The people behind the art

Leonardo da Vinci

1452 to 1519

Leonardo was an Italian Renaissance painter whose work also encompassed sculpture, architecture, engineering and scientific study. Trained in Andrea del Verrocchio's workshop in Florence, he later worked in Milan, Rome and France. His notebooks connect close observation of anatomy and nature with his interest in how gesture and expression convey thought.

3 artworks in the archive

Born: 1452
Died: 1519
Nationality: Italian
Birthplace: Near Vinci, Tuscany, Italy

In the archive

Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

Italy; later worked on and preserved in France1503–1519 (Louvre dating)

Mona Lisa

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

A woman turns toward the viewer, her resting hands offering stability beneath a face whose expression is harder to pin down. Leonardo’s portrait of Lisa del Giocondo rewards attention beyond its celebrity: misty distances, softened contours and intricate paint layers make a carefully constructed image feel alive. Archival discovery, the examination of a workshop copy and modern chemical analysis provide firmer answers than the many stories attached to its smile.

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Italyabout 1499–1510

Salvator Mundi

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci (attribution disputed)

A gallery tour of the Salvator Mundi, the painting of Christ as Saviour of the World, made about 1499 to 1510 and attributed in whole or part to Leonardo da Vinci. The attribution remains disputed.

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Italybetween circa 1474 and circa 1478

Ginevra de' Benci

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

A young Florentine woman looks away from us, framed by a juniper bush. Leonardo's portrait makes the plant carry her name and her virtue, and it leaves her inner life just out of reach.

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Biography sources

National Gallery: Leonardo da Vinci