Leonardo da Vinci, one of the great artists of the High Renaissance, was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist. His paintings influenced the Italian art style for more that a century after his death. His innovations in science lead to many developments of modern science. Leonardo was able to express on paper what he saw in his head and the world around him. Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in the town of Vinci, near Florence. Leonardo was an exceptional boy for his time. Leonardo was introduced to Andre del Verrocchio, an Italian painter, and sculptor. Leonardo was Verrocchio's assistant. In Verrocchio's, Baptism of Christ, Leonardo painted the kneeling angel in the left corner. Also, while working for Verrocchio. da Vinci created a portrait of Ginevra Benci and the Madonna with a Carnation. These paintings were traditional but included detail, such as the curling hair of Ginevra.
             After a few years working for Verrocchio, Leonardo decided to become independent. His first large painting, The Adoration of Magi, was left unfinished for the Monastery. While in his youth, Leonardo would finish the portrait of Ginerva de' Benco and he left Saint Jerome unfinished. While living in Milan, Italy, Leonardo created one of his masterpieces, The Last Supper. The Last Supper was a mural in the refectory of the Monastery of Santa Maria dell Grazie. Leonardo experimented with oil on dry plaster for The Last Supper mural.
             By the 1500's, Leonardo's masterpiece started to deteriorate. There have been many attempts to restore his mural, but they had to reverse some of the damage. Most of the original surface is gone, but the characterization of the figures still remands. In The Last Supper, Leonardo grouped the twelve apostles into three groups in a pyramid shape. Christ is isolated in the center of the three groups. The landscape in the rear of the picture, an opening in the wall, reveals that Christ is going to a...