn|group=SerA|The diary of his paternal grandfather Ser Antonio relays a precise account: "There was born to me a grandson, son of {{ill|Piero da Vinci|fr|lt=Ser Piero}}, on 15 April, a Saturday, at the third hour of the night."{{sfn|Vezzosi|1997|p=13}}{{sfn|Ottino della Chiesa|1967|p=83}} Ser Antonio records Leonardo being baptised the following day by Piero di Bartolomeo at the [[parish]] of {{ill|Chiesa di Santa Croce (Vinci)|it|lt=Santa Croce}}.{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/20 20]}}}} He was born [[Legitimacy (family law)|out of wedlock]] to Piero da Vinci (Ser Piero da Vinci d'Antonio di ser Piero di ser Guido; 1426–1504),{{sfn|Bambach|2019|pp=16, 24}} a Florentine [[Civil law notary|legal notary]],{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}} and Caterina di Meo Lippi ({{circa|1434–1494}}), from the lower class.{{sfn|Marani|2003|p=13}}{{sfn|Bambach|2019|p=16}}{{efn|It has been suggested that Caterina may have been a slave from the Middle East "or at least, from the Mediterranean" or even of Chinese descent. According to art critic [[Alessandro Vezzosi]], head of the [[Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo Museum in Vinci]], there is evidence that Piero owned a slave called Caterina.<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Hooper |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/apr/12/art.italy |title=Da Vinci's mother was a slave, Italian study claims |date=12 April 2008 |access-date=16 August 2015 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223072445/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/apr/12/art.italy |url-status=live}}</ref> The reconstruction of one of Leonardo's fingerprints shows a pattern that matches 60% of people of Middle Eastern origin, suggesting the possibility that Leonardo may have had Middle Eastern blood. The claim is refuted by Simon Cole, associate professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California at Irvine: "You can't predict one person's race from these kinds of incidences, especially if looking at only one finger". More recently, historian [[Martin Kemp (art historian)|Martin Kemp]], after digging through overlooked archives and records in Italy, found evidence that Leonardo's mother was a young local woman identified as Caterina di Meo Lippi.<ref>{{cite news |last=Alberge |first=Dalya |date=21 May 2017 |title=Tuscan archives yield up secrets of Leonardo's mystery mother |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/20/leonardo-da-vinci-orphan-mother-caterina |work=The Guardian |access-date=5 June 2019 |archive-date=10 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510151906/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/20/leonardo-da-vinci-orphan-mother-caterina |url-status=live}}</ref>}} It remains uncertain where Leonardo was born; the traditional account, from a local oral tradition recorded by the historian [[Emanuele Repetti]],{{sfn|Bambach|2019|p=24}} is that he was born in [[Anchiano]], a country hamlet that would have offered sufficient privacy for the illegitimate birth, though it is still possible he was born in a house in Florence that Ser Piero almost certainly had.{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/18 18]}}{{efn|name=Birthplace|See {{harvtxt|Nicholl|2005|pp=17–20}} and {{harvtxt|Bambach|2019|p=24}} for further information on the dispute and uncertainty surrounding Leonardo's exact birthplace.}} Leonardo's parents both married separately the year after his birth. Caterina – who later appears in Leonardo's notes as only "Caterina" or "Catelina" – is usually identified as the Caterina Buti del Vacca, who married the local artisan Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca, nicknamed {{langx|it|L'Accattabriga|translation=the quarrelsome one|label=none}}.{{sfn|Marani|2003|p=13}}{{sfn|Bambach|2019|p=24}} Having been betrothed to her the previous year, Ser Piero married Albiera Amadori and after her death in 1464, went on to have three subsequent marriages.{{sfn|Bambach|2019|p=24}}{{sfn|Kemp|Pallanti|2017|p=65}}{{efn|See {{harvtxt|Kemp|Pallanti|2017|pp=65–66}} for detailed table on Ser Piero's marriages.}} From all the marriages, Leonardo eventually had 16 half-siblings (of whom 11 survived infancy){{sfn|Kemp|Pallanti|2017|pp=65–66}} who were much younger than he (the last was born when Leonardo was 46 years old){{sfn|Kemp|Pallanti|2017|pp=65–66}} and with whom he had very little contact.{{efn|He also never wrote about his father, except a passing note of his death in which he overstates his age by three years.{{sfn|Wallace|1972|p=11}} Leonardo's siblings caused him difficulty after his father's death in a dispute over their inheritance.{{sfn|Magnano|2007|p=138}}}}

