Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath during the High Renaissance, distinguished by his multifaceted engagement as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. Although initially celebrated for his artistic prowess, his renown expanded to encompass his extensive notebooks, which contain detailed drawings and observations across diverse disciplines such as anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is universally acknowledged as a quintessential genius, embodying the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his cumulative contributions to European art are considered unparalleled, rivaled solely by those of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded as a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works contributed to the development of European art to an extent rivalled only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.
Born illegitimately to a prominent notary and a woman of lower social standing in or near Vinci, Leonardo received his education in Florence under the tutelage of the Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He commenced his professional career in Florence, subsequently dedicating a significant period to the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he returned to work in both Florence and Milan, with a brief period in Rome, consistently attracting a substantial cohort of disciples and emulators. At the invitation of Francis I, he spent his final three years in France, where his life concluded in 1519. Since his demise, his multifaceted accomplishments, broad intellectual pursuits, personal narrative, and empirical methodologies have consistently captivated public interest and admiration, establishing him as a recurring cultural icon and subject.
Leonardo is recognized as one of the preeminent painters in the annals of Western art, frequently acknowledged as the progenitor of the High Renaissance. Despite a significant number of lost works and fewer than 25 attributed major pieces—many of which remain unfinished—he produced some of the most profoundly influential paintings within the Western artistic tradition. The Mona Lisa stands as his most celebrated creation and is considered the world's most renowned individual painting. Furthermore, The Last Supper holds the distinction of being the most reproduced religious painting in history, and his drawing, Vitruvian Man, is similarly revered as a cultural emblem. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, a work attributed either entirely or partially to Leonardo, achieved a record-breaking sale price of US$450.3 million at auction, establishing it as the most expensive painting ever sold publicly.
Esteemed for his profound technological ingenuity, Leonardo conceptualized a range of innovations, including flying machines, an armored fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, a ratio machine applicable to adding machines, and the double hull. During his lifetime, a limited number of his designs were actualized or even practical, primarily because contemporary scientific methodologies in metallurgy and engineering were still nascent during the Renaissance period. Nevertheless, some of his more modest inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a device for assessing wire tensile strength, were integrated into manufacturing processes without widespread recognition. He achieved significant breakthroughs in anatomy, civil engineering, hydrodynamics, geology, optics, and tribology; however, his failure to publish these discoveries meant they exerted minimal to no direct impact on subsequent scientific advancements.
Biography
Early Life (1452–1472)
Birth and Background
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci, was born on April 15, 1452, in or near Vinci, a Tuscan hill town situated 20 miles from Florence, Italy. He was the illegitimate son of Piero da Vinci (1426–1504), a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina di Meo Lippi (c. 1434–1494), who belonged to the lower social strata. The precise location of Leonardo's birth remains debated; traditional accounts, stemming from local oral history documented by historian Emanuele Repetti, suggest Anchiano, a rural hamlet offering discretion for an illegitimate birth. However, the possibility of his birth in a Florentine residence owned by Ser Piero cannot be excluded. Both of Leonardo's parents married other individuals in the year following his birth. Caterina, later referenced in Leonardo's personal notes simply as "Caterina" or "Catelina," is generally identified as Caterina Buti del Vacca, who married Antonio di Piero Buti del Vacca, a local artisan known by the epithet L'Accattabriga, meaning 'the quarrelsome one'. Ser Piero, having been betrothed the preceding year, married Albiera Amadori and, following her death in 1464, entered into three subsequent marriages. Through these unions, Leonardo acquired 16 half-siblings, 11 of whom survived infancy. These siblings were considerably younger than him—the youngest born when Leonardo was 46—and he maintained minimal contact with them.
Information regarding Leonardo's early life is sparse and largely obscured by myth, partly due to the frequently apocryphal biographical details presented in Giorgio Vasari's 1550 work, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Tax documentation suggests that by 1457, Leonardo resided in the household of his paternal grandfather, Antonio da Vinci. However, it is plausible that his preceding years were spent under his mother's care in Vinci, specifically in Anchiano or Campo Zeppi within the parish of San Pantaleone. He is believed to have maintained a close relationship with his uncle, Francesco da Vinci, while his father likely spent the majority of his time in Florence. Ser Piero, inheriting a distinguished lineage of notaries, established an official residence in Florence by at least 1469 and achieved a prosperous career. Notwithstanding his family's professional heritage, Leonardo received only a fundamental and informal education encompassing vernacular writing, reading, and mathematics. This educational trajectory was potentially influenced by the early recognition of his artistic aptitudes, prompting his family to prioritize their development.
In his later years, Leonardo documented what he believed to be his earliest memory, now preserved within the Codex Atlanticus. While engaged in writing about avian flight, he recounted an incident from infancy wherein a kite approached his cradle and opened his mouth with its tail. Scholars continue to debate whether this anecdote represents an authentic recollection or a fanciful invention.
Verrocchio's Workshop
During the mid-1460s, Leonardo's family relocated to Florence, then a pivotal center of Christian Humanist thought and culture. Approximately at the age of 14, he commenced his tenure as a garzone (studio assistant) in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, who was recognized as the foremost Florentine painter and sculptor of that era. This period coincided with the demise of Verrocchio's master, the eminent sculptor Donatello. Leonardo progressed to full apprenticeship by the age of 17, undergoing seven years of rigorous instruction. Other distinguished artists who apprenticed in or were affiliated with this workshop included Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo's training encompassed both theoretical instruction and a broad spectrum of technical proficiencies, such as drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metalworking, plaster casting, leatherworking, mechanics, and woodwork, alongside the artistic disciplines of drawing, painting, sculpting, and modeling.
Leonardo was a contemporary of Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and Perugino, all of whom were slightly older. He likely encountered them either at Verrocchio's workshop or at the Platonic Academy of the Medici. Florence was adorned with masterpieces by artists such as Masaccio, a contemporary of Donatello, whose figurative frescoes were characterized by realism and profound emotion, and Ghiberti, whose Gates of Paradise, resplendent with gold leaf, exemplified the integration of intricate figure compositions with detailed architectural backdrops. Piero della Francesca had conducted extensive research into perspective and was the first painter to undertake a scientific examination of light. These investigations, alongside Leon Battista Alberti's treatise De pictura, significantly influenced younger artists, particularly shaping Leonardo's own observations and artistic creations.
