Leonardo Da Vinci lived during the period of history called the Renaissance, meaning a rebirth or new quest for knowledge. As well as painting, and sculpture, he also studied mathematics, anatomy, botany, zoology, optics, mechanics and engineering. He examined fossils and wrote about the origins of life. Leonardo is known as the greatest Renaissance Man because he was interested in everything. Da Vinci was born in 1452 at Vinci, in the Tuscany region of Italy. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the Florentine artist Verrocchio and in his studio he studied the new art of perspective, creating the illusion of distance on a flat surface, based on the principles of geometry. Leonardo believed that light and colour were just as important as perspective, in creating an impression of distance and depth. One of Leonardo's patrons was Duke Lodovici Sforza of Milan, and it was in that city that he produced his first masterpiece, The Last Supper, painted on a wall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. After that he produced his most famous painting, The Mona Lisa, the portrait of a merchant's wife. Soon, Leonardo was invited to France by King Francis. It was there, in 1519 Leonardo Da Vinci died and his paintings and inventions became famous.