列奧納多·達·芬奇 （1452 年 4 月 15 日 - 1519 年 5 月 2 日）是文藝復興時期的意大利博學者，活躍於畫家、繪圖員、工程師、科學家、理論家、雕塑家和建築師。 雖然他的名氣最初取決於他作為畫家的成就，但他也以他的筆記本而聞名，他在筆記本中繪製了各種主題的圖畫和筆記，包括解剖學、天文學、植物學、製圖學、繪畫和古生物學。列奧納多的天才是文藝復興時期人文主義理想的縮影， 和他的集體作品對後世藝術家的貢獻僅次於他的年輕當代米開朗基羅。

他非婚生在一個成功的公證人和一個下層階級的女人，在芬奇或附近，他在佛羅倫薩接受了意大利畫家和雕塑家安德里亞·德爾·維羅基奧的教育。他在這座城市開始了他的職業生涯，但隨後在米蘭為 Ludovico Sforza 服務了很多時間。後來，他再次在佛羅倫薩和米蘭工作，並在羅馬短暫工作過，同時吸引了大批模仿者和學生。應弗朗西斯一世的邀請，他在法國度過了最後的三年，於 1519 年去世。 自他去世以來，他的成就、多樣化的興趣、個人生活和實證思維從未引起人們的興趣和欽佩， 使他成為文化中常見的同名人物和主題。

列奧納多是藝術史上最偉大的畫家之一，通常被認為是文藝復興盛期的創始人。 儘管有許多遺失的作品和不到 25 件歸於主要作品的作品——包括許多未完成的作品——但他創作了一些西方藝術中最有影響力的畫作。 他的代表作《蒙娜麗莎》是他最著名的作品，通常被認為是世界上最著名的畫作。最後的晚餐是有史以來複製最多的宗教畫作，他的維特魯威人畫也被視為文化偶像。 2017 年，全部或部分歸功於列奧納多的《救世主》 在拍賣會上以 4.503 億美元的價格售出，創下了公開拍賣有史以來最昂貴的畫作的新紀錄。 

他因其技術獨創性而備受推崇，他將飛行器、一種裝甲戰車、聚光太陽能、加法機  和雙殼概念化。在他的有生之年，他的設計相對較少，甚至是可行的，因為現代冶金和工程科學方法在文藝復興時期才處於起步階段。然而，他的一些較小的發明卻默默無聞地進入了製造業領域，例如自動繞線機和測試線材抗拉強度的機器。他在解剖學、土木工程、流體動力學、地質學、光學和摩擦學方面取得了重大發現，但他沒有發表他的發現，而且這些發現對後來的科學幾乎沒有直接影響。

列奧納多於 1519 年 5 月 2 日在 Clos Lucé 去世，享年 67 歲，可能是中風。弗朗西斯一世成了我的好朋友。瓦薩里形容列奧納多在臨終前悲嘆，充滿悔恨，“他沒有按照他應該做的方式實踐他的藝術，冒犯了上帝和人類。”瓦薩里說，在他最後的日子裡，列奧納多派了一位神父來做他的懺悔並接受聖禮。瓦薩里還記錄了國王在列奧納多去世時將他的頭抱在懷裡，儘管這個故事可能是傳說而不是事實。按照他的意願，六十個拿著錐子的乞丐跟在列奧納多的棺材後面。梅爾齊是主要繼承人和遺囑執行人，除了金錢之外，還接受了達芬奇的畫作、工具、圖書館和個人物品。列奧納多的另一個長期的學生和夥伴薩萊和他的僕人巴普蒂斯塔·德維拉尼斯，每人得到了列奧納多一半的葡萄園。他的兄弟們得到了土地，他的女僕得到了一件毛皮內襯斗篷。 1519 年 8 月 12 日，萊昂納多的遺體被安葬在昂布瓦茲城堡的聖弗洛倫坦學院教堂。

Salaì，或 Il Salaino（“小不潔者”，即魔鬼），於 1490 年作為助手進入列奧納多的家。僅僅一年後，萊昂納多就列出了他的輕罪清單，稱他為“小偷、騙子、固執、貪食者”，因為他至少五次偷了錢和貴重物品，並在衣服上花了一大筆錢。儘管如此，列奧納多對他非常寬容，在接下來的三十年裡，他一直住在列奧納多的家裡。 Salaì 以 Andrea Salaì 的名義創作了許多畫作，但儘管瓦薩里聲稱達芬奇“教會了他很多繪畫的東西”，但他的作品通常被認為比達芬奇的學生中的其他人（如 Marco d'）的藝術價值低奧喬諾和博爾特拉菲奧。 

1524 年列奧納多去世時，薩萊擁有這幅蒙娜麗莎，在他的遺囑中，這幅畫的估價為 505 里拉，對於一幅小幅肖像畫來說，這是一個非常高的估值。萊昂納多去世大約 20 年後，金匠兼雕塑家本韋努托·切利尼 (Benvenuto Cellini) 報導說，弗朗西斯說：“世界上從來沒有一個出生的人像萊昂納多那樣了解繪畫、雕塑和建築，因為他他是一位非常偉大的哲學家。

本文取材自:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci and translated thru Google Translate

Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo's genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.

 

Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in, or near, Vinci, he was educated in Florence by the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in the city, but then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time where his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture.

 

Leonardo is among the greatest painters in the history of art and is often credited as the founder of the High Renaissance. Despite having many lost works and less than 25 attributed major works—including numerous unfinished works—he created some of the most influential paintings in Western art. His magnum opus, the Mona Lisa, is his best known work and often regarded as the world's most famous painting. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, attributed in whole or part to Leonardo, was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.

 

Revered for his technological ingenuity, he conceptualized flying machines, a type of armored fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. Some of his smaller inventions, however, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, hydrodynamics, geology, optics, and tribology, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science.

 

Leonardo died at Clos Lucé on 2 May 1519 at the age of 67, possibly of a stroke. Francis I had become a close friend. Vasari describes Leonardo as lamenting on his deathbed, full of repentance, that "he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done." Vasari states that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. Vasari also records that the king held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story may be legend rather than fact. In accordance with his will, sixty beggars carrying tapers followed Leonardo's casket. Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving, as well as money, Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo's other long-time pupil and companion, Salaì, and his servant Baptista de Vilanis, each received half of Leonardo's vineyards. His brothers received land, and his serving woman received a fur-lined cloak. On 12 August 1519, Leonardo's remains were interred in the Collegiate Church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise.

 

Salaì, or Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One," i.e., the devil), entered Leonardo's household in 1490 as an assistant. After only a year, Leonardo made a list of his misdemeanours, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton," after he had made off with money and valuables on at least five occasions and spent a fortune on clothes.Nevertheless, Leonardo treated him with great indulgence, and he remained in Leonardo's household for the next thirty years. Salaì executed a number of paintings under the name of Andrea Salaì, but although Vasari claims that Leonardo "taught him many things about painting," his work is generally considered to be of less artistic merit than others among Leonardo's pupils, such as Marco d'Oggiono and Boltraffio.

 

Salaì owned the Mona Lisa at the time of Leonardo's death in 1524, and in his will it was assessed at 505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait. Some 20 years after Leonardo's death, Francis was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher.

 

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci