{"id":77354,"date":"2022-09-04T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T18:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=77354"},"modified":"2022-09-06T12:52:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T16:52:34","slug":"leonardo-da-vinci-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/leonardo-da-vinci-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo da Vinci in Florence: Highlights & Patrons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What did Leonardo da Vinci do in Florence? What kind of people did he meet in Florence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo da Vinci practically grew up in Florence, where he learned new ideas and subjects. He returned to the city again as an adult, but it wasn’t as colorful as it was before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn how Leonardo da Vinci flourished in Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Florence (1464-1482)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1464, Leonardo began living with his father in Florence, the perfect setting for young Leonardo\u2019s development<\/strong>. As explained by Walter Isaacson in the biography Leonardo da Vinci<\/em>, Florence was a melting pot of new ideas. Its intellectuals believed in the ideals of Renaissance humanism<\/a>, especially in finding happiness<\/a> through knowledge. The growing upper class was keen to display their wealth through their arts patronage, giving artists opportunities to create and collaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo\u2019s Apprenticeship With Verrocchio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1468, Leonardo\u2019s father got him an apprenticeship with Andrea del Verrocchio, an artist and engineer<\/strong>. Isaacson says the apprenticeship offered Leonardo opportunities to learn fundamental painting techniques he would later use more effectively than his contemporaries, two of which include: 1) Drapery studies and chiaroscuro, which used shading to make images appear three-dimensional. 2) Sfumato, which lightly diffused borders instead of sharply delineating edges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Isaacson, Verrocchio\u2019s work was an important influence on Leonardo. For example, Verrocchio\u2019s statue of David (which Leonardo likely modeled for) has many hallmarks that Leonardo would learn and surpass: the dynamic body, the beautiful curls, the anatomical preciseness, and the mysterious facial expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo\u2019s First Experience With Patronage: The Medici Family<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Medici were de facto leaders of Florence who helped shape the Renaissance era through their patronage of the arts.<\/strong> Isaacson explains, however, that some artists were more successful than others in securing that patronage. For example, Botticelli earned their support by inserting members of the Medici family into historical and biblical paintings. Leonardo, on the other hand, didn\u2019t compromise his work to court favor. (Shortform note: Some refer to the Medici as the \u201cgodfathers\u201d of the Renaissance<\/a>, and with good reason. They fostered the arts using their own money and, thanks to their diplomatic savviness, led a period of relative peace.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaacson says this was a habit Leonardo continued throughout his life: He sought and took money from patrons, but only for work that he was excited about<\/strong>. He wasn\u2019t afraid to leave employers waiting while he found the right way to approach a piece of work, or to ignore them altogether if the work they wanted him to do was uninspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florence, Again (1500-1506)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo returned to a different Florence from the one he had known<\/strong>. The city had gone through a conservative period and lost the vibrancy of its culture and economy<\/a>. However, the Florentines were closing that chapter and returning to their roots. Isaacson argues that, at first, Leonardo fit well into this cultural context. He symbolized what Florence was striving to return to, and he played the part of a stylish eccentric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leonardo\u2019s Workshop<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Florence, Leonardo opened a workshop where he fostered a collaborative approach<\/strong>. Leonardo would paint an original version of a work and teach his assistants to produce copies. Isaacson explains that, often, those copies were being produced at the same time as the original, so Leonardo used them to test out different ideas, resulting in different versions of the same paintings. Also, he didn\u2019t sign his paintings, since they were a product of the workshop rather than a product of Leonardo. This collaborative process led to some paintings being difficult to label as authentic Leonardos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: This setup corresponded with the organization of most artists\u2019 workshops in Renaissance Italy<\/a>. It allowed the workshop\u2019s master to produce works of art for all kinds of patrons, whether they were as rich as a duke or not. It also allowed for experimentation without losing the workshop\u2019s signature style which differentiated it from the competition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Patron: Cesare Borgia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1502, around the age of 50, Leonardo worked for his most ruthless boss yet: Cesare Borgia<\/strong>. Cesare was on a military campaign to subdue several city-states and bring them under the power of the Pope (his father). During that campaign, Isaacson believes that Florence offered Leonardo\u2019s services as part of a diplomatic package to ensure that Cesare wouldn\u2019t invade the city. This placement allowed Leonardo to live out his military engineering dreams. Isaacson reports that, during this time, Leonardo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n