Alex Raynham
Leonardo da Vinci
LEONARDO DA VINCI
In the 1460s, Florence (a city in what is now Italy) was one of the most important places in Europe, and the rich men of the city had money to spend. It was a good place for an artist, because rich men wanted paintings and sculptures for their great new homes.
In the workshop of the artist Andrea del Verrocchio, the apprentices worked hard, making paint, cutting stone, drawing and finishing paintings. One young apprentice was different from the others. He studied things carefully and asked questions about them. He learned from Verrocchio, from the other apprentices, and from the world around him. And soon the world would know the name of Leonardo da Vinci – one of the greatest painters and thinkers of all time.
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Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries This simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work ISBN: 978 0 19 423670 6 A complete recording of Leonardo da Vinci is available on CD. Pack ISBN: 978 0 19 423662 1 Printed in China Word count (main text): 7,033 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Cover image: Alamy Images (Self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci/Leo Macario) The publishers would like to thanks the following for permission to reproduce images: Alamy Images cover (Self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci/Leo Macario); Bridgeman Art Library Ltd pp. 5 (Woman looking down/British Museum, London, UK), 007a (The Lady with the Ermine/Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland), 17 (Studies of the coronary vessels/The Royal Collection 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), 29 (An Acrobat and Wrestlers Performing, 15th century/Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK), 41 (A study of a woman’s hands/The Royal Collection © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II); Corbis pp. 008a (The Last supper