A substantial portion of the painting produced in Verrocchio's workshop was executed by his assistants. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his work The Baptism of Christ (c. 1472–1475), contributing the depiction of the young angel holding Jesus's robe with a skill purportedly superior to his master's, leading Verrocchio to abandon painting thereafter (a claim widely considered apocryphal). The innovative technique of oil paint was applied to specific areas of the predominantly tempera work, including the landscape, the rocks visible through the brown mountain stream, and much of Jesus's figure, suggesting Leonardo's involvement. Furthermore, Leonardo may have served as a model for two of Verrocchio's pieces: the bronze statue of David housed in the Bargello and the archangel Raphael in Tobias and the Angel.
Vasari recounts an anecdote from Leonardo's youth: a local peasant crafted a round buckler shield and requested that Ser Piero arrange for its painting. Inspired by the myth of Medusa, Leonardo produced a terrifying depiction of a fire-breathing monster. This artwork was so unsettling that his father acquired a different shield for the peasant and subsequently sold Leonardo's creation to a Florentine art dealer for 100 ducats, who then resold it to the Duke of Milan.
First Florentine Period (1472 – c. 1482)
By 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo attained master status within the Guild of Saint Luke, an association for artists and physicians. Despite his father establishing him in his own workshop, Leonardo's strong connection to Verrocchio led him to continue collaborating and cohabiting with his former master. Leonardo's earliest definitively dated work is a 1473 pen-and-ink drawing depicting the Arno valley. Vasari attributes to the young Leonardo the initial proposal for rendering the Arno river navigable between Florence and Pisa.
In January 1478, Leonardo secured an independent commission to create an altarpiece for the Chapel of Saint Bernard within the Florentine town hall, the Palazzo della Signoria, signifying his growing autonomy from Verrocchio's studio. An anonymous early biographer, known as Anonimo Gaddiano, asserts that by 1480, Leonardo resided with the Medici family and frequently worked in the garden of the Piazza San Marco, Florence, a site where a Neoplatonic academy of artists, poets, and philosophers, organized by the Medici, convened. In March 1481, he received a commission from the monks of San Donato in Scopeto for The Adoration of the Magi. Neither of these initial commissions reached completion, as they were abandoned when Leonardo departed to offer his services to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. Leonardo penned a letter to Sforza detailing his diverse capabilities in engineering and weapon design, also mentioning his painting skills. He presented Sforza with a silver string instrument—either a lute or lyre—fashioned in the shape of a horse's head.
Accompanied by Alberti, Leonardo visited the Medici household, through whom he became acquainted with prominent older Humanist philosophers. These included Marsiglio Ficino, a proponent of Neoplatonism; Cristoforo Landino, known for his commentaries on Classical texts; and John Argyropoulos, a Greek scholar and translator of Aristotle. Also affiliated with the Platonic Academy of the Medici was Leonardo's contemporary, the brilliant young poet and philosopher Pico della Mirandola. In 1482, Lorenzo de' Medici dispatched Leonardo as an ambassador to Ludovico il Moro, who governed Milan from 1479 to 1499.
First Milanese Period (c. 1482–1499)
Leonardo da Vinci's professional activities in Milan spanned from 1482 to 1499. During this period, he received commissions to create the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In the spring of 1485, acting on behalf of Sforza, Leonardo journeyed to Hungary to meet King Matthias Corvinus, who subsequently commissioned him to paint a Madonna. By 1490, he was engaged as a consultant, alongside Francesco di Giorgio Martini, for the construction site of Pavia Cathedral, where he was notably impressed by the Regisole equestrian statue, producing a sketch of it. Leonardo undertook numerous other assignments for Sforza, including the design of floats and pageants for ceremonial events, the creation of a drawing and wooden model for a Milan Cathedral cupola design competition, and a monumental equestrian statue model honoring Ludovico's predecessor, Francesco Sforza. This proposed monument, known as the Gran Cavallo, was intended to exceed the scale of the Renaissance's two other significant equestrian sculptures: Donatello's Gattamelata in Padua and Verrocchio's Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice. Although Leonardo completed a model of the horse and developed comprehensive plans for its bronze casting, Ludovico diverted the metal in November 1494 to his brother-in-law for the production of a cannon, intended for the defense of the city against Charles VIII of France.
Archival correspondence indicates that Leonardo and his team were commissioned by the Duke of Milan to execute paintings for the Sala delle Asse within Sforza Castle around c. 1498. This undertaking resulted in a trompe-l'œil decorative scheme, transforming the grand hall into an illusionistic pergola formed by the intertwined branches of sixteen mulberry trees, with an elaborate canopy of leaves and knots adorning the ceiling.
The Second Florentine Period (1500–1508).
Following the overthrow of Ludovico Sforza by French forces in 1500, Leonardo departed Milan for Venice, accompanied by his assistant Salaì and the mathematician Luca Pacioli. In Venice, he served as a military architect and engineer, developing defensive strategies against potential naval assaults. Upon his return to Florence in 1500, Leonardo and his entourage resided as guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata. There, he was provided with a workshop where, as documented by Vasari, he produced the cartoon for The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist. This artwork garnered such widespread acclaim that "men [and] women, young and old" congregated to view it "as if they were going to a solemn festival."
In 1502, while in Cesena, Leonardo joined the service of Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, functioning as a military architect and engineer and accompanying his patron across Italy. To secure Borgia's patronage, Leonardo produced a detailed map of his stronghold, specifically a town plan of Imola. Impressed by this work, Cesare appointed Leonardo as his chief military engineer and architect. Later that year, Leonardo created an additional map for Borgia, depicting the Chiana Valley in Tuscany, intended to provide his patron with enhanced topographical understanding and strategic advantage. This cartographic endeavor was undertaken concurrently with his project to construct a dam from the sea to Florence, designed to ensure a consistent water supply for the canal throughout the year.
By early 1503, Leonardo had departed Borgia's employ and returned to Florence, rejoining the Guild of Saint Luke on October 18 of that year. During the same month, Leonardo commenced work on a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the subject of the renowned Mona Lisa, a project he would continue for many years. In January 1504, he participated in a committee tasked with determining the optimal placement for Michelangelo's David statue. Subsequently, he dedicated two years in Florence to designing and painting a mural depicting The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, while Michelangelo simultaneously designed its complementary work, The Battle of Cascina.
