Essential Lives Essential Lives introduces the people who have shaped the world, impacted humanity, and changed the course of history. Essential Library Biographies, historic events, and current debates are all an essential part of the curriculum. Readers can meet these needs with the Essential Library. Te Essential Library is a well-researched, well- written, and beautifully designed imprint created specifcally for the middle school reader. Te Essential Library ofers tremendous research tools: · Primary research and sources · Maps, color images, and historic documents · Timelines · Essential Facts—an overview of each topic · Selected Bibliography · Further Reading · Web sites—to expand research · Places to Visit · Glossaries · Source notes by chapter · Index · Author Biography For a complete list of titles in the Essential Library, visit our website at: www.abdopublishing.com Essential Lives Essential Lives Essential Lives Leonardo da Vinci V Essential Lives b y M . C . H a l l Content Consultant Elizabeth Feery Independent Art Consultant Children’s Educational Art Program Essential Lives credits Published by ABDO Publishing Company, 8000 West 78th Street, Edina, Minnesota 55439. Copyright © 2008 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. The Essential Library™ is a trademark and logo of ABDO Publishing Company. Printed in the United States. Editor: Paula Lewis Cover Design: Becky Daum Interior Design: Lindaanne Donohoe Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hall, Margaret, 1947– Leonardo da Vinci / M.C. Hall. p. cm. — (Essential lives) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-59928-844-4 1. Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452–1519—Juvenile literature. 2. Artists—Italy—Biogra- phy—Juvenile literature. 3. Inventors—Italy—Biography—Juvenile literature I. Title. N6923.L33H35 2007 709.2—dc22 [B] 2007012514 Leonardo da Vinci table of contents Chapter 1 A Gallant Spectacle 6 Chapter 2 Growing Up in Vinci 14 Chapter 3 An Artist’s Training 24 Chapter 4 The Artist on His Own 32 Chapter 5 Milan 40 Chapter 6 The Notebooks 50 Chapter 7 The Unsettled Years 60 Chapter 8 Villas and Veins 70 Chapter 9 Leonardo in France 80 Chapter 10 Leonardo’s Legacy 88 Timeline 96 Essential Facts 100 Additional Resources 102 Glossary 104 Source Notes 106 Index 110 About the Author 112 Chapter 1 Noble ladies during the Renaissance A Gallant Spectacle ate on the night of January 13, 1490, L candlelight spilled from the castle of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. Inside, the walls were draped in colored silk and decorated with fresh pine branches. At one end of a great room, eight musicians • 6 • Leonardo da Vinci sat on a carpeted stage. Music from their pipes, trombones, and tambourines filled the air. The party had started at eight o’clock. For almost four hours, Ludovico’s guests had been eating, drinking, and dancing. They were celebrating the marriage of the duke’s nephew, Gian Galeazzo Sforza. The groom was only 20 years old. He was a pale and serious young man. His new wife, Isabella of Aragon, was a year younger. She was known for her sweet manner and beauty. “I am never weary of being Throughout the night, guests useful.”1 made speeches and recited poems —Leonardo da Vinci in many different languages. Each speech and poem was presented as a gift to Isabella. However, the highlight of the evening was still to come. Ludovico had planned a masque, a type of musical play popular at the time. The words and music had been written by the court poet especially to honor the new duchess. The poet titled his work Il Paradiso, or “Paradise.” At last it was midnight. The guests gathered and faced a curtain at the far end of the room. Candles were blown out to dim the bright lights, and the heavy curtain opened. Everyone gasped in surprise. • 7 • Essential Lives The revolving stage on which the masque would be performed was an amazing creation. It was made of wood and cloth in the shape of half of a huge egg. The inside of the egg was covered with a thin layer of gold that reflected the light of dozens of overhead torches. Their flickering light represented the stars in the night ﱚﱚ sky. Learning About Leonardo The torches also Leonardo lived more than 500 years ago. As a lit seven openings, result, there is not a lot of information about his or niches. Inside life. Much of what is known comes from public each niche, a man records, Leonardo’s notebooks, and the writing of others. For example, one guest wrote about his ex- was dressed in perience at the masque and described the deco- costume to portray rations, the music, the dancing, and the stage set: the sun, moon, Il Paradiso was made in the shape of a half or one of the five egg, which on the inner part was all covered with gold, with a very great number of lights, planets—Mercury, as many as stars, and with certain niches Venus, Mars, where stood all the seven planets according Jupiter, and Saturn. to their degree, high and low. Around the top edge of this hemisphere were the twelve In these niches, the signs, with certain lights behind glass, which “planets” appeared made a gallant and beautiful spectacle. In this Paradiso were heard many songs and to revolve freely in many sweet and graceful sounds.2 space. Near the top of the egg, more torches gleamed ﱚﱚ behind sheets of • 8 • ﱚﱚ ﱚﱚ