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 & betrayal The divine & the sacred Pilgrimage & devotion Flora & fauna Propaganda & ideology Martyrdom & sacrifice Fate vs. free will Mimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Medium reflexivity (art about art)Romantic love Originality, authorship, and appropriation Power & authority Marriage & domesticity Landscape & place Human vs. nature Fashion & adornment Beauty & the ideal Christian iconography Prophecy & vision

Where to See Leonardo da Vinci's Paintings

Explore Leonardo da Vinci's works on display in museums around the world.

Florence3 paintings London1 painting Milan2 paintings Paris5 paintings

Most Expensive Leonardo da Vinci Paintings

Explore ranked valuations of Leonardo da Vinci's most valuable works →

Featured Artworks

Lady with an Ermine

Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1489–1491)

Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine forges a new kind of court portrait, uniting poised intelligence with emblematic meaning through the sitter’s alert turn and the sleek, pale ermine. The painting transforms a likeness into a thesis on virtue, favor, and inward motion, using sfumato and a dynamic spiral pose to bind woman and animal in a single thought. Its afterlife—blackened background, misnaming inscription—adds a visible record of reception atop Leonardo’s original intent [1][3].

Virgin of the Rocks

Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1483–1494)

In Virgin of the Rocks, Leonardo da Vinci fuses sacred narrative with the natural world, staging the Holy Family and an angel inside a cavern where rock, water, and foliage form a living chapel. The angel’s pointing hand and outward gaze guide the viewer to the kneeling infant John as Mary shelters him and blesses the Christ Child, binding the group in a pyramidal, breath-like sfumato. By omitting overt markers like halos, Leonardo makes grace feel immanent within creation itself [1][2].

Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci (1503–1519)

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

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 triangular stillness aligns with a one‑point perspective that funnels all space to his head, while bread and wine announce the Eucharist. Four flanking trios surge outward in shock, doubt, and protest, with Judas recoiling in shadow and clutching a purse of silver [1][3].

Vitruvian Man

Leonardo da Vinci (1498 (museum catalog; often cited traditionally as c. 1490))

Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man fuses geometry, anatomy, and humanist philosophy into a single sheet. A double‑posed male body is inscribed within a circle and a square, with text in mirror writing that tests classical rules against measured observation. The drawing operates as a visual thesis that the human body is a microcosm ordered by ratio and reason [1][2].