Leonardo da Vinci Paintings, Drawings, Quotes And Inventions

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Famous Artworks

Cannon Foundry, 1488 by Da Vinci

A certain ambivalence is apparent in Leonardo da Vinci's military engineering. Leonardo was irresistibly attracted by the possibility of perfecting weapons, not only as a technical challenge but also more profoundly in terms of the physical principles involved. The design of cannons embodying his beloved laws of percussive motion (with acoustical implications) proved to be especially fascinating for him. But against such attractions we have to set his undoubted abhorrence of war in human terms.
Some of his most spectacularly menacing designs for military machinery, schemes for giant crossbows and such like carry strong implications of the weapons' power to subjugate their human creators, so that man becomes the helpless servant of his own inventions. His famous drawing of a cannon foundry takes this feeling a stage further, subordinating the carefully descriptive drawing of the mechanical elements to its total impact of expressive turmoil, as the Lilliputian progenitors of the obscenely monstrous gun strive frantically to deal with their creation. The emotional implications of this drawing are unmistakably the same as his profetie, recalling in particular the riddle of the cannon cast in a pit: 'Emerging from the ground with terrible noise it will stun those standing nearby and with its breath it will kill men and ruin cities and castles.' Man's brutal destructiveness towards man and nature is a recurrent theme of his literary compositions.

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Famous Artworks

Leda and the Swan by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo was very absorbed with the theme of Leda during the time he was working on Mona Lisa and while in Milan he made many sketches of the swans in the moat around the Castello. The picture was described by Cassiano del Pozzo in 1625; at this stage it was in the royal collection in Fontainebleau:

"A standing figure of Leda almost entirely naked, with the swan at her and two eggs, from whose broken shells come forth four babies, This work, although somewhat dry in style, is exquisitely finished, especially in the woman's breast; and for the rest of the landscape and the plant life are rendered with the greatest diligence. Unfortunately the picture is in a bad state because it is done on three long panels which have split apart and broken off a certain amount of paint."

By the eighteenth century the artwork was completely lost to us; fortunately several things remain to give a good idea what it looked like. There are Leonardo's drawings of the head and bust of Leda; a famous drawing done in 1506 by Raphael; a red chalk drawing which may have been done by an assistant to Leonardo; a picture by Bugiardini which was based upon Leonardo's original cartoon (done in 1504); another copy probably by Francesco Melzi and based on Leonardo's second cartoon (drawn around 1508); plus a copy by another pupil, Cesare da Sesto; this final work is said to be closest to Leonardo's original and is displayed on this page. Leonardo's head and coiffure study for Leda and the Swan is signed; it should be noted that this is not his signature, having been added at a later date by one of the owners.

Of the two cartoons Leonardo did for this work one showed Leda kneeling and used mostly curved lines to suggest aa writhing movement which emphasised fertility; the other had her in a standing position. In the final painting Leda was in the second of the two poses and seeming to recoil from the swan, while at the same time showing a shy attraction towards it. Leda's head was modestly lowered giving a virginal look, in contrast her figure was opulent, a mature body with a young head on her shoulders. Like many of Leonardo's subjects her hair was painted in minute detail. She was surrounded by the most fertile landscape that Leonardo -- by this time aged 54 -- had produced since his workshop days. The swan was Jupiter in one of his many disguises and the babies were Castor and Pollux, and Helen and Clytemnestra.

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Famous Artworks

Benois Madonna - by Leonardo da Vinci

During the very early years of his output Leonardo favoured the subject of the Madonna and Child. He produced several paintings on this theme along with a number of sketches and a large number of drawings. His works showed mother and child in precious private moments and focused on the emotions between them; it was Leonardo's aim that the subjects looked natural. The complexity and detail of these paintings set new standards, yet they are lesser known than his other works.

 
Upon first examination the Benois Madonna (also called the Madonna of the Flower), is a gay painting with obvious affection shining from the face of the Madonna's girlish face. Further study shows an aspect of grief and reminder of death hidden within the artwork in the form of a flower of the Cruciferae family depicting a cross.

This painting was named after the 19th-century artist, Leon Benois, who sold it to the Hermitage in Leningrad at the beginning of the century. It is widely accepted that this is an authentic Leonardo though not all experts have been complimentary about it:

"One unhappy day I was called to see the Benois Madonna, a picture that had turned up in Russia, and has since been acquired by the Hermitage. I found myself confronted by a young woman with a bald forehead and puffed cheeks, a toothless smile, blear eyes, and a furrowed throat. The uncanny, anile apparition plays with a child who looks like a hollow mask fixed on inflated body and limbs. The hands are wretched, the folds purposeless and fussy, the color like whey. And yet I had to acknowledge that this painful affair was the work of Leonardo da Vinci. It was hard, but the effort freed me, and the indignation I felt gave me the resolution to proclaim my freedom."--Berenson.

