Renaissance · commented classification · museums
The 20 tables leonardo da Vinci's most famous
From the Mona Lisa to the Battle of Anghiari, a classification which shows the works in their entirety, explains their importance and clearly distinguishes autograph paintings, collaborations, debated attributions and lost compositions.
The short answer
What are Leonardo's most famous paintings?
The three most universally recognized images are The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and The Lady with the Ermine. Next comes the controversial Salvator Mundi, both versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, Saint John the Baptist, The Saint Anne and the large court portraits.
But the word "painting" requires precision here. Leonardo's painted corpus is very small. To achieve twenty essential compositions without inventing certainty, the classification includes a collaboration with Verrocchio, some attributions discussed and two lost works known through copies. Each status is indicated.
Overview
The ranking at a glance
Click on a title to join his analysis. The museum shown is the current place of conservation or, for lost works, the place of the original project.
| Rank | Work | Date | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Mona Lisa | around 1503 -1519 | Louvre Museum, Paris | Autograph work |
| 2 | The Last Supper | around 1494 -1498 | Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan | Autograph mural |
| 3 | The Lady with the Ermine | around 1489 -1491 | Czartoryski Museum, Krakow | Autograph work |
| 4 | Salvator Mundi | around 1500 | Private collection, exhibition location uncertain | Attribution debated |
| 5 | The Virgin of the Rocks - Louvre version | around 1483 -1494 | Louvre Museum, Paris | Autograph work |
| 6 | The Virgin of the Rocks - London version | around 1491/1492 -1508 | National Gallery, London | Leonardo and workshop |
| 7 | Saint John the Baptist | around 1508 -1519 | Louvre Museum, Paris | Autograph work |
| 8 | The Virgin, the Child Jesus and Saint Anne | around 1503 -1519 | Louvre Museum, Paris | Unfinished autograph work |
| 9 | Ginevra de' Benci | around 1474 -1478 | National Gallery of Art, Washington | Autograph work |
| 10 | The Annunciation | around 1472 -1475 | Uffizi Gallery, Florence | Generally accepted youth work |
| 11 | The Adoration of the Magi | 1481 - 1482 | Uffizi Gallery, Florence | Unfinished autograph work |
| 12 | La Belle Ferronnière | around 1490 -1497 | Louvre Museum, Paris | Autograph work, identity discussed |
| 13 | Portrait of a musician | around 1483 -1487 | Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan | Widely accepted attribution, not unanimous |
| 14 | The Benois Madonna | around 1478 -1482 | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg | Generally accepted autograph work |
| 15 | The Baptism of Christ | around 1470 -1478 | Uffizi Gallery, Florence | Verrocchio workshop, intervention by Leonardo |
| 16 | Saint Jerome in the desert | around 1480 -1482 | Vatican Museums | Unfinished autograph work |
| 17 | The Madonna with the Carnation | around 1473 -1478 | Alte Pinakothek, Munich | Attribution to Leonardo generally accepted |
| 18 | The Scapigliata | around 1500 -1510 | National Gallery of Parma | Attribution and function discussed |
| 19 | Leda and the Swan | composition around 1504 -1508 | Lost original, known by shop copies | Lost composition |
| 20 | The Battle of Anghiari | project started around 1503 | Lost mural, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence | Lost work known by copies |
Commented ranking
The twenty works to know
All images are displayed with a "contain" framing to respect the full format of the paintings, including vertical works and large horizontal compositions.
The Mona Lisa
Louvre Museum, Paris
Lisa Gherardini's portrait concentrates the sfumato, atmospheric landscape and psychological ambiguity that made Leonardo the model of modern portraiture. His current fame should not mask his slow elaboration: Leonardo probably preserved and reworked it for years.
The Last Supper
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
The announcement of betrayal becomes an experience of time: twelve reactions spread around the geometric calm of Christ. Perspective leads to his head, while the apostles form four groups of three. Leonardo's experimental technique explains the extreme fragility of painting.
The Lady with the Ermine
Czartoryski Museum, Krakow
Cecilia Gallerani turns as if someone had just entered the room. The ermine adds several levels of meaning: emblem of purity, play on the name of Cecilia and possible allusion to Ludovico Sforza. The coordinated movement of the hands, animal and face gives the portrait an exceptional life.
Salvator Mundi
Private collection, exhibition location uncertain
Christ blesses with his right hand and holds a transparent globe. His sales record made the image world famous, but the degree of Leonardo's intervention remains debated. Restorations, material condition and participation of the workshop prevent the attribution from being presented as a unanimously established fact.
The Virgin of the Rocks - Louvre version
Louvre Museum, Paris
Four figures form a pyramid in a damp, almost original cave. The gestures connect Mary, the Child, Saint John and the angel, while water, plants and stone transform the landscape into cosmology. The softness of the shadow passages constitutes a masterful demonstration of sfumato.