[[File:Geburtshaus von Leonardo da Vinci in Vinci (Toskana).jpg|thumb|left|The possible birthplace and childhood home of Leonardo in [[Anchiano]], [[Vinci, Tuscany|Vinci]], Italy|alt=Photo of a building of rough stone with small windows, surrounded by olive trees]]
Very little is known about Leonardo's childhood and much is shrouded in myth, partially because of his biography in the frequently apocryphal ''[[Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects]]'' (1550) by 16th-century art historian [[Giorgio Vasari]].{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=1, 5}}{{sfn|Marani|2003|p=12}} Tax records indicate that by at least 1457 he lived in the household of his paternal grandfather, Antonio da Vinci,{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}} but it is possible that he spent the years before then in the care of his mother in Vinci, either Anchiano or Campo Zeppi in the parish of San Pantaleone.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=175}}{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/28 28]}} He is thought to have been close to his uncle, Francesco da Vinci,{{sfn|Kemp|2003}} but his father was probably in Florence most of the time.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}} Ser Piero, who was the descendant of a long line of notaries, established an official residence in Florence by at least 1469 and had a successful career.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}} Despite his family history, Leonardo only received a basic and informal education in (vernacular) writing, reading, and mathematics; possibly because his artistic talents were recognised early, so his family decided to focus their attention there.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=5}}

Later in life, Leonardo recorded his earliest memory, now in the [[Codex Atlanticus]].{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/30 30], [https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/506 506]}} While writing on the flight of birds, he recalled as an infant when a [[Kite (bird)|kite]] came to his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail; commentators still debate whether the anecdote was an actual memory or a fantasy.{{sfn|Nicholl|2005|p=[https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/30 30]|ps=. See p. [https://archive.org/details/leonardodavinci00char/page/506 506] for the original Italian.}}

==== Verrocchio's workshop ====
[[File:Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci - Baptism of Christ - Uffizi.jpg|thumb|''[[The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio)|The Baptism of Christ]]'' (1472–1475) by [[Verrocchio]] and Leonardo, [[Uffizi]] Gallery|alt=Painting showing Jesus, naked except for a loin-cloth, standing in a shallow stream in a rocky landscape, while to the right, John the Baptist, identifiable by the cross that he carries, tips water over Jesus' head. Two angels kneel at the left. Above Jesus are the hands of God, and a dove descending|230x230px]]

In the mid-1460s, Leonardo's family moved to Florence, which at the time was the centre of Christian [[Renaissance humanism|Humanist]] thought and culture.{{sfn|Rosci|1977|p=13}} Around the age of 14,{{sfn|Wallace|1972|p=11}} he became a ''garzone'' (studio boy) in the workshop of [[Andrea del Verrocchio]], who was the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his time.{{sfn|Rosci|1977|p=13}} This was about the time of the death of Verrocchio's master, the great sculptor [[Donatello]].{{efn|The humanist influence of Donatello's ''[[David (Donatello, bronze)|David]]'' can be seen in Leonardo's late paintings, particularly ''[[St. John the Baptist (Leonardo)|John the Baptist]]''.{{sfn|Hartt|1970|pp=127–133}}{{sfn|Rosci|1977|p=13}}}} Leonardo became an apprentice by the age of 17 and remained in training for seven years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bacci |first=Mina |translator-last=Tanguy |translator-first=J. |title=The Great Artists: Da Vinci |year=1978 |orig-date=1963 |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls |location=New York}}<!--intro--></ref> Other famous painters apprenticed in the workshop or associated with it include [[Domenico Ghirlandaio|Ghirlandaio]], [[Perugino]], [[Botticelli]], and [[Lorenzo di Credi]].{{sfn|Bortolon|1967}}{{sfn|Arasse|1998}} Leonardo was exposed to both theoretical training and a wide range of technical skills,{{sfn|Rosci|1977|p=27}} including drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics, and woodwork, as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting, and modelling.{{sfn|Martindale|1972}}{{efn|The "diverse arts" and technical skills of Medieval and Renaissance workshops are described in detail in the 12th-century text ''On Divers Arts'' by [[Theophilus Presbyter]] and in the early 15th-century text ''Il Libro dell'Arte'' by [[Cennino Cennini]].}}

Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino, who were all slightly older than he was.{{sfn|Rosci|1977|pp=9–20}} He would have met them at the workshop of Verrocchio or at the [[Platonic Academy (Florence)|Platonic Academy]] of the [[Medici]].{{sfn|Bortolon|1967}} Florence was ornamented by the works of artists such as Donatello's contemporaries [[Masaccio]], whose figurative [[fresco]]es were imbued with realism and emotion, and [[Lorenzo Ghiberti|Ghiberti]], whose ''[[Florence Baptistery#Lorenzo Ghiberti|Gates of Paradise]]'', gleaming with [[gold leaf]], displayed the art of combining complex figure compositions with detailed architectural backgrounds. [[Piero della Francesca]] had made a detailed study of [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]],<ref>Piero della Francesca, ''On Perspective for Painting (De Prospectiva Pingendi)''</ref> and was the first painter to make a scientific study of light. These studies and [[Leon Battista Alberti]]'s treatise ''[[De pictura]]'' were to have a profound effect on younger artists and in particular on Leonardo's own observations and artworks.{{sfn|Hartt|1970|pp=127–133}}<ref name="Rach">{{cite book |last=Rachum |first=Ilan |title=The Renaissance, an Illustrated Encyclopedia |year=1979}}</ref>

Much of the painting in Verrocchio's workshop was done by his assistants. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his ''[[The Baptism of Christ (Verrocchio and Leonardo)|The Baptism of Christ]]'' ({{Circa|1472–1475|lk=off}}), painting the young angel holding Jesus's robe with skill so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio purportedly put down his brush and never painted again<ref group="‡">{{harvnb|Vasari|1991|p=287}}</ref> (the latter claim probably being apocryphal).{{sfn|Ottino della Chiesa|1967|p=83}} The new technique of [[oil painting|oil paint]] was applied to areas of the mostly [[tempera]] work, including the landscape, the rocks seen through the brown mountain stream, and much of Jesus's figure, indicating Leonardo's hand.{{sfn|Ottino della Chiesa|1967|p=88}} Additionally, Leonardo may have been a model for two works by Verrocchio: the bronze statue of ''[[David (Verrocchio)|David]]'' in the [[Bargello]] and the [[archangel Raphael]] in ''[[Tobias and the Angel (Verrocchio)|Tobias and the Angel]]''.{{sfn|Ottino della Chiesa|1967|p=83}}

Vasari tells a story of Leonardo as a very young man: a local peasant made himself a round [[buckler]] shield and requested that Ser Piero have it painted for him. Leonardo, inspired by the story of [[Medusa]], responded with a [[Medusa (Leonardo)|painting of a monster]] spitting fire that was so terrifying that his father bought a different shield to give to the peasant and sold Leonardo's to a Florentine art dealer for 100 [[ducat]]s, who in turn sold it to the [[List of dukes of Milan|Duke of Milan]].<ref group="‡">{{harvnb|Vasari|1991|pp=287–289}}</ref>