In 1506, Charles II d'Amboise, the interim French governor of Milan, summoned Leonardo to the city. During this period, Leonardo accepted Count Francesco Melzi, a Lombard aristocrat's son, as a new pupil, who subsequently became regarded as his most favored student. Although the Council of Florence requested Leonardo's immediate return to complete The Battle of Anghiari, he received permission to remain, influenced by Louis XII's interest in commissioning portraits from the artist. Leonardo potentially initiated an equestrian sculpture project for d'Amboise; a surviving wax model is attributed to him, which, if confirmed, would represent his sole extant sculptural work, though its attribution lacks broad scholarly consensus. Apart from these artistic endeavors, Leonardo was able to freely pursue his scientific investigations. Several of Leonardo's notable pupils, such as Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, and Marco d'Oggiono, either knew him or collaborated with him in Milan. By 1507, Leonardo was in Florence resolving a familial dispute with his brothers concerning his father's estate, following his father's death in 1504.
The Second Milanese Period (1508–1513)
By 1508, Leonardo had returned to Milan, residing in his personal dwelling within Porta Orientale, located in the parish of Santa Babila.
In 1512, Leonardo developed designs for an equestrian monument dedicated to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio; however, this project was aborted due to an invasion by a coalition of Swiss, Spanish, and Venetian forces, which expelled the French from Milan. Leonardo remained in the city, subsequently spending several months in 1513 at the Medici family's villa in Vaprio d'Adda.
Rome and France (1513–1519)
In March 1513, Giovanni, son of Lorenzo de' Medici, ascended to the papacy as Leo X. Leonardo subsequently traveled to Rome that September, where Giuliano, the Pope's brother, received him. Between September 1513 and 1516, Leonardo resided primarily in the Belvedere Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace, a location where both Michelangelo and Raphael were also actively working. Leonardo received a monthly stipend of 33 ducats and, as documented by Vasari, reportedly adorned a lizard with scales coated in quicksilver. The Pope assigned him a painting commission of unspecified subject matter, which was later rescinded after the artist began experimenting with a novel varnish formulation. Leonardo subsequently experienced an illness, potentially the initial episode of several strokes that ultimately contributed to his demise. He engaged in botanical studies within the Vatican Gardens and was tasked with devising plans for the Pope's proposed drainage of the Pontine Marshes. Furthermore, he conducted cadaver dissections, compiling notes for a treatise on vocal cords; these observations were presented to an official in an attempt to regain papal favor, an effort that proved unsuccessful.
In October 1515, King Francis I of France successfully reclaimed Milan. On March 21, 1516, Antonio Maria Pallavicini, the French ambassador to the Holy See, received correspondence from Lyon, dispatched a week prior by royal advisor Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet. This letter conveyed the French monarch's directives to facilitate Leonardo's relocation to France and to apprise the artist of the King's anticipation of his arrival. Pallavicini was further instructed to assure Leonardo of a favorable reception at court, both from the King and his mother, Louise of Savoy. Leonardo subsequently entered Francis's service later that year, being granted the use of the Clos Lucé manor house, situated near the King's royal residence at the Château d'Amboise. Francis frequently visited him, and Leonardo drafted designs for a vast fortified town that the King intended to construct at Romorantin. Additionally, he engineered a mechanical lion that, during a ceremonial procession, advanced towards the King and, when tapped by a wand, opened its chest to disclose a cluster of lilies.
During this period, Leonardo was accompanied by his friend and apprentice, Francesco Melzi, and received a pension amounting to 10,000 scudi. Melzi eventually produced a portrait of Leonardo; other known likenesses from Leonardo's lifetime include a sketch by an unidentified assistant on the reverse of one of Leonardo's studies (c. 1517) and a drawing by Giovanni Ambrogio Figino portraying an elderly Leonardo with his right arm enveloped in fabric. This latter depiction, alongside documentation of an October 1517 He maintained some level of professional activity until he eventually fell ill and remained bedridden for several months.
Demise
On May 2, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci passed away at Clos Lucé at the age of 67, with a stroke being the probable cause of death. King Francis I had developed a close personal friendship with him. According to Vasari, Leonardo expressed profound remorse on his deathbed, lamenting that he had "offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done." Vasari further recounts that in his final days, Leonardo requested a priest for confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. While Vasari also documented the King cradling Leonardo's head during his final moments, this account is often considered more legendary than factual. Pursuant to his last will and testament, sixty beggars bearing tapers accompanied Leonardo's casket. Melzi was designated as the primary heir and executor, inheriting not only monetary assets but also Leonardo's paintings, tools, library, and personal effects. Salaì, another long-standing pupil and companion, along with his servant Baptista de Vilanis, each received half of Leonardo's vineyards. His brothers were bequeathed land, and his serving woman received a fur-lined cloak. On August 12, 1519, Leonardo's remains were interred within the Collegiate Church of Saint Florentin, located at the Château d'Amboise.
Approximately two decades following Leonardo's demise, the goldsmith and sculptor Benvenuto Cellini recounted King Francis I's assertion that "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."
Upon his death in 1524, Salaì possessed a painting identified as Joconda in a posthumous inventory of his estate; this work received an appraisal of 505 lire, an unusually substantial valuation for a small panel portrait.
Personal Life
Although Leonardo da Vinci bequeathed thousands of pages in his notebooks and manuscripts, he rarely documented aspects of his personal life.
During his lifetime, Leonardo's remarkable inventive capabilities, his "great physical beauty," and "infinite grace," as chronicled by Vasari, alongside other facets of his existence, captivated public interest. A notable characteristic was his profound affection for animals, which likely encompassed vegetarianism and, as Vasari reported, a practice of acquiring caged birds solely to set them free.
Leonardo cultivated numerous friendships with individuals who achieved prominence in their respective fields or held historical importance, such as the mathematician Luca Pacioli, with whom he collaborated on the treatise Divina proportione during the 1490s. He seemingly maintained no intimate relationships with women, apart from his friendships with Cecilia Gallerani and the Este sisters, Beatrice and Isabella. During a journey through Mantua, he sketched a portrait of Isabella, which is believed to have served as the basis for a painted portrait that is now lost.
