Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Annunciation, circa 1472
Oil on panel
Height: 98 cm (38.5 in); Width: 217 cm (85.4 in)
Uffizi
Depicted people: Virgin Mary and Gabriel
The painting is set in front of a Renaissance palace, in a luxuriant enclosed garden that evokes the purity of Mary, the Archangel Gabriel kneels before the Virgin, greeting her and offering her a lily. The Virgin responds, sitting with great dignity in front of a lectern on which a book is resting. The traditional sacred theme is placed by Leonardo in a naturalistic and earthly setting: the angel has a concrete corporeality, suggested by the shadow cast on the lawn and by the rendering of the drapery that presuppose studies from life. Its wings are also inspired by those of some mighty raptor. The rendering of the crepuscular light is extraordinary, which shapes the shapes, unifies the scene and brings out the dark silhouettes of the trees on the distant landscape in the background, dominated by the nuanced tones dear to the artist. More on this painting
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Virgin of the Rocks, c. between 1483 and 1486
Oil on canvas (wood added to canvas in 1806)
Height: 199 cm (78.3 in); Width: 122 cm (48 in)
Louvre Museum
Depicted people: Virgin Mary, Child Jesus, John the Baptist and angel Uriel
The Virgin of the Rocks is the name of two paintings by da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except for several significant details.
Both paintings show the Mary and child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist and an angel Uriel, in a rocky setting which gives the paintings their usual name. The significant compositional differences are in the gaze and right hand of the angel. There are many minor ways in which the works differ, including the colours, the lighting, and the flora.
Leonardo da Vinci and workshop (1452–1519)
Virgin of the Rocks, between circa 1491 and circa 1499 and from 1506 until 1508
Oil on poplar wood
Height: 189.5 cm (74.6 in); Width: 120 cm (47.2 in)
National Gallery, London
Depicted people: Virgin Mary, Child Jesus, John the Baptist and angel Uriel
This painting was commissioned in 1480 as central panel for a triptych by the Milanese Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception for the altarpiece of their oratory in San Francesco. This version is the second version finally accepted by the confraternity replacing the first rejected version now in the Louvre, Paris (See above)
The Virgin with the Infant Saint John the Baptist adoring the Christ Child accompanied by an Angel. In this second version Mary and Jesus are depicted with a halo and John the Baptist with the cross. More on this painting
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany, close to the town of Vinci that provided the surname we associate with him today. In his own time he was known just as Leonardo or as “Il Florentine,” since he lived near Florence—and was famed as an artist, inventor and thinker.
When he was 20, in 1472, the painters’ guild of Florence offered da Vinci membership, but he remained with Verrocchio until he became an independent master in 1478. Around 1482, he began to paint his first commissioned work, The Adoration of the Magi, for Florence’s San Donato, a Scopeto monastery.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Adoration of the Magi, c. 1480
Oil and tempera on wood
Height: 243 cm (95.6 in); Width: 246 cm (96.8 in)
Uffizi
The Adoration of the Magi is an unfinished early painting by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was given the commission by the Augustinian monks of San Donato in Scopeto in Florence in 1481, but he departed for Milan the following year, leaving the painting unfinished. It has been in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence since 1670. More on this painting
Beginning around age 5, he lived on the estate in Vinci that belonged to the family of his father, Ser Peiro, an attorney and notary. Da Vinci’s uncle, who had a particular appreciation for nature that da Vinci grew to share, also helped raise him.
Da Vinci received no formal education beyond basic reading, writing and math, but his uncle appreciated his artistic talent and apprenticed him at around age 15 to Andrea del Verrocchio, of Florence. For about a decade, da Vinci refined his painting and sculpting techniques and trained in mechanical arts.
Andrea del Verrocchio (1435–1488)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The Baptism of Christ, c. from 1470 until 1480
Oil and tempera on panel
Height: 180 cm (70.8 in); Width: 152 cm (59.8 in)
Uffizi
The Baptism of Christ is a painting finished around 1475 in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio and generally ascribed to him and his pupil Leonardo da Vinci. Some art historians discern the hands of other members of Verrocchio's workshop in the painting as well.
