One clue to this is the sculpture by his master [Andrea del]
Verrocchio, which is reputed to be based on the young Leonardo when he arrived at the studio at the age of about 14.
Born in Vinci, Italy, in 1452, Da Vinci was fourteen when he apprenticed for artist Andrea del
Verrocchio in Florence, a burgeoning city of commerce, art, and humanism.
From the age of 15, for about a decade, Vinci refined his painting and sculpting techniques and trained in mechanical arts with Andrea del
Verrocchio, of Florence and outshined as an independent master in around 1478.
Verrocchio was the son of Michele di Francesco Cioni, described as a fornaciaio, a man who used a kiln: he might have been a brickmaker, or involved in the production of ceramics.
The Virgin with the Laughing Child is the miraculous exception, according to the curators of the exhibition
Verrocchio: Master of Leonardo, at Palazzo Strozzi, where it has just gone on display in Rome.
Andrea del
Verrocchio, the British Guardian newspaper reported.
Find out more at the Palazzo Strozzi museum, which has an exhibition about
Verrocchio, who was Leonardo's teacher and mentor.
* Gestures used when describing the recent rain--Windows 98 manicule cursor;
Verrocchio's Christ and St.
And did you know his fate was changed by
Verrocchio when Leonardo was only 14 years old?
When Leonardo was about fourteen his biological father used his connections to apprentice his son in the studio of Andrea del
Verrocchio, a successful artist who lived in Florence.
At 14, he was apprenticed to the workshop of Andrea del
Verrocchio, who was (so Vasari claimed) "astonished" by his talent and with whom he collaborated before producing at least two early masterpieces, The Annunciation and (his first non-religious effort, and one to rank with the Mona Lisa) Ginevra de' Benci.