In 1490, Salaì, also known as Il Salaino ("The Little Unclean One," implying a mischievous or devilish nature), joined Leonardo's household as an assistant. Within a year, Leonardo documented a litany of Salaì's misdeeds, labeling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn, and a glutton," noting that he had absconded with money and valuables on at least five occasions and squandered considerable sums on attire. Despite these transgressions, Leonardo exhibited considerable indulgence towards him, and Salaì remained a member of Leonardo's household for the subsequent three decades. Salaì produced paintings under the name Andrea Salaì; however, despite Vasari's assertion that Leonardo "taught him many things about painting," his artistic output is typically regarded as possessing less merit compared to that of other Leonardo pupils, including Marco d'Oggiono and Boltraffio.
Beyond the realm of platonic friendship, Leonardo maintained a discreet private life. His sexuality has consequently become a recurring subject of satire, academic analysis, and speculative inquiry. This interpretive trend originated in the mid-16th century and experienced a resurgence in the 19th and 20th centuries, notably through Sigmund Freud's work, Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood. Leonardo's most profound personal connections were arguably with his pupils, Salaì and Melzi. Melzi, in a letter notifying Leonardo's brothers of his passing, characterized Leonardo's sentiments toward his pupils as both affectionate and fervent. Since the 16th century, assertions have been made regarding the sexual or erotic nature of these relationships. In his biography of Leonardo, Walter Isaacson explicitly posits that the relationship with Salaì was intimate and homosexual.
In 1476, at the age of twenty-four, court records indicate that Leonardo and three other young men faced accusations of sodomy in connection with a known male prostitute. These charges were subsequently dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Speculation suggests that the dismissal may have resulted from the influence of the Medici family, given that one of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was a relative of Lorenzo de' Medici. Subsequently, extensive scholarly discourse has explored his presumed homosexuality and its thematic implications within his artistic oeuvre, particularly evident in the androgynous and erotic qualities observed in works such as Saint John the Baptist and Bacchus, as well as in various explicit erotic drawings.
Paintings
While contemporary scholarship increasingly recognizes Leonardo da Vinci's contributions as a scientist and inventor, for nearly four centuries, his renown primarily stemmed from his accomplishments as a painter. A select number of works, either definitively authenticated or widely attributed to him, are considered paramount masterpieces. These artworks are celebrated for diverse characteristics that have inspired extensive emulation among students and provoked considerable critical and connoisseurial analysis. By the 1490s, Leonardo had already earned the epithet of a "Divine" painter.
Distinguishing features of Leonardo's artistic output include his pioneering methods for paint application; his profound understanding of anatomy, optics, botany, and geology; his keen interest in physiognomy and the nuanced portrayal of human emotion through facial expression and gesture; his inventive integration of the human form within figurative compositions; and his mastery of subtle tonal gradations. These attributes coalesce most prominently in his celebrated painted masterpieces: the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, and the Virgin of the Rocks.
Early works
Leonardo initially garnered recognition for his contribution to the Baptism of Christ, a collaborative effort with Verrocchio. Additionally, two other paintings, both depicting the Annunciation, are believed to originate from his period within Verrocchio's workshop. One of these is a smaller piece, measuring 59 centimetres (23 in) in length and 14 cm (5.5 in) in height. This work functions as a predella, originally forming the base of a larger composition by Lorenzo di Credi, from which it has since been detached. The second Annunciation is considerably larger, extending 217 cm (85 in) in length. For both Annunciation depictions, Leonardo employed a conventional compositional structure, reminiscent of two renowned works by Fra Angelico on the identical theme: the Virgin Mary is positioned seated or kneeling on the right, while an angel, depicted in profile with an opulent, flowing garment, elevated wings, and bearing a lily, approaches from the left. While previously ascribed to Ghirlandaio, the larger Annunciation is now widely accepted as a work by Leonardo.
Within the smaller painting, Mary's averted gaze and clasped hands convey a symbolic gesture of submission to divine will. Conversely, in the larger composition, Mary's demeanor does not suggest submission. Here, the young woman, interrupted during her reading by the unexpected arrival of the messenger, places a finger in her Bible to mark her page and raises her hand in a formal gesture indicative of greeting or astonishment. This serene figure seemingly embraces her destiny as the Mother of God, not through passive resignation, but with an air of assured confidence. Through this artwork, the nascent Leonardo articulates a humanist portrayal of the Virgin Mary, acknowledging humanity's integral role in the Incarnation.
Paintings of the 1480s
During the 1480s, Leonardo secured two significant commissions and initiated a third project that proved compositionally groundbreaking. Of these three endeavors, two remained incomplete, while the third's protracted execution led to extensive negotiations concerning its finalization and remuneration.
Among these works was Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, a painting that Bortolon connects to a challenging phase in Leonardo's life, a sentiment echoed in his diary entry: "I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die." Despite its nascent state, the painting reveals a highly unconventional compositional structure. Saint Jerome, depicted as a penitent, is centrally positioned within the canvas, rendered on a subtle diagonal axis and observed from a slightly elevated perspective. His kneeling posture forms a trapezoidal silhouette, with one arm extending towards the painting's periphery and his gaze directed contrarily. J. Wasserman highlights the intrinsic connection between this artwork and Leonardo's extensive anatomical investigations. Dominating the foreground is the saint's symbolic attribute, a formidable lion, whose body and tail form a double spiral across the lower portion of the pictorial plane. Another notable element is the preliminary landscape, characterized by rugged, craggy rocks that serve as a stark backdrop for the silhouetted figure.
The audacious figural composition, landscape elements, and dramatic narrative observed in other works are also evident in the monumental, unfinished masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi. This work was commissioned by the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto and features a complex composition measuring approximately 250 × 250 centimetres. Leonardo executed numerous preparatory drawings and studies for this piece, including a meticulous linear perspective rendering of the dilapidated classical architecture integrated into the background. The painting was ultimately abandoned in 1482 when Leonardo relocated to Milan, dispatched by Lorenzo de' Medici to cultivate favor with Ludovico il Moro.
