Verrocchio, Andrea del (Andrea di Cione, known as) (1435-1488)

Sculptor, goldsmith and painter. The presence of Leonardo in his shop is expressly documented in the records of the trial for sodomy that took place in 1476 («he stays with Andrea del Verrocchio»). That Leonardo belonged to Verrocchio's school is also confirmed by other sources and is clearly demonstrable on the basis of stylistic elements in such works as the Annunciation and the Baptism in the Uffizi.
Verrocchio's first workshop, in the years around 1470, was probably located in his house on the corner of Via dell’Agnolo and "Via Pentolini sive Malborghetto" (today's Via de’ Macci). Later, he «kept a pension with several rooms» in another quarter, behind the Cathedral, where some years earlier had been the shop of Michelozzo and Donatello, the latter of whom had profoundly influenced him.
In 1471, in the presence of the young Leonardo, Verrocchio managed to hoist the copper sphere to the top of the lantern over the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.
Famous among Verrocchio's sculptures now in Florence are: the David and the Lady with a Bunch of Flowers, now in the Bargello Museum, the Incredulity of St. Thomas for Orsanmichele, the Putto with a Dolphin on the fountain at the centre of the courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio and lastly, the Sepulchre of Piero and Giovanni de’ Medici in the Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo. It has been hypothesized by some art historians that Leonardo collaborated on these works.