The picture depicts the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist as recorded in the Biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The angel to the left is recorded as having been painted by the youthful Leonardo, a fact which has excited so much special comment and mythology, that the importance and value of the picture as a whole and within the œuvre of Verrocchio is often overlooked. Modern critics also attribute much of the landscape in the background to Leonardo as well.
The picture depicts the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan River. There are two kneeling angels, one holding Jesus’s garment, and the other with its hands folded, both in front of the symbolization of salvation and life, the palm tree. More on this painting
However, da Vinci never completed that piece, because shortly thereafter he relocated to Milan to work for the ruling Sforza clan, serving as an engineer, painter, architect, designer of court festivals and, most notably, a sculptor. The family asked da Vinci to create a magnificent 16-foot-tall equestrian statue, in bronze, to honor dynasty founder Francesco Sforza. Da Vinci worked on the project on and off for 12 years, and in 1493 a clay model was ready to display. Imminent war, however, meant repurposing the bronze earmarked for the sculpture into cannons, and the clay model was destroyed in the conflict after the ruling Sforza duke fell from power in 1499.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, between circa 1499 and circa 1500
Charcoal and black and white chalk
Height: 141.5 cm (55.7 in); Width: 104.6 cm (41.1 in)
National Gallery, London
The drawing depicts the Virgin Mary seated on the knees of her mother, Saint Anne, while holding the Christ Child as Christ's young cousin, John the Baptist, stands to the right.
The subject of the cartoon is a combination of two themes popular in Florentine painting of the 15th century: The Virgin and Child with John the Baptist and Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.
Bernardino Luini (1475–1532)
Holy Family with Saints Anne and John the Baptist, c. 1503-06
Oil on canvas
Height: 118 cm (46.4 in); Width: 92 cm (36.2 in)
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
A painting based on the cartoon was made by a pupil of Leonardo, Bernardino Luini, and is now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (See above).
The figure of Pomona in Francesco Melzi's painting Vertumnus and Pomona in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, is also based on that of the Virgin in the cartoon (See below).
Francesco Melzi (1491–1568)
Vertumnus and Pomona, between circa 1518 and circa 1522
Oil on poplar wood
Height: 186 cm (73.2 in); Width: 135.5 cm (53.3 in)
Gemäldegalerie
Cartoons of this sort were usually transferred to a board for painting by pricking or incising the outline. The composition differs from Leonardo's only other surviving treatment of the subject, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Louvre, in which the figure of the Baptist is not present (See below).
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, circa 1503
Oil on poplar wood
Height: 168 cm (66.1 in); Width: 130 cm (51.1 in)
Louvre Museum
Christ is shown grappling with a sacrificial lamb symbolizing his Passion as the Virgin tries to restrain him. The painting was commissioned as the high altarpiece for the Church of Santissima Annunziata in Florence and its theme had long preoccupied Leonardo. More on this painting
Vertumnus and Pomona is a painting by Francesco Melzi dated to c. 1518–1522. It depicts the Roman god of the seasons Vertumnus in the guise of an old woman attempting to woo the lady Pomona. More on this painting
Although relatively few of da Vinci’s paintings and sculptures survive—in part because his total output was quite small—two of his extant works are among the world’s most well-known and admired paintings.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The Last Supper, from 1495 until 1498
Tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic
Height: 700 cm (22.9 ft); Width: 880 cm (28.8 ft)
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Depicted people: Jesus , Bartholomew the Apostle, James, son of Alphaeus, Andrew the Apostle, Judas Iscariot, Peter, John the Apostle, Thomas the Apostle, James the Great, Philip the Apostle, Matthew the Apostle, Jude the Apostle, Simon the Zealot
The Last Supper portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles were identified by their names, using an unsigned, mid-sixteenth-century fresco copy of Leonardo's Cenacolo. Before this, only Judas, Peter, John and Jesus had been positively identified.