A third significant work from this era is the Virgin of the Rocks, commissioned in Milan by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. This painting, intended to be executed with the assistance of the de Predis brothers, was designed to occupy a substantial and intricate altarpiece. Leonardo opted to depict an apocryphal episode from Christ's infancy, portraying the infant John the Baptist, under angelic protection, encountering the Holy Family en route to Egypt. The artwork conveys an ethereal beauty through its graceful figures, who kneel in reverence around the infant Christ amidst a rugged landscape characterized by cascading rocks and swirling water. Although substantial in size, approximately 200 × 120 centimetres, its complexity is considerably less than that of the painting commissioned by the San Donato monks, featuring only four figures instead of approximately fifty, and a rocky setting rather than elaborate architectural elements. Ultimately, two versions of the painting were completed: one remained in the Confraternity's chapel, while Leonardo transported the other to France. However, neither the Confraternity received their painting nor the de Predis brothers their remuneration until the subsequent century.
The most notable portrait by Leonardo from this period is the Lady with an Ermine, widely believed to depict Cecilia Gallerani (c. 1483–1490), a mistress of Ludovico Sforza. This artwork is distinguished by the subject's pose, wherein the head is oriented at a significantly different angle from the torso, a departure from the prevalent rigid profile portraits of the era. The ermine prominently featured in the painting clearly holds symbolic significance, potentially alluding either to the sitter herself or to Ludovico, who was a member of the esteemed Order of the Ermine.
Artworks from the 1490s
Leonardo's most renowned painting from the 1490s is The Last Supper, commissioned for the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. This monumental work depicts the final meal shared by Jesus with his disciples prior to his apprehension and crucifixion, specifically capturing the moment immediately following Jesus's declaration, "one of you will betray me," and the ensuing consternation among his followers.
The author Matteo Bandello documented his observations of Leonardo's working methods, noting that on certain days, the artist would paint continuously from dawn until dusk without interruption for sustenance, only to then abstain from painting for three or four consecutive days. This erratic schedule proved incomprehensible to the convent's prior, who persistently pressured Leonardo until the artist sought the intervention of Ludovico. Vasari recounts that Leonardo, grappling with the challenge of accurately portraying the visages of Christ and the betrayer Judas, informed the duke that he might be compelled to utilize the prior as a model.
Although initially lauded as a masterpiece of compositional design and psychological characterization, the painting suffered rapid deterioration. Within a century, one observer described it as "completely ruined." Leonardo's departure from the durable fresco technique, opting instead for tempera applied over a gesso-based ground, rendered the surface susceptible to mold and flaking. Nevertheless, this artwork persists as one of the most frequently reproduced pieces in art history, with innumerable copies created across diverse mediums.
Concluding this period, in 1498, Leonardo executed the trompe-l'œil decoration of the Sala delle Asse for the Duke of Milan within the Castello Sforzesco.
Artworks from the 1500s
In 1505, Leonardo received a commission to create The Battle of Anghiari for the Salone dei Cinquecento ("Hall of the Five Hundred") within the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Leonardo conceived a vigorous composition portraying four individuals mounted on furious warhorses, fiercely contending for a standard during the Battle of Anghiari in 1440. Michelangelo was simultaneously tasked with depicting the Battle of Cascina on the opposing wall. Leonardo's painting experienced swift degradation and is presently recognized primarily through a copy by Rubens.
Among Leonardo's sixteenth-century creations is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, often translated as "the laughing one." Currently, it is widely considered the most famous painting globally. Its renown stems primarily from the enigmatic expression on the woman's face, its mysterious quality potentially attributable to the delicately shaded contours of the mouth and eyes, rendering the precise character of the smile indeterminate. This characteristic chiaroscuro, for which the artwork is celebrated, is termed sfumato, or "Leonardo's smoke." Vasari noted that the smile was "so pleasing that it seems more divine than human, and it was considered a wondrous thing that it was as lively as the smile of the living original."
Additional distinctive features of the painting include the unembellished attire, which directs focus exclusively to the subject's eyes and hands; a dynamic landscape backdrop, conveying a sense of perpetual transformation; a restrained palette; and the exceptionally fluid application of paint, utilizing oils akin to tempera, meticulously blended to render brushstrokes imperceptible. Vasari expressed that the painting's quality would cause even "the most confident master ... despair and lose heart." Its pristine state of preservation, devoid of any indications of repair or overpainting, is exceptional for a panel painting of this period.
Within the artwork Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the composition revisits the thematic integration of figures within a landscape setting, a quality Wasserman characterizes as "breathtakingly beautiful" and reminiscent of the Saint Jerome, where the central figure is positioned obliquely. A distinctive aspect of this composition is the superimposition of two figures, both rendered at an oblique angle. The Virgin Mary is depicted seated upon the lap of her mother, Saint Anne. Mary leans forward, gently restraining the Christ Child, who is depicted engaging playfully with a lamb, an emblematic foreshadowing of his future sacrifice. This frequently replicated painting significantly influenced Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto, and subsequently, through their influence, Pontormo and Correggio. These compositional innovations were notably adopted by the Venetian painters Tintoretto and Veronese.
Drawings
Leonardo distinguished himself as a prolific draughtsman, maintaining extensive journals replete with both preliminary sketches and intricate drawings, meticulously documenting diverse observations. Beyond these journals, numerous preparatory studies for paintings survive, several of which are identifiable as preliminary stages for specific masterpieces, including The Adoration of the Magi, The Virgin of the Rocks, and The Last Supper. His earliest precisely dated drawing, the Landscape of the Arno Valley from 1473, meticulously depicts the river, surrounding mountains, Montelupo Castle, and the adjacent farmlands.
Notable among his celebrated drawings are the Vitruvian Man, a comprehensive study of human anatomical proportions; the Head of an Angel, intended for The Virgin of the Rocks, housed in the Louvre; a botanical rendering of the Star of Bethlehem; and a substantial drawing (160 × 100 cm) executed in black chalk on colored paper, depicting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, located at the National Gallery, London. This particular drawing showcases the subtle sfumato shading technique, reminiscent of that employed in the Mona Lisa. It is generally believed that Leonardo never translated this drawing into a painting; its closest pictorial analogue is The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, also in the Louvre.
