As new princely courts developed, artists such as Leonardo could leave the traditional craft guild and work within a patronage system. This is exactly what Leonardo did when he left for Milan to work for Ludovico Sforza “il Moro”.

There he worked as a painter, architect, sculptor and engineer. He began his great project of a bronze-cast equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, a project that tragically ended when the requisite bronze (about 150,000 pounds) was melted down for guns in response to the French invasion of 1494. After the French victory, Leonardo returned to Florence and subsequently served other patrons in a variety of capacities, including that of military engineer. Near the end of his life, in 1516, he moved to France as the client of the French king, Francis I.

 Leonardo undoubtedly began drawing from nature and recording his observations for the purposes of his artwork, but his investigations took on a life of their own. He recorded numerous aspects of both the natural and humanly constructed worlds. He believed that knowledge came most importantly, not from books, but from empirical studies. His notebooks are filled with minutely detailed observations, questions, and comments, as well as drawings. His topics range widely and include studies of water, storms, parts of machines and their motions, plants and human anatomy. In the end, Leonardo not only laboured as an artist, architect, and engineer, but as an investigator of nature in all its multiplicity.

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Content last updated: 20/04/2003

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