In common with other depictions of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. Most previous depictions excluded Judas by placing him alone on the opposite side of the table from the other eleven disciples and Jesus, or placing halos around all the disciples except Judas. Leonardo instead has Judas lean back into shadow. Jesus is predicting that his betrayer will take the bread at the same time he does to Thomas and James the Greater to his left, who react in horror as Jesus points with his left hand to a piece of bread before them. Distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, Judas reaches for a different piece of bread not noticing Jesus too stretching out with his right hand towards it. More on this painting
Giampietrino (1495–1549)
Last supper, circa 1520
Oil on canvas
Height: 298 cm (117.3 in); Width: 770 cm (25.2 ft)
The Royal Academy of Arts, London
A full-scale copy that was the main source for the twenty-year restoration of the original (1978-1998). It includes several lost details such as Christ's feet, the transparent glass decanters on the table, and the floral motifs of the tapestries that decorate the room's interior. --- It was first mentioned in 1626 by the author Bartolomeo Sanese as hanging in the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery near Pavia, Italy, but it is unlikely that it was intended for this location. At some point, the upper third of the picture was cut off, and the width was reduced. --- Giampietrino is thought to have worked closely with Leonardo when he was in Milan.
A very fine, full-size copy of this painting, before it was cut down, is installed at Tongerlo Abbey in Westerlo, near Antwerp, Belgium. More on this painting
The first is da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” painted during his time in Milan, from about 1495 to 1498. A tempera and oil mural on plaster, “The Last Supper” was created for the refectory of the city’s Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Also known as “The Cenacle,” this work measures about 15 by 29 feet and is the artist’s only surviving fresco. It depicts the Passover dinner during which Jesus Christ addresses the Apostles and says, “One of you shall betray me.” One of the painting’s stellar features is each Apostle’s distinct emotive expression and body language. Its composition, in which Jesus is centered among yet isolated from the Apostles, has influenced generations of painters.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, c. between 1503 and 1506
Oil on poplar wood
Height: 77 cm (30.3 in); Width: 53 cm (20.8 in)
Louvre Museum
Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". The painting's novel qualities include the subject's enigmatic expression, the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism. More on this painting
Cesare Maccari (1840–1919)
Leonardo Painting The Mona Lisa, c. 1863
Oil on canvas
Height: 97 cm (38.1 in); Width: 130 cm (51.1 in)
Museo Cassioli Sienese 19th century painting
Cesare Maccari was an Italian painter and sculptor, most famous for his 1888 painting Cicerone denuncia Catalina (usually translated as Cicero Accuses Catiline or Cicero Denounces Catiline).
In 1863, Maccari painted Leonardo che ritrae la Gioconda (commonly translated Leonardo [da Vinci] painting the Mona Lisa) (See above) which won an award in 1865. More on Cesare Maccari
When Milan was invaded by the French in 1499 and the Sforza family fled, da Vinci escaped as well, possibly first to Venice and then to Florence. There, he painted a series of portraits that included “La Gioconda,” a 21-by-31-inch work that’s best known today as “Mona Lisa” (See above). Painted between approximately 1503 and 1506, the woman depicted—especially because of her mysterious slight smile—has been the subject of speculation for centuries. In the past she was often thought to be Mona Lisa Gherardini, a courtesan, but current scholarship indicates that she was Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Florentine merchant Francisco del Giocondo.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Saint John the Baptist, c. from 1513 until 1516
Oil on panel
Height: 69 cm (27.1 in); Width: 57 cm (22.4 in)
Louvre Museum
The work depicts the figure of John the Baptist in isolation through the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, with the figure appearing to emerge from the shadowy background. The saint is dressed in furs, has long curly hair and is smiling in an enigmatic manner reminiscent of Leonardo's famous Mona Lisa. He holds a reed cross in his left hand, while his right hand points up toward heaven. More on this painting
Around 1506, da Vinci returned to Milan. Da Vinci spent seven years in Milan, followed by three more in Rome after Milan once again became inhospitable because of political strife.
