Leonardo da Vinci

Biography

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was a High Renaissance polymath trained in Verrocchio’s workshop, uniting painting with investigations in optics, anatomy, and geology. In 1516 he moved to France to serve Francis I, taking the Mona Lisa with him; after his death, it entered the French royal collection and later the Louvre [2][9].

Themes in Their Work

Jealousy & betrayalThe divine & the sacredMartyrdom & sacrificeMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Medium reflexivity (art about art)Originality, authorship, and appropriationMarriage & domesticityLandscape & placeHuman vs. natureBeauty & the idealChristian iconographyProphecy & vision

Featured Artworks

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci (1503–1519)

Leonardo da Vinci’s <strong>Mona Lisa</strong> fuses a poised, pyramidal sitter with a vast, dreamlike landscape, using <strong>sfumato</strong> to make her expression seem to change as we look. Light concentrates on the <strong>face and folded hands</strong>, while winding roads, a faint <strong>bridge</strong>, and eroded cliffs recede in bluish haze, binding human presence to nature’s durations <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup><sup>[4]</sup>.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci

The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci (1495–1498)

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper captures the instant after Christ declares a coming betrayal, freezing divine calm amid human tumult. At the center, Christ’s <strong>triangular stillness</strong> aligns with a one‑point perspective that funnels all space to his head, while bread and wine announce the <strong>Eucharist</strong>. Four flanking trios surge outward in shock, doubt, and protest, with Judas recoiling in shadow and clutching a <strong>purse</strong> of silver <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>.