Leonardo Da Vinci
...t, sculptor and painter. As a result of the letter in 1482 he abandoned Florence leaving the Adoration of the Magi unfinished and entered the Duke’s service. The Court of Milan challenged Leonardo to develop his talents and ingenuity in all of his areas of interest. Between 1482 and 1499 he served in a variety of capacities. He designed the Dome of Milan cathedrals and also planned a palace for Milanese noblemen as an architect. Neither of the projects was ever constructed. He was also Director of Court pageant. He designed the settings and costumes as well as the stage machinery. As a sculptor, he was occupied for many years with the design for a monumental equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, which never went beyond the stage of preliminary models. In painting, his earliest Milanese work was an alter piece for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. The work was the Virgin of The Rocks. He also executed a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the Duke’s mistress. Between 1495 and 1497 he painted the mural of the Last Supper. The French invasion of Milan in 1499 forced Leonardo to leave the city. After a brief stay in Mantua and Venus, he returned to Florence in 1500. There, in addition to serving as a building consultant, he began work on a composition of Saint Anne with the Virgin and child. The cartoon was put on public display and excited popular enthusiasm. Two years later, he entered the service of Cesare Borgia the papal condottiere, as a military engineer. For the next ten months, he traveled through much of central Italy producing a large number of impressive maps, which are important monuments in the history of cartography. In 1503 he returned to Florence and was engaged to design one of the large murals in the great council hall of the Polozo Della Signoria. Competing with him on the opposite wall was Michael Angelo. Leonardo’s subject was the Battle of Anghiari for which he completed the cartoon and had actually begun doing the painting in 1506 at the request of King Louis XII of France. He left once again for Milan. Only the central portion of this influential design has been preserved in copies. Also, in this period, he painted the most renowned of all his works, the portrait of the Mona Lisa. Leonardo stayed in Milan from 1506 until 1513 returning only briefly to Florence in 1507. His post was Artistic Advisor to the French Governor, Charles d’Amboise. He did a number of architectural projects and his major concern was also another equestrian monument. This monument was to Marshall Giacomo Trivulzio. Like his earlier monument, this one was also never completed. ‘ By the end of 1513, Leona...