artist easels
Although this panel is included in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by Leonardo, it is in all probability by his master, Verrocchio.] The date of Leonardo’s birth is not known with any certainty. His age is given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded that he was born in 1452. Leonardo’s father Ser Piero, who afterwards married four times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. Is it unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers in mind in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous “Last Supper” the figures of eleven Apostles and one outcast? However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his “love child” who very early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy.
But Leonardo Da Vinci who had had many patrons ranging from Duke Sforza, to the evil Cesare Borgia, was one who had no trouble adapting to his surroundings, and he did create several drawings including The Deluge, in which he portrayed the cataclysmic biblical event.