Folio VI · Vita · Curriculum vitae
A life in eight appointments
In 1482 I wrote to the Duke of Milan offering my services — perhaps the first CV anyone remembers. It put engineering first and painting last. Here is the rest of the story.
Born in Vinci, 1452. Studios in Florence, Milan, Rome and Amboise.
Experience
- 1452
Born in Vinci
Anchiano, near Vinci · Tuscany15 April. Son of the notary Ser Piero; raised in the hills of the Arno valley.
- c. 1466
Apprentice, workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio
FlorencePainting, sculpture, metalwork, mechanics. Painted the angel in Verrocchio’s Baptism of Christ.
- 1472
Master, Compagnia di San Luca
FlorenceAdmitted to the painters’ guild; independent commissions follow, the Annunciation among them.
- 1482
Engineer & painter to Ludovico Sforza
MilanSeventeen years at court: the Last Supper, the Sforza horse, festivals, canals and fortifications.
- 1502
Military architect & engineer to Cesare Borgia
RomagnaFortress inspections, the plan of Imola, maps of central Italy.
- 1503
Return to Florence
FlorenceThe Mona Lisa begins; the Battle of Anghiari mural for the Palazzo Vecchio.
- 1513
Studio in the Belvedere
Rome · for Giuliano de’ MediciOptics, mirrors, anatomy and geometry.
- 1516
First Painter, Engineer and Architect to the King
Clos Lucé, Amboise · FranceInvited by Francis I. Plans for a royal city at Romorantin. Died here on 2 May 1519.
“Most illustrious Lord…”
Having seen and considered the experiments of all those who claim to be inventors of instruments of war, I shall make bold to put before Your Excellency my secrets:
- Very light and strong bridges, easy to carry.
- Ways to drain the water from the moats of a besieged place.
- Covered vehicles, safe and unassailable, to break the enemy’s lines.
- Cannon, mortars and light ordnance of beautiful and useful shape.
- Ships that resist the fire of the heaviest guns.
In time of peace I can give perfect satisfaction in architecture, in conducting water from one place to another; I can carry out sculpture in marble, bronze or clay, and in painting I can do as well as any other, whoever he may be.
Skills
Self-assessed. The last figure is the honest one.