Leonardo's oeuvre also encompasses numerous studies, frequently termed "caricatures," which, despite their exaggerated features, demonstrably derive from direct observation of living subjects. Vasari documented Leonardo's practice of seeking distinctive countenances in public settings to serve as models for his artistic creations. A significant collection of studies portrays attractive young men, often linked to Salaì, featuring the highly esteemed and uncommon "Grecian profile." These visages frequently appear in juxtaposition with those of warriors. Salaì is recurrently depicted in elaborate costume, and it is plausible that these depictions relate to Leonardo's known involvement in designing theatrical sets for pageants. Additionally, many meticulous drawings illustrate studies of drapery, with a notable progression in Leonardo's mastery of drapery rendering evident in his early artistic output. A widely disseminated and macabre sketch, executed by Leonardo in Florence in 1479, depicts the body of Bernardo Baroncelli, who was executed by hanging for his involvement in the Pazzi conspiracy, specifically the murder of Giuliano, brother of Lorenzo de' Medici. Leonardo's personal notes meticulously document the specific colors of the garments Baroncelli wore at the time of his death.
Paralleling his contemporaries, architects Donato Bramante (designer of the Belvedere Courtyard) and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Leonardo explored various designs for centrally planned churches. These conceptualizations, presented as both architectural plans and perspectives, are documented in his journals, though none were ultimately constructed.
Journals and Notations
Within the framework of Renaissance humanism, which did not posit a dichotomy between the sciences and the arts, Leonardo's investigations in scientific and engineering domains are frequently regarded as equally profound and pioneering as his artistic achievements. These extensive studies are preserved across 13,000 pages of notes and illustrations, effectively integrating artistic expression with natural philosophy, the precursor to contemporary scientific inquiry. Compiled and meticulously updated daily throughout his life and travels, these records reflect his incessant observations of the natural world. Leonardo's extensive notations and sketches reveal an extraordinary breadth of interests and concerns, spanning from quotidian entries like grocery lists and records of debts to imaginative concepts such as designs for wings and devices for aquatic locomotion. The content encompasses compositional sketches for paintings, detailed analyses of drapery, explorations of human physiognomy and emotional states, depictions of animals and infants, anatomical dissections, botanical studies, geological formations, hydrological phenomena like whirlpools, as well as designs for military apparatus, aeronautical devices, and architectural structures.
Following Leonardo's demise, his extensive notebooks, originally comprising disparate loose papers of varying dimensions, were primarily bequeathed to his pupil and heir, Francesco Melzi. The intended publication of these works presented an immense challenge, primarily due to their vast scope and Leonardo's distinctive, often unconventional, writing style. An anonymous Milanese artist subsequently copied a selection of Leonardo's drawings for an anticipated art treatise, known as the Codex Huygens, dated approximately c. 1570. Upon Melzi's death in 1570, the collection transferred to his son, Orazio, a lawyer who initially demonstrated minimal interest in the journals. In 1587, Lelio Gavardi, a tutor within the Melzi household, illicitly removed thirteen manuscripts to Pisa. Subsequently, the architect Giovanni Magenta confronted Gavardi regarding this unauthorized removal and facilitated their return to Orazio. Possessing a substantial number of similar works, Orazio then presented these volumes as a gift to Magenta. As awareness of these previously unlocated Leonardo works grew, Orazio successfully recovered seven of the thirteen manuscripts, which he subsequently entrusted to Pompeo Leoni for publication in a two-volume edition; one of these notable volumes was the Codex Atlanticus. The remaining six works had, by then, been dispersed among various individuals. Following Orazio's death, his heirs proceeded to sell the remaining Leonardo possessions, initiating their widespread dispersal.
Portions of these works are now housed in prominent collections, including the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which notably preserves the 12-volume Codex Atlanticus. The British Library in London has also digitized a selection from the Codex Arundel (BL Arundel MS 263). Additionally, some works have been located at Holkham Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and within the private collections of John Nicholas Brown I and Robert Lehman. The Codex Leicester stands as Leonardo's sole major scientific work remaining in private ownership, currently belonging to Bill Gates, and is exhibited annually in various global cities.
A significant portion of Leonardo's written work is rendered in mirror-image cursive. This script was likely adopted due to his left-handedness, which would have facilitated writing from right to left. Leonardo employed various forms of shorthand and symbolic representations, indicating in his notes an intention to prepare these materials for publication. Frequently, a single sheet comprehensively addresses a topic through both textual and pictorial means, ensuring that the conveyed information would remain coherent even if the pages were disseminated non-sequentially. The precise reasons for their non-publication during Leonardo's lifetime remain undetermined.
Scientific Pursuits and Inventions
Leonardo's scientific methodology was primarily observational, characterized by an endeavor to comprehend phenomena through meticulous description and depiction, rather than through extensive experimentation or theoretical exposition. Due to his limited formal education in Latin and mathematics, Leonardo's scientific contributions were largely overlooked by his contemporaries, despite his self-taught proficiency in Latin. Nevertheless, his acute observations across various domains were acknowledged, exemplified by his assertion, "Il sole non si muove" ("The Sun does not move").
During the 1490s, Leonardo pursued mathematical studies under Luca Pacioli, for whom he produced a series of skeletal drawings of regular solids. These illustrations were subsequently engraved as plates for Pacioli's treatise, Divina proportione, which was published in 1509. While residing in Milan, he conducted investigations into light phenomena observed from the peak of Monte Rosa. His scientific annotations concerning fossils, found within his notebooks, are regarded as having contributed significantly to the nascent field of palaeontology.
The extensive content of Leonardo's journals indicates his intention to compose a series of treatises encompassing diverse subjects. A comprehensive anatomical treatise was reportedly observed by Cardinal Louis d'Aragon's secretary during a Selected elements of his investigations into anatomy, light, and landscape were compiled for publication by Melzi, ultimately appearing as A Treatise on Painting in France and Italy in 1651, and subsequently in Germany in 1724. This publication featured engravings derived from the drawings of the Classical artist Nicolas Poussin. Arasse posits that this treatise, which achieved 62 editions in France within a fifty-year span, established Leonardo's reputation as "the precursor of French academic thought on art."
