Leonardo da Vinci's Real Name: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

Quick answer: Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, near the town of Vinci in the Republic of Florence. His name is usually given in full as Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning "Leonardo, son of Ser Piero, from Vinci." He painted the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa and died at Cloux (now Clos-Lucé), France, on May 2, 1519 (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Leonardo lived before fixed family surnames were common in Tuscany, so "da Vinci" is a description of where he came from, not a surname in the modern sense. Britannica identifies his father as Ser Piero da Vinci, a Florentine notary and landowner; "Ser" was a title used by notaries. His full name, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, is built from his given name, his father's name, and his hometown. The Library of Congress files him as "Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519," with the given name first. It lists dozens of variants, including "Da Vinci, Leonardo," "Lionardo, da Vinci," and the French "Léonard, de Vinci."

Britannica says his parents were not married. His mother was possibly Caterina di Meo Lippi, a young peasant woman; a few scholars have suggested she was an enslaved woman from Asia. Leonardo grew up on his father's family estate, where he was treated as a legitimate son. He received a basic education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and taught himself Latin and advanced mathematics later in life.

Career highlights

At about 15, Leonardo was apprenticed to the Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio. His workshop training covered painting, sculpture, and the technical-mechanical arts. Britannica notes that Leonardo's talent was already evident in the angel he painted in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ.

He spent 17 years in Milan in the service of Duke Ludovico Sforza, listed as "painter and engineer of the duke," until Ludovico's fall in 1499. There he painted the Last Supper (1495–98). Back in Florence he began the Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) and the never-finished Battle of Anghiari mural. His notebooks show designs for a flying machine, a "helical airscrew," and a tank-like moving fortress, along with studies of anatomy and water.

At about 65 he accepted an invitation from King Francis I to work in France. He spent his last three years at Cloux, near the royal château at Amboise, as "First painter, architect, and engineer to the King."

Name notes for searchers

Strictly speaking, his name is Leonardo, and art historians refer to him as "Leonardo," not "da Vinci." Library catalogs follow the same convention. Spelling and language variants, including Lionardo and Léonard de Vinci, refer to the same artist.