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Leonardo da Vinci

1452–1519 · High Renaissance, Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is one of the defining painters of the Renaissance and a central figure of the High Renaissance. His relatively small body of paintings changed how artists handled light, shadow and human expression. This gallery brings together his best-known works, with notes on what to look for in front of them.

Life and work

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in Anchiano and died in 1519 at Clos Lucé. A painter of the Republic of Florence, he is one of the defining figures of the Renaissance, and especially of the High Renaissance, when artists sought a new balance of close observation, idealised form and unified composition. He trained in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. His early pictures, such as the Annunciation and Ginevra de' Benci, already show careful study of light, plants and faces. Over his career he worked for a series of powerful patrons and moved between painting, engineering, anatomy and the study of nature, filling notebooks with drawings and observations. That breadth helps explain why his finished paintings are relatively few, and why several took years to complete, as the date ranges in this gallery suggest. His mature work, including The Last Supper, the Mona Lisa and The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, is known for sfumato: the soft blending of tones without hard outlines. It is also known for figures bound together by gesture and glance rather than simply placed side by side. Later painters studied these innovations closely. His reputation as the model of the inquiring, endlessly curious artist has never faded.

Four paintings under one roof at the Louvre

The Louvre Museum holds four works from this gallery: the Mona Lisa, Saint John the Baptist, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and La Belle Ferronnière. Seeing them together lets you trace how Leonardo softened edges over time. In the Mona Lisa, look at the corners of the mouth and eyes, where shadows dissolve so gently that the expression seems to shift. Compare the hazy, bluish landscape behind her with the rocky setting of the Saint Anne. Then turn to Saint John, who emerges from a dark background with a raised hand and a direct gaze.

Early precision in the Annunciation and Ginevra de' Benci

For Leonardo's early style, see the Annunciation at the Uffizi Gallery and Ginevra de' Benci at the National Gallery of Art. In the Annunciation, look closely at the angel's wings, modelled on a real bird's, and at the carefully varied flowers in the meadow, signs of his habit of drawing from nature. In Ginevra de' Benci, the sitter's pale face is set against a dark, spiky juniper bush, widely read as a play on her name. Her features are shaped by subtle shading rather than strong lines, an early hint of the sfumato he later perfected.

Where to see the paintings

Uffizi Gallery
Annunciation
Adoration of the Magi
Louvre Museum
Saint John the Baptist
Mona Lisa
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
La Belle Ferronnière
National Gallery of Art
Ginevra de' Benci

Works may be off view or on loan. See each painting’s page for museum details.

Sources