The Figures

Arts Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci

1452–1519; born in Vinci near Florence, worked across Florence, Milan, and finally the Loire in France

The archetypal Renaissance polymath — painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, and a relentless investigator of anatomy, water, flight, optics, and mechanics. Born out of wedlock in Vinci, apprenticed in Florence to Verrocchio, he served the Sforza in Milan and ended his days in France under Francis I. He filled thousands of mirror-written notebook pages with sketches and observations, dissected corpses to understand the body, and left much unfinished — pursuing knowledge for its own sake through direct observation of nature.

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Arts Renaissance

Michelangelo

1475–1564; born in Caprese near Arezzo, worked chiefly in Florence and Rome

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni — sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, the towering artist of the High Renaissance. He carved the Pietà and the David in marble, painted the ceiling and later the Last Judgment of the Sistine Chapel, and in old age designed the dome of St. Peter's. Fiercely proud, devout, and solitary — 'il Divino' to his contemporaries — he considered himself above all a sculptor, believing the figure lay imprisoned within the stone, waiting to be freed.

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Arts Enlightenment

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Enlightenment

Austrian composer of the Classical era, a prodigy who toured the courts of Europe as a child and grew into one of the most prolific and influential musicians in history. In a life of only thirty-five years he composed more than six hundred works — symphonies, concertos, chamber music, sacred music, and operas such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute — and left the unfinished Requiem at his death.

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Arts 1800s

Ludwig van Beethoven

Classical-Romantic Vienna

German composer and pianist who bridged the Classical and Romantic eras, composing nine symphonies, thirty-two piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, and much else. He created some of his greatest works while progressively losing his hearing, transforming personal anguish into music of unprecedented emotional force.

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Arts Modern

Frida Kahlo

20th Century

Mexican painter known for her searingly personal self-portraits fusing realism, symbolism, and Mexican folk art. Working through lifelong pain from a shattering bus accident, she turned her body, heritage, and turbulent marriage to Diego Rivera into unflinching, iconic art.

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