Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the archetypal example of the Renaissance ideal. As a Renaissance man he engaged in almost every art and science from painting to composition and from philosophy to chemistry. Leonardo was born in the Tuscan mountain town of Vinci as the illegitimate son of a farm girl and a Florentine notary. From 1482 – 1499, he worked for the Duke of Milan.