Although Leonardo's experimental practices adhered to scientific methodologies, a recent comprehensive analysis by Fritjof Capra characterizes Leonardo as a scientist fundamentally distinct from figures such as Galileo, Newton, and their successors. Capra argues that, as a quintessential "Renaissance Man," Leonardo's theoretical and hypothetical frameworks inherently integrated the arts, with a particular emphasis on painting.
Anatomical and Physiological Studies
Leonardo commenced his anatomical studies of the human body during his apprenticeship with Verrocchio, who mandated that his students acquire a profound understanding of the subject. As an artist, he rapidly achieved mastery of topographic anatomy, producing numerous detailed studies of muscles, tendons, and other discernible anatomical structures.
Leveraging his renown as an artist, Leonardo secured authorization to dissect human cadavers at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, and subsequently at medical institutions in Milan and Rome. Between 1510 and 1511, he collaborated on these investigations with Dr. Marcantonio della Torre, who held the professorship of Anatomy at the University of Pavia. Leonardo produced over 240 intricate drawings and approximately 13,000 words of text, all intended for an anatomical treatise. However, only a limited portion of this anatomical material was eventually incorporated into Leonardo's Treatise on Painting. While Melzi organized the material into chapters for prospective publication, these works were scrutinized by prominent anatomists and artists, including Vasari, Cellini, and Albrecht Dürer, who subsequently created their own drawings based on Leonardo's studies.
Leonardo's extensive anatomical drawings encompass numerous studies of the human skeleton, its constituent components, and the intricate systems of muscles and sinews. His investigations into the mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces exerted upon it demonstrated an approach that anticipated the principles of modern biomechanics. He meticulously depicted the heart and vascular system, the reproductive organs, and other internal viscera, notably producing one of the earliest scientific illustrations of a fetus in utero. These drawings and accompanying notations were remarkably advanced for their era, and their publication would unquestionably have constituted a significant advancement in medical science.
Leonardo meticulously documented the physiological impact of age and human emotion, with a particular focus on the effects of aging. His drawings frequently depicted individuals exhibiting significant facial deformities or signs of illness. Furthermore, Leonardo conducted extensive comparative anatomical studies of numerous animals, dissecting cows, birds, monkeys, bears, and frogs to compare their anatomical structures with those of humans. He also undertook detailed studies of horses.
Leonardo's dissections and comprehensive documentation of muscles, nerves, and vessels significantly advanced the understanding of movement's physiology and biomechanics. He endeavored to pinpoint the origins and expressions of emotions. Initially, he struggled to reconcile his observations with the prevailing humoral theories of bodily functions, but he ultimately abandoned these traditional physiological explanations. His investigations revealed that humors were not situated in cerebral spaces or ventricles, nor were they contained within the heart or liver. He definitively established the heart's role in defining the circulatory system and was the first to describe atherosclerosis and liver cirrhosis. To further his research, he innovatively created models of the cerebral ventricles using melted wax and constructed a glass aorta to observe blood circulation through the aortic valve, employing water and grass seed to visualize flow patterns.
Engineering and Inventions
Throughout his life, Leonardo was also highly esteemed as an engineer. Applying the same rigorous analytical methodology that guided his anatomical investigations and representations of the human body, Leonardo extensively studied and designed a multitude of machines and devices. He rendered their "anatomy" with unparalleled mastery, pioneering the modern technical drawing, including a perfected "exploded view" technique to illustrate internal components. The studies and projects compiled in his codices span over 5,000 pages. In a 1482 letter to Ludovico il Moro, the lord of Milan, Leonardo asserted his capability to create diverse machines for both urban defense and siege warfare. After fleeing Milan for Venice in 1499, he secured employment as an engineer, where he devised a system of movable barricades to protect the city from attack. In 1502, he conceptualized a scheme for diverting the Arno River's flow, a project also involving Niccolò Machiavelli. He continued to contemplate the canalization of Lombardy's plains while in the company of Louis XII, and later, the Loire River and its tributaries alongside Francis I. Leonardo's journals contain a vast array of inventions, encompassing both practical and theoretical designs, such as musical instruments, a mechanical knight, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, and a steam cannon.
Leonardo maintained a profound interest in the phenomenon of flight for much of his life, conducting extensive investigations and producing numerous studies, including the Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505). He also conceptualized plans for several flying machines, such as a flapping ornithopter and a device featuring a helical rotor. A 2003 documentary by the British television station Channel Four, titled Leonardo's Dream Machines, interpreted and constructed various designs by Leonardo, including a parachute and a giant crossbow. Some of these designs proved successful, while others demonstrated less efficacy during testing. Similarly, in the 2009 American television series Doing DaVinci, a team of engineers built ten machines designed by Leonardo, among them a fighting vehicle and a self-propelled cart.
Scholarship by Marc van den Broek has uncovered antecedent designs for over 100 inventions commonly attributed to Leonardo. Striking resemblances between Leonardo's illustrations and drawings from the Middle Ages, Ancient Greece and Rome, the Chinese and Persian Empires, and Egypt suggest that a significant portion of these inventions had been conceptualized prior to his lifetime. Leonardo's innovation resided in his ability to synthesize different functions from existing drafts and recontextualize them within scenes that vividly illustrated their utility. By reconstituting technical inventions, he effectively created novel applications and designs.
In his notebooks, Leonardo articulated the 'laws' of sliding friction in 1493. His inspiration for investigating friction partially stemmed from his study of perpetual motion, which he accurately determined to be infeasible. His results remained unpublished, and the friction laws were not independently rediscovered until 1699 by Guillaume Amontons, with whom they are now commonly associated. For this contribution, Leonardo was recognized as the inaugural member of the 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.
Legacy
Although he lacked formal academic instruction, numerous historians and scholars consider Leonardo the foremost embodiment of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man," an individual characterized by "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination." He is broadly acknowledged as one of history's most multifaceted talents. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were unparalleled in documented history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote." Academics posit that his worldview was fundamentally logical, though his empirical methodologies were unconventional for his era.
Leonardo's renown during his lifetime was so profound that the King of France reportedly treated him as a prized acquisition, allegedly providing for him in his later years and cradling him at his passing. The fascination with Leonardo and his oeuvre has persisted without abatement. His most celebrated artworks continue to draw large audiences, his iconic drawing remains a prevalent motif on apparel, and scholars and authors consistently laud his genius, simultaneously engaging in conjecture regarding his personal life and his fundamental convictions.
