Leonardo da Vinci facts: life, art, and inventions

Leonardo da Vinci facts begin with a life that was already unusual from the start. Born on 15 April 1452 in Tuscany and born out of wedlock, he went on to become one of the great painters of Western art.

He died on 2 May 1519, but the range of his work had already made him stand out long before then. Leonardo is widely regarded as a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his fame first rested on painting. At the same time, his notebooks ranged across anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology.

Why is Leonardo da Vinci so well known?

Leonardo da Vinci is so well known because his paintings became cultural landmarks and his notebooks showed an extraordinary range of interests.

That reputation rests on both art and ideas. He conceptualised flying machines, an armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, a ratio machine that could be used in an adding machine, and the double hull. Those projects sit alongside the paintings that still draw the most attention: the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

What makes the Mona Lisa famous?

The Mona Lisa is regarded as the world's most famous painting.

Leonardo probably painted it between 1503 and 1506, though he may have continued working on it as late as 1517. Since 1797, it has normally been on display at the Louvre in Paris. In 1962, the Mona Lisa held the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history at US$100 million.

Its fame is hard to separate from that long museum history, but the basic facts are straightforward: it is a Leonardo work that has travelled through centuries of attention and ended up at the Louvre.

What is special about The Last Supper?

The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time.

It was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and Leonardo worked on it from about 1495 to 1498. The painting measures 460 cm by 880 cm and covers an end wall of the dining hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie.

That scale matters because it is not just a panel or a canvas you can imagine in a frame; it is a work that fills a wall. Leonardo’s treatment of the subject gave the monastery a painting that has been copied and revisited more than any other religious image.

Where did Leonardo spend his final years?

Leonardo spent his last three years in France after the invitation of Francis I.

By then, his life had already covered Tuscany, Milan, and France, as well as the long arc from early painting success to a broader reputation as an inventor and thinker. He died in France on 2 May 1519, ending a career that had moved from early artistic achievement to works that became touchstones of Western art.

If you know the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Leonardo’s inventions, you already know the core of his story. Test what you learned with the quiz next.