Perhaps the toothless can be explained by the unfinished state of the work; parts of it are obviously incomplete, with one hand only sketched in.

Dating Leonardo's early works, or proving authenticity, is particularly difficult. This picture was probably painted somewhere between 1475-1480 when it is recorded that Leonardo produced several Virgin Marys, though it has been heavily over painted since that time. A note made by Leonardo on a drawing suggests that the Benois Madonna may be one of two Virgins started in the final months of 1478, the other being the Madonna with the Carnation. Even though Leonardo was still at Verrocchio's workshop these may be the first figures he conceived and realised in total independence from his master.

In any work attributed to Leonardo it is necessary to examine what may make the piece doubtful. With Benois Madonna it is in details like the ears which are simply too inaccurate for a man who paid an almost meticulous attention to anatomy. The Child almost floats in the lap of the Virgin while her smile is almost impressionistic, not typical of Leonardo. Also lacking is the fine attention to the draperies and one might query why there is no landscape through the window.

Scholars discovered the painting in 1909 among the works of various artists being held in private collections. Tsar Nicholas II then acquired it for the Heritage in 1914 after which the attribution of this work to Leonardo was almost immediate and unamimous, though it is now questioned. Originally painted on wood, it was transferred to canvas when it entered the Hermitage, during which time it was severely damaged.

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Famous Artworks

La Belle Ferronniere - by Leonardo da Vinci

Cecilia Gallerani was Ludovico Sforza's first mistress and Leonardo painted her in the form of Lady with an Ermine. Later, the Duke was to take another mistress, Lucrezia Crivelli, and she is thought to be the subject of this painting. An alternative suggestion, though less accepted, is that this painting is Isabella of Aragon.
This may, or may not be, Leonardo's work. The pose is stiff, which would be unusual for Leonardo, and the woman's features are thicker and heavier than those normally found in his portraits. Bernard Berenson once said of this portrait, "one would regret to have to accept this as Leonardo's own work." Those in favour of this being a genuine Leonardo point to the knotted ribbons on her shoulders and the cords around her neck which do resemble Leonardo's style.

It may be that this work was done by an apprentice, or Leonardo may have been forced to do some traditional Milanese courtly portraiture at the whim of his patron; tradition demanded an unnatural pose as shown in this painting. It also placed great importance on showy dresses, jewellery and other decorations, as shown in this work. Another possible answer is that this was a joint project carried out by several artists at the School of Leonardo, and based on a design by him.

Done around 1495 this painting takes its name from the ferroniere the sitter wears around her brow, a common Lombard fashion. In the nineteenth century this work was much admired and widely copied, though no other artist managed to capture the beautiful modelling of the face. It is thought the painting may have originally been balanced with an architectural element on the left but this is one work over which there are more questions than answers.

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Famous Artworks

Litta Madonna - by Leonardo da Vinci

Though a drawing exists to connect Leonardo with this painting its attribution to Leonardo has been a great source of controversy. There is little doubt he had a hand in the unsigned Litta Madonna, but it is awkwardly composed and more than likely was completed by his pupil Boltraffio, around 1480-1490.
The tilt of the Madonna's head is typical of Leonardo and there also exists a drawing of this portion of the painting which is definitely by his hand. However, scholars who have studied the painting point out that the Christ Child bears little resemblance to others Leonardo produced. It is therefore likely that Leonardo designed the pose for this work -- and completed the Virgin's head -- with the rest of the painting being completed by another artist, perhaps Boltraffio, under the supervision of the master.

This work shows the Madonna sorryling the Christ Child. Note the lack of halos in this painting; several Madonnas attributed to Leonardo display this same trait.

Litta Madonna passed from the hands of the Vicontis into the Litta family of Milan and takes its name from them. After this it was purchased by a Tsar; then in 1865 by Emperor Alexander II who added it to the Hermitage where it was transferred from wood to canvas. At this point in time it was completely repainted -- for the second time; the first repainting was done by an unknown Milanese artist in 1495.

Replicas of this painting are common, strongly indicating it was a famous composition. The painting is now displayed in the Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg.

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Famous Artworks

Portrait of a Musician - by Leonardo da Vinci

Much debate surrounds this painting dating from the same period as Lady With An Ermine. If indeed Leonardo was the painter, Portrait Of A Musician would be the only portrait he did of a man. This painting is completely lacking in documentation and there is no record of anyone ever having commissioned it. Often considered to be his least important work, the fates have arranged that it should be the best preserved.
The first issue that arises with this panel is who really painted it. While hanging in the Louvre (1796-1815) it was listed as being by Bernadino Luini. In Milan, before and after that time, it was usually attributed to Leonardo. Other experts consider the artist was either Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio or Ambrogio de Predis.


 
The second issue is that of who the sitter was. In the nineteenth century the catalogue of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana listed this painting as "Portrait of Ludovico il Moro"; that was accepted without question until a 1905 cleaning revealed the sheet music along with the letters 'CANT...ANG...'. Now there was no doubt the subject was a musician, but which one was a another matter. Was it: Franchino Gaffario, choirmaster of Milan cathedral, (the text could be an abbreviation of the words Canticum Angelicum).Attalante Miglioretti, resident in Milan until 1490.Angelo Testagrossa, singer and singing master (perhaps the inscription reads cantor Angelo?)

Most historians think the portrait is probably of Franchino Gaffario but the connection is tenuous at best, as is evidence that this painting is by Leonardo. Various historians, remembering Leonardo's fondness for puzzles, have tried to read something into this piece of sheet music, so far without luck.

So, what makes this panel a possible Leonardo da Vinci? The answer lies in a certain kind of portraiture and common characteristics which exist in each of his portraiture works. These include the following things:

Backgrounds left in shadow.
Figures shown at half-length or slightly more.
Subjects carefully positioned at a three-quarter turn so as to improve viewer identification of the sitter.
Despite the third point, Leonardo's subjects remain largely unidentified. When it comes down to the nitty gritty all we can say for certain regarding Portrait Of A Musician is what we see in front of our eyes; things like how well the artist obviously understood the bone structure beneath the flesh, how unforced the pose is, the exquisitely curling hair and elegant fingers very common to Leonardo's work. Leonardo himself was a very fine musician.

Heavily restored and repainted this work was left unfinished, though at quite an advanced stage. The face and hair are well worked and the notes of a musical partition can be clearly seen. The remaining elements were left in the state of an advanced draft, this is most obvious in the tunic worn by the subject.

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Famous Artworks

Madonna of the Yarnwinder - by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo did complete this very small painting but the original has probably been lost. Several copies still exist and there is strong speculation that two of these are from the hand of Leonardo himself, but this is still the subject of some debate and they could just have easily come from talented pupils. The original work can be securely dated at 1501 as a letter from April of that year mentions Leonardo is working on Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

One of the most interesting and complete sketches Leonardo ever did was for this painting; a close look shows this work was based around the geometric figures of triangles and ellipses. An excellent red chalk drawing of the Madonna's head and shoulders also exists in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.


 
This work, intended for Florimond Robertet, Secretary to the King of France, shows the winder as shaped like a cross; this symbolises the Passion of Christ and His future death. It appears that Mary wants to pull the Child away from the symbol of His future, but even she is powerless to prevent the Crucifixion which is part of His destiny. Of the two works one is very green whilst the other is quite blue; the landscapes also differ significantly with one showing a vicious mountain range beneath a vivid blue sky while the other runs down to the sea.

Leonardo prepared for paintings that included the Christ child or the infant St. John the Baptist by drawing dozens of studies of little children. Most of his children appear between nine and eighteen months, all are shown nude and all look similar enough as to make the viewer wonder whether the one child modelled for each painting.

This painting is sometimes called Madonna of the Spindle or the Madonna with the Distaff.

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Famous Artworks

Bacchus - by Leonardo da Vinci

The Louvre holds this artwork of Bacchus which some have ascribed to Leonardo. Transferred to canvas at some stage during the nineteenth century others consider it was more likely to have been painted by Cesare da Sesto, Bernazzano, Francesco Melzi or a 'Lombard painter'.
Deterioration of this painting has made it difficult to judge who the painter may have been, but the background does not seem to be typical of Leonardo, lacking his descriptive qualities. On top of this no preliminary studies have been found for this artwork. However, the pointing finger in this painting indicates that whoever the painter really was, the original subject is likely to have been St. John and the painting was originally called St. John the Baptist in the Desert, a name which was later changed to Bacchus in a Landscape.

A number of items were later additions: the panther skin, crown of vine leaves and grapes not being part of the original work. The cross in the crook of St. John's arm also had the bar removed changing it to a thyrsus. (A thyrsus was simply a staff often wreathed in ivy and decorated with pine cones, berries or grapes).