The enduring esteem Leonardo garnered from painters, critics, and historians is evidenced in numerous other literary commendations. Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il Cortegiano (The Courtier), wrote in 1528: "...Another of the greatest painters in this world looks down on this art in which he is unequalled..." while the biographer identified as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c. 1540: "His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf..." Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists (1568), commences his chapter on Leonardo by stating:
In the normal course of events many men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvellously endowed by Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill. Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that all problems he studied he solved with ease.
The 19th century witnessed a distinct appreciation for Leonardo's genius, prompting Henry Fuseli to articulate in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence: made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius..." This sentiment was reiterated by A. E. Rio, who observed in 1861: "He towered above all other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."
By the 19th century, the breadth of Leonardo's notebooks, alongside his paintings, had become widely recognized. Hippolyte Taine commented in 1866: "There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."
In 1896, art historian Bernard Berenson penned the following:
Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into life-communicating values.
The scholarly fascination with Leonardo's genius has persisted without interruption; specialists meticulously examine and translate his manuscripts, employ scientific methodologies to analyze his artworks, engage in debates concerning attributions, and endeavor to locate documented but undiscovered works. Liana Bortolon, in her 1967 commentary, observed:
Given the extensive range of interests that propelled Leonardo to explore every domain of knowledge, he is justifiably regarded as the quintessential universal genius, a designation imbued with inherent unsettling connotations. Humanity today experiences a similar unease when confronted with such genius as was prevalent in the 16th century. Five centuries later, Leonardo continues to command profound awe.
The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana represents a specialized collection maintained by the University of California, Los Angeles.
In his biography of Leonardo, twenty-first-century author Walter Isaacson extensively drew upon thousands of notebook entries, meticulously analyzing the personal notes, sketches, financial records, and reflections of the individual he considers the foremost innovator. Isaacson expressed surprise at discovering a "fun, joyous" dimension to Leonardo's character, alongside his renowned boundless curiosity and creative genius.
Commemorating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, the Louvre in Paris hosted its most comprehensive solo exhibition of his work, titled Leonardo, from November 2019 to February 2020. This exhibition showcased over 100 paintings, drawings, and notebooks, featuring eleven of the paintings completed by Leonardo during his lifetime. Although five of these works are part of the Louvre's permanent collection, the Mona Lisa was excluded from the exhibition due to its exceptional popularity with general museum visitors, remaining instead on permanent display in its dedicated gallery. In contrast, the Vitruvian Man was exhibited following a legal resolution with its owner, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. The Salvator Mundi was also not included, as its Saudi owner did not consent to loan the artwork.
The Mona Lisa, widely considered Leonardo's magnum opus, is frequently recognized as the most celebrated portrait ever created. Furthermore, The Last Supper holds the distinction of being the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and Leonardo's drawing of Vitruvian Man is similarly regarded as a prominent cultural icon.
A comprehensive genetic genealogy study of Leonardo, conducted over more than a decade by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato, concluded in mid-2021. This research established the existence of 14 living male relatives of the artist. Furthermore, the findings could contribute to determining the authenticity of human remains purportedly belonging to Leonardo.
Location of Remains
While Leonardo was definitively interred in the collegiate church of Saint Florentin at the Château d'Amboise on August 12, 1519, the current location of his remains is ambiguous. Extensive damage to the Château d'Amboise during the French Revolution led to the church's demolition in 1802. During this event, some graves were destroyed, scattering the interred bones and consequently rendering the precise whereabouts of Leonardo's remains a matter of dispute; it has even been suggested that a gardener may have reburied some in a courtyard corner.
In 1863, Arsène Houssaye, the inspector general of fine arts, received an imperial commission to excavate the site. His efforts uncovered a partially complete skeleton featuring a bronze ring on one finger, white hair, and stone fragments bearing the inscriptions "EO," "AR," "DUS," and "VINC," which were subsequently interpreted as forming "Leonardus Vinci." The eight teeth found in the skull were consistent with an individual of the estimated age, and a silver shield located near the bones depicted a beardless Francis I, corresponding to the king's appearance during Leonardo's residency in France.
Houssaye hypothesized that the skull's unusually large dimensions indicated Leonardo's intelligence, a proposition author Charles Nicholl dismissed as a "dubious phrenological deduction." Simultaneously, Houssaye identified inconsistencies in his observations, noting that the feet were oriented towards the high altar, a burial practice generally reserved for laypersons, and that the skeleton's height of 1.73 meters (5.7 ft) appeared somewhat short. Nevertheless, art historian Mary Margaret Heaton contended in 1874 that this height was consistent with Leonardo's stature. The skull was reportedly presented to Napoleon III before being returned to the Château d'Amboise, where the remains were re-interred in the chapel of Saint Hubert in 1874. A plaque situated above the tomb explicitly states that its contents are only presumed to be those of Leonardo.
Subsequent theories propose that the skeleton's right arm, folded over the head, might indicate Leonardo's right-hand paralysis. In 2016, the initiation of DNA testing was announced to verify this attribution. The DNA extracted from the remains will undergo comparison with samples obtained from Leonardo's artworks and from the descendants of his half-brother, Domenico; additionally, the DNA may be sequenced.
Documents published in 2019 disclosed that Houssaye had retained a ring and a lock of hair. His great-grandson subsequently sold these items to an American collector in 1925. Sixty years thereafter, another American acquired these artifacts, resulting in their exhibition at the Leonardo Museum in Vinci, commencing on 2 May 2019, to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the artist's demise.
Leonardo polyhedron
- Leonardo polyhedron
Notes
General
Dates of works
References
Citations
Early
Modern
Works cited
Early
Modern
Books
Journals and encyclopedia articles
For extensive bibliographies, consult Kemp (2003) and Bambach (2019, pp. 442–579).
See Kemp (2003) and Bambach (2019, pp. 442–579) for extensive bibliographies
General
- Leonardo da Vinci on the National Gallery website
- Biblioteca Leonardiana, online bibliography (in Italian)
- Works by Leonardo da Vinci at Project Gutenberg
- Complete text and images of Richter's translation of the Notebooks
- The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci