1435-1488. Italian painter, sculptor, and
goldsmith, born in Florence, where he ran a
large workshop and received commissions from
the Medici family. The vigorous equestrian
statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, begun 1481
(Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice), was his
last work. Verrocchio was a pupil of
Donatello and himself the early teacher of
Leonardo da Vinci. In his Baptism about 1472
(Uffizi, Florence) Leonardo is said to have
painted the kneeling angel shown in profile.
Verrocchio's sculptures include a bronze
Christ and St Thomas 1465 (Orsanmichele,
Florence) and David 1476 (Bargello,
Florence).