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Famous Artworks

Dreyfus Madonna - by Leonardo da Vinci

The Dreyfus Madonna (named for Gustave Dreyfus who owned the painting from 1872 until 1930) has critics divided over who painted this small panel. Also known as the Madonna with the Pomegranate it has been variously attributed to Leonardo, Verrocchio and Lorenzo di Credi.
Showing strong similarities to Madonna with the Carnation it has a Venetian flavour and the style gives it a suggested date of around 1469. This coincides with the year Verrocchio made his trip to Venice, closely followed by Leonardo.

It is often difficult to distinguish the works of masters over skilled pupils. At the time it was common practice for a master to give lesser commissions over to those in his workshop. Larger works were frequently the effort of many painters with the master doing the main sections and the assistants being allocated areas like backgrounds or secondary figures (this can be seen in the Baptism of Christ, also documented on this Web site). The master would then approve that the work had been done to his standards.

Dreyfus Madonna has a lack of harmony, the posture of the child is awkward and the figures hardly relate to the background or architecture. Despite this there are details which are the signature of Leonardo - the Virgin's crooked finger and the smoky shadowing or sfumato around her face. Opponents of the suggestion that this painting was by Leonardo point to parallels between this panel and the works of Lorenzo di Credi. Which artist from Verrocchio's workshop was ultimately responsible is certain to remain the subject of much debate.

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Famous Artworks

Madonna of the Carnation - by Leonardo da Vinci

In Madonna of the Carnation Jesus reaches out awkwardly for the flower held delicately in Mary's fingers. Like all infants he looks yet unable to control his movements as he attempts to grasp the symbol of the Passion.
Showing strong similarities to Madonna with the Carnation it has a Venetian flavour and the style gives it a suggested date of around 1469. This coincides with the year Verrocchio made his trip to Venice, closely followed by Leonardo.

Dating from 1478-1480, this painting, also known as the Munich Madonna or the Madonna with the Vase due to the vase of flowers sitting beside her, is usually considered one of Leonardo's first autonomous works. Many scholars disagree on this point, but there are a number of elements which support the idea.

One of his drawings shows some of the details which appear in the Virgin's face, and the hair, left-hand of the Madonna, landscape, draperies and the cushion on which the child is seated are all typical of Leonardo, as is the use of chiaroscuro.

Unfortunately, Madonna with the Carnation has deteriorated badly and due to an improper restoration the surface has taken on a leathery look; this is especially obvious on the Madonna's face.

This painting in held in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek (translation: old art gallery. Pronounced: ALL-tuh peen-ah-ko-tek) in Munich, Germany.

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Famous Artworks

St. Jerome in the Desert - by Leonardo da Vinci

It was during a difficult period in his life, just prior to departing for Milan in 1482, that Leonardo worked on his most tragic painting and yet another destined to remain unfinished. He was a man often subject to bouts of melancholy; notes in his diary show how low he was feeling at this time in his life. Comments found in the margin of the Codex Atlanticus:

"Why do you suffer so? The greater one is, the greater grows one's capacity for suffering. I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die."

Jerome's imploring face is at a three-quarter angle; it is haggard from fasting and penitence; at the same time his eyes display determination and will-power. In his out-stretched right hand he clasps a rock, the penitent about to strike his own breast. Making this all the more dramatic is the setting of the subject against the dark background of a cave. Off to one side another of Leonardo's rocky landscapes rises into the mist.

St. Jerome in the Desert is a wonderful pictorial presentation of the artist's emotional turmoil during that period. It is also notable for how well it demonstrates Leonardo's anatomical knowledge. The saint's muscles and bones are covered with a thin layer of flesh, with cheek and neck muscles being accurately drawn.

The story of this painting is a little unbelievable, but as interesting as one could hope for. Originally in the Vatican collection it passed into the hands of Angelica Kaufmann. Supposedly it was then mislaid and someone cut it into two pieces. One section was converted into a table top while a shoemaker used the other portion for the upper part of a stool. Joseph Cardinal Fesch recognised the table painting in 1820; it is assumed he had already seen a drawing of the work somewhere. He purchased it from the Roman junk shop hoping to locate the missing segment, something he succeeded in doing several years afterwards. The painting was restored though obvious evidence of the cut out section can still be clearly seen. Heirs of Napoleon Bonaparte's uncle (Cardinal Fesch) later sold the ochre groundwork for twenty-five francs to Pope Pius IX; it was then placed back into the care of the Vatican where it still resides today.

This is one of the very few paintings attributed to Leonardo over which there has never been any question. No contemporary references to the work have been found yet it is considered unmistakably his painting methods and structure; the similarity to Adoration of the Magi is also obvious.

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Famous Artworks

Profile of a Warrior in Helmet - by Leonardo Da Vinci

This study is drawn in metalpoint, specifically silverpoint, a popular medium with Early Renaissance artists. It is most suitable for detailed and careful drawings,. Metalpoint was a good method of training young apprentice artists as it required control and discipline. Here, the silverpoint line, which has turned grey in the atmosphere, is thin and delicate. The detail is extraordinary: the armour, the curls in his hair and the splendid elaborate helmet are even exceeded by the modelling of the man's face and the lion on his breastplate. Endless patience must have been required of the young Leonardo to produce the very fine shadows of the man's face, each a separate line.
The drawing shows Leonardo studying the art of his teacher, Andrea Verrocchio. Giorgio Vasari's biography of Verrocchio in his Lives of the Artists (1550 and 1568) mentions two metal reliefs with profile portraits of Alexander the Great, leader of the Greeks, and Darius, the Persian king. They were sent by Lorenzo 'il Magnifico' ('the Magnificent') de' Medici, ruler of Florence (1469-92), as gifts to the king of Hungary. This drawing is probably based on one of these lost works by Verrocchio.

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Da Vinci's Invention

Leonardo Da Vinc's Dream of Flying

For much of his life, Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds, including his c. 1505 Codex on the Flight of Birds, as well as plans for several flying machines, including a helicopter and a light hang glider. Most were impractical, like his aerial screw helicopter design that could not provide lift. However, the hang glider has been successfully constructed and demonstrated.

Leonardo da Vinci was much more than an artist. He was an astronomer, sculptor, geologist, mathematician, botanist, animal behaviourist, inventor, engineer, architect and even a musician. He was all of these things and more. As the world faces a new millennium Leonardo da Vinci remains one of the most fascinating people history has ever known. He once said that "things of the mind left untested by the senses are useless." Leonardo left little untested, yet few people know the amazing story behind the man often described as the embodiment of the Renaissance. This Web site endeavours to introduce you to the artist, the scientific visionary, the amazing inventor and Leonardo, the man. One can never explain the existence of genius, one can but enjoy.

Drawings of Flying Machine

Helicopter

Leonardo envis ioned this device to be built of wood, reeds and tafetta. "A small model can be made of paper with a spring like metal shaft that after having been released, after having been twisted, causes the screw to spin up into the air."


Flying Machine 1488

Design for a Flying Machine is a 1488 drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.


Another Design

Design for a Flying Machine is a 1488 drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.


Design of a Glider

Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci for a gilder with bat's wings.

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Da Vinci's Invention

Armoured Car - by Leonardo Da Vinci

The precursor to the modern tank, Leonardo da Vinci’s armored car invention was capable of moving in any direction and was equipped with a large number of weapons. The most famous of da Vinci’s war machines, the armored car was designed to intimidate and scatter an opposing army.
Leonardo drew the plans for the first armored car in 1485. Leonardo da Vinci described his idea for an "armored car" in a job application to the Duke of Milan in 1482: "I can make armored cars, safe and unassailable, which will enter the close ranks of the enemy with their artillery, and no company of soldiers is so great that they will not break through them. And behind these the infantry will be able to follow quite unharmed and without any opposition."

Da Vinci’s vehicle has a number of light cannons arranged on a circular platform with wheels that allow for 360-degree range. The platform is covered by a large protective cover (much like a turtle’s shell), reinforced with metal plates, which was to be slanted to better deflect enemy fire. There is a sighting turret on top to coordinate the firing of the canons and the steering of the vehicle.

Covered Armoured Car Invention

Model of the Armoured Car

Model of da Vinci's "Armoured Car" at the Galleria Michelangelo in Florence, Italy.

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Da Vinci's Invention

Machine Gun by Leonardo Da Vinci

Attempting to increase the fire power of a traditional cannon, Leonardo da Vinci designed this innovative 12-barreled gun carriage. Though hardly capable of rapid-fire, this design housed an ingenious aiming and loading mechanism. The fan-like shape made it a potentially effective weapon against massed advancing troops, by widening the field of fire and reducing possible mistakes. Additionally, its lightweight and large wheels would have provided for excellent mobility on the battlefield.
The aim of the tiers is that in rotation, the first tier is fired while the second tier can be loaded. This allows for the third tier to cool down before its turn in the rotation to be loaded and fired again.

Leonardo always aimed to increase the firepower of the weapons he worked on and to maximize their overall destructive capacity. He did this for both his Patron’s benefit in having superior firepower compared to his rivals and for his own personal, intellectual curiosity.

More about the Machine Gun

A Modern Illustration of the Design



A Modern Machine Gun