Francesco Melzi, or Francesco de Melzi was an Italian painter born into a family of the Milanese nobility in Lombardy. He became a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci and remained as his closest friend and professional assistant throughout his career. After Leonardo’s death, Melzi became the literary executor of all Leonardo's papers and compiled them into a manuscript known as the Codex Urbinas. This compilation later served as the basis for the Trattato della Pittura, which was published posthumously by others based on Melzi’s organization of Leonardo’s notes.