As an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio, and while working on projects such as the completion of the dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, Leonardo absorbed the tradition of technical expertise coming from Filippo Brunelleschi and other 15th-century artists-engineers, such as Mariano di Iacopo (known as Taccola) and Lorenzo Ghiberti. During this period he probably consulted notebooks and manuscripts containing images and designs for machines.
