Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, Italy outside of Florence. He was the son of a Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman named Caterina. Leonardo's parents were never married and only his father raised him. His father taught Leonardo's education until he was fifteen years old. .
In 1469 his father noticed his potential in painting and sent him to be an apprentice in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence Italy. Leonardo studied painting, sculpture, and mechanical arts, he also developed and interest in anatomy. .
In 1472 at the age of 20 Leonardo was accepted into the painters" guild in Florence. He stayed in Florence until 1482 when he was hired by the duke of Milan, Ludovisco Sforza, to be a painter, sculptor and engineer. While he was in Milan he took up studying biology, anatomy, mathematics, and physics. He kept his studies in notebooks that were written in a mirror- image script. In his 17-year stay in Milan he completed the painting "The Last Supper.".
In 1502 Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander the VI, as senior military architect and general engineer. This position had him traveling and surveying the surrounding lands, at which time Leonardo had sketched some city plans and early maps. Later Leonardo returned to Florence. .
There he was commissioned to do many paintings including the "Battle of Anghiari mural for the council chamber of the town hall, which was never completed. He was also working on his most famous painting, the "Mona Lisa." At the same time he was creating these works he was also becoming more interested in Anatomy and started performing dissections.
In 1513 the French were expelled from Milan, forcing Leonardo to seek work outside the city. He went to Rome where his friend, Giuliano de'Medici, the brother of the Pope Leo X, offered him living space in his residence in the Vatican.