Leonardo di Vinci, his paintings and works of art, and chiaroscuro come together to influence later works of art and many new techniques for painting and even photography as well.

Leonardo di Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. He was the son of a wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. He and his family settled into Florence in mid-1460 and Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, being a very cultural and artistic part of Italy, could offer. About 1466, Leonardo di Vinci was sent to be trained as a studio boy to Andrea del Verroccio (who happened to be a great Florentine painter and sculptor). Later, in 1482, he entered the service of the Duke of Milan (Ludovico Sforza) as the principal engineer and as an architect as well. The Duke had him painting, sculpting and designing court festivals as well working on designing weapons, buildings, and machinery. Leonardo's interests and studies differed so much that he failed half the time to finish projects and other things he had started. He only finished about six works of art in the seventeen years that he worked for the Duke of Milan. These works of art include The Last Supper and The Virgin on the Rocks, although he also left many paintings and works of art unfinished.

In 1499, after the French invaded and Ludovico Sforza fell from power, Leonardo di Vinci was left to look for a new patron. Over those next sixteen years, he worked and traveled throughout Italy. He found a few new patrons during those years, including Ceare Borgia. He traveled with Borgia’s army for about one year serving as a military engineer. In 1503, Leonardo di Vinci was a member of a group of artists who were supposed to decide on the right location for the David, the marble statue by Michelangelo.

From about 1513 to 1516, he worked in Rome on projects for the Pope Leo X, running his own workshop as well. During this time, he lived in the Palazzo Belvedere in the Vatican.

After his patron of this time (Giuliano de Medici) died in March of 1516, he was offered a job as Premier Painter, Engineer, and Architect of the King by Francis I in France. King Francis I, who happened to be his last patron, gave Leonardo di Vinci a well-paid, easy job. This job included an allowance of some sort and a manor house in Cloux, France, where he would later die on May 2, 1519.

Leonardo di Vinci has many, many paintings and works of art for which he is famous for. One of the most important of his paintings, during the Milan period was called The Virgn on the Rocks, which he seemingly worked on for a very long time. From 1495 to 1497 worked on his work of art called The Last Supper, a painting that shows the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. This was one painting in which he tried painting with oil on dry plaster and because of this, it had started to deterriorate by 1500. While staying in Milan, Leonardo also produced many other paintings, drawings, theature designs, and dome designs for the Milan Cathedral. During this time he also started a monument toFrancesco Sforza (who is the father of Ludovico) in the courtyard of Castello Sforzesco. Although this was left unfinished because in December 1499, the Sforza family was driven away from thier home from a french invasion, who also destroyed it.

During the second Florentine peroid, Leonardo painted many paintings, the only one of those surviving happens to be the Mona Lisa. The other name for this painting happens to be known as La Gioconda, supposedly after the name of the woman's husband. This painting is also known for the mysteriousness of the woman in the painting, some rumors say that she was pregnant and that is the reason for the grin on her face. Other scientists are saying that the woman was actually Leonardo himself, after studies of photoraphs of him and the painting. This painting is also an example of two different painting techniques, sfumato and chiaroscuro, which Leonardo was one of the best at.

The definition of chiaroscuro on dictionary.com is the distribution of light and shade in a picture: Painting. The use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, esp. to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect.

Chiaroscuro is a painting technique that uses tones, shades, shadows and highlights to make it look like there are three dimensions on a two dimensional surface.

Developed in the Renaissance, chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words for bright or clear and dark or obscure. It is usually translated as ‘light-dark’. Prior to the Renaissance, shapes were made to have outlines and were also flat and seemingly two-dimensional. They could even be considered as looking cartoonish today. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is the painter (other than Leonardo di Vinci) who is associated with chiaroscuro a lot. The idea behind chiaroscuro is that most people cannot design a colored object with a three-dimensional look or ‘feel’ mostly because their brain ‘overprocesses’ what a persons eye will actually see.

Leonardo di Vinci, his paintings and chiaroscuro come together by Leonardo di Vinci wanting to set himself apart. He was seeing the same pattern with all paintings before his time and even during his time. All of these paintings were ‘flat’ and lifeless. Even though they were on a two-dimensional surface, they could still look real and lifelike. Leonardo di Vinci decided that there should be a certain lifelike quality in art if it was supposed to be of something real like a human or an inanimate object. He wanted his paintings to be different and realistic so he came up with or ‘discovered’ chiaroscuro.

Leonardo di Vinci, his paintings and works of art, and chiaroscuro come together to influence later works of art and many new techniques for painting and even photography as well. Leonardo's discovery and invention of chiaroscuro affected art centuries after he had died, especially the 16th century. This new technique affected how artists painted in the 16th century, and in affect changed art forever. Chiaroscuro is also used today in photography and in flim as well.

There are many factors for PERSIA in the book Medici Money and any of these could be very influential for revolutionary change at this time. The Medici family is very much involved in economics with their banks. The building of different banks all over the city and even elsewhere was a cause for change, building, and revolution in this book. Although this is very influential, the most influential factor of PERSIA in this book is the politics. Politics was the cause for the most change for the Medici's and for all of the city as well because of their government. The people evolved with each other as a whole and as a community, which is why it is very revolutionary.

The way that these people went about running the government was different and caused a lot of change and revolution. To make sure that one person was not going to become a tyrant, there was a new government made up of eight priors and one gonfaloniere della giustizia (which means standard-bearer of justice) elected every two months. The men who were chosen to be a possibility had their names written on tags of paper, which were then put into leather bags representing different sections of the town. From this point nine names were chosen at random. There were two priors for each of the four quarters of the town which meant six priors from seven of the richer guilds, two priors from fourteen of the artisans guilds, and one other from the richer guilds to be elected the gonfaloniere della giustizia. Although these men were chosen at random, they were selected beforehand based on a certain criteria they had to meet which included family and financial history.

In 1421, Cosimo's father (Giovanni di Bicci) was elected gonfaloniere della giustizia (standard-bearer of justice) of the Florentine government. This was the first time a Medici had the honor since Silvestro sided with a revolt in 1378. This also meant that the Medici family was once again up , third richest in the city.

The city made it so that in order for no single man to rule, everyone will rule ( at least everyone from the wealthy classes) if only for a very brief amount of time. It was a smart and idealistic plan, but it was also not the best if they were going to try and decide long term happenings in the city. It is easy, though, to see how this could help a city to evolve on its own. By having every eligible man in the city running it at some point (for a brief time) it means that everyone is contributing to help make the city grow and develop. At this point in time politics was the most influential and biggest factor for revolutionary change in this city.