Andrea del Verrocchio

Born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni around 1435, he took the name Verrocchio from his first master, a goldsmith, and built a workshop in Florence that became a proving ground for the next generation. Leonardo da Vinci passed through and helped paint The Baptism of Christ; so did Pietro Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi. Few paintings carry his name with certainty — his reputation rests on sculpture. The Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, his best-known work, was still unfinished when he died in 1488, but it stands as the anchor of his legacy: a master who shaped others m…