Probably because of his abundance of diverse interests, da Vinci failed to complete a significant number of his paintings and projects. He spent a great deal of time immersing himself in nature, testing scientific laws, dissecting bodies (human and animal) and thinking and writing about his observations. At some point in the early 1490s, da Vinci began filling notebooks related to four broad themes—painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The Lady with an Ermine (Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani), circa 1490
Oil and tempera on panel
Height: 54.8 cm (21.5 in); Width: 40.3 cm (15.8 in)
National Museum Kraków
The Lady with an Ermine is a portrait painting of Cecilia Gallerani, a mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Leonardo was painter to the Sforza court at the time of its execution. It is one of only four surviving portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being Ginevra de' Benci (See below), La Belle Ferronnière (See below) and the Mona Lisa (See above).
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474 - 1478
Oil on panel oil on panel
Height: 427 mm (16.81 in); Width: 370 mm (14.56 in)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Ginevra de' Benci, a well-known young Florentine woman, is universally considered to be the portrait's sitter. Leonardo painted the portrait in Florence, possibly to commemorate Ginevra's engagement.
The juniper bush that surrounds Ginevra's head and fills much of the background, serves more than mere decorative purposes. In Renaissance Italy, the juniper was regarded a symbol of female virtue, while the Italian word for juniper, ginepro, also makes a play on Ginevra's name.
At some point, the bottom of the painting was removed, presumably owing to damage, and Ginevra's arms and hands are thought to have been lost.
Susan Dorothea White
Surgery Reattaching Ginevra de 'Benci's Arms and Hands, c. 2005
Graphite underdrawing, coloured pencil and conté with giclee
29 x 21 cm
I have no further description, at this time
Susan Dorothea White has drawn an interpretation of how her arms and hands may have been positioned in the original. The adaptation is based on drawings of hands by Leonardo thought to be studies for this painting. More on this painting
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
La belle ferronnière, c. 1490s
It is also known as Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Oil on panel
Height: 63 cm (24.8 in); Width: 45 cm (17.7 in)
Louvre Museum
The painting's title, applied as early as the seventeenth century, identifying the sitter as the wife or daughter of an ironmonger (a ferronnier), was said to be discreetly alluding to a reputed mistress of Francis I of France, married to a certain Le Ferron. Later she was identified as Lucretia Crivelli, a married lady-in-waiting to Duchess Beatrice of Milan, who became another of the Duke's mistresses. More on this painting
Da Vinci left Italy for good in 1516, when French ruler Francis I generously offered him the title of “Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King,” which afforded him the opportunity to paint and draw at his leisure while living in a country manor house, the Château of Cloux, near Amboise in France. Although accompanied by Melzi, to whom he would leave his estate, the bitter tone in drafts of some of his correspondence from this period indicate that da Vinci’s final years may not have been very happy ones.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)
The Death of Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1818
Oil on canvas
Height: 40 cm (15.7 in); Width: 50.5 cm (19.8 in)
Petit Palais
The Death of Leonardo da Vinci or Francis I Receives the Last Breaths of Leonardo da Vinci is an 1818 painting by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, showing the painter Leonardo da Vinci dying, with Francis I of France holding his head. It was commissioned by the Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas, the French ambassador in Rome, and now hangs in the Petit Palais in Paris.
Another version of the painting created c. 1851 is held by the Smith College Museum of Art. More on this painting
Da Vinci died at Cloux (now Clos-Lucé) in 1519 at age 67. He was buried nearby in the palace church of Saint-Florentin. The French Revolution nearly obliterated the church, and its remains were completely demolished in the early 1800s, making it impossible to identify da Vinci’s exact gravesite. More on Leonardo da Vinci
Martin Kemp, a professor emeritus of art history at Oxford, has devised a taxonomy of disinformed or eccentric ideas about Leonardo. There are the mystic theorists (who believe that secret messages about the nature of the cosmos are concealed in Leonardo’s work); heresy theorists (who believe that Leonardo was involved in some sort of religious cabal); geo theorists (who fall over themselves trying to identify the background landscape in the Mona Lisa and other paintings); attribution theorists (who keep wanting to put Leonardo’s name on work that isn’t his); drag theorists (who believe that the Mona Lisa depicts either Leonardo or one of his pupils dressed as a woman); and sci-fi theorists (pretty much exactly what you’d imagine). More on Leonardo
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