The Virgin of the Rocks - London version
National Gallery, London
The second version takes up the composition of the Louvre with sharper contours, halos and a cross worn by Saint John. Technical research at the National Gallery revealed a significantly different first underlying design, proof that Leonardo did not just repeat.
Saint John the Baptist
Louvre Museum, Paris
The saint emerges from the shadows with a smile almost as enigmatic as that of the Mona Lisa. His finger points to the sky, but the sensual body and direct gaze complicate the religious image. Leonardo transforms the prophet into a luminous apparition.
The Virgin, the Child Jesus and Saint Anne
Louvre Museum, Paris
Three generations fit together in a flexible structure: Anne carries Mary, who leans towards Jesus playing with the lamb. The group seems natural despite its extraordinarily complex construction. The areas left unfinished make Leonardo's slow and revisional method visible.
Ginevra de' Benci
National Gallery of Art, Washington
The juniper tree placed behind the young woman plays on her Italian first name, Ginevra. Its reserved expression, the misty landscape and the painted reverse bearing the motto "Beauty adorns virtue" make the small panel one of the most intellectually constructed portraits of the Renaissance.
The Annunciation
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
In an enclosed garden, Gabriel interrupts Marie's reading. Botanical precision, folds, light and distant landscape announce Leonardo's research. Some blunders in perspective, however, remind us that this is an early work, produced in Verrocchio's environment.
The Adoration of the Magi
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
The Virgin and Child form the central calm of a restless crowd. Ruins, riders, gestures and faces circulate emotion through the composition. Incompletion is precious: it allows you to follow the stages of implementation, brown values and corrections of the painter.
La Belle Ferronnière
Louvre Museum, Paris
The model stands behind a parapet and looks away slightly. The firmness of the bust contrasts with the subtle modeling of the face. The nickname is late and probably incorrect; Lucrezia Crivelli is among the identifications proposed, without definitive certainty.
Portrait of a musician
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
The only painted male portrait generally attached to Leonardo, it shows a young man holding a sheet of music. The very constructed face contrasts with the more basic clothing and hand, which fueled debates on the workshop's intervention.
The Benois Madonna
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Mary and the Child play with a cruciferous flower. The religious image becomes an intimate exchange, observed almost like a family scene. Looks and hands construct meaning, while soft light unifies volumes.
The Baptism of Christ
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
The painting belongs to the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. Tradition and analyzes attribute to Leonardo in particular the angel on the left and parts of the landscape. This collaboration shows how his vaporous modeling is already distinguished from the more linear style of his master.
Saint Jerome in the desert
Vatican Museums
Jerome's emaciated body translates anatomical study into spiritual intensity. The saint hits his chest in front of a barely sketched lion. The completed passages and areas left at the preparation stage give the impression of witnessing the painter's own work.
The Madonna with the Carnation
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The flower held by Mary announces the Passion, while the Child approaches it with curiosity. The interior architecture opens onto a mountainous landscape. The painting still belongs to the Florentine vocabulary of youth, but the light and the gestures prepare the freer Madonnas.
The Scapigliata
National Gallery of Parma
An inclined woman's head appears in very light material, surrounded by almost calligraphic hair. The work could be a study, a deliberately unfinished fragment or an autonomous image. This indeterminacy today contributes to his fascination.
Leda and the Swan
Lost original, known by shop copies
Leonardo's original painting has disappeared, but old drawings and copies allow us to reconstruct its composition. Leda's twisting, children emerging from eggs and the plant landscape show the painter's interest in spiral movement, fertility and transformation.
The Battle of Anghiari
Lost mural, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
The fight for the standard is known through studies and copies, notably a famous adaptation linked to Rubens. Men and horses become entangled in compact violence. Faced with Michelangelo, Leonardo had to transform the great Florentine hall into a manifesto of movement and passions.
At the gates of the Top 20
Five equally essential works
They could have entered the ranking, but their attribution, their diffusion or their proximity to other Madonnas places them just after the first twenty.
Madonna Litta
Famous composition of the Hermitage, often discussed between Leonardo and his workshop.
Madonna with spindles
A major invention known from two versions closely linked to the workshop.
Madonna Dreyfus
Small panel whose attribution has long oscillated between Leonardo and Lorenzo di Credi.
Bacchus
Former Saint John in the desert, today generally attached to the workshop.
Tavola Doria
Precious ancient copy to understand the lost composition of the Battle of Anghiari.
How to read the ranking
Why there isn't a perfectly definitive list
Leonardo worked slowly, experimented with techniques, abandoned commissions and ran an active workshop. This makes his corpus famous, but historically complex.
Few works
The number of unanimously accepted paintings is much lower than the catalogs of Raphael, Titian or Rembrandt.
Collective work
In a resurgent workshop, the master could design, correct and paint only certain areas.
Material condition
Restorations, transfers and alterations can hide or transform the original hand.
Lost works
The Last Supper survived very weakened; Leda and Anghiari are only known through indirect traces.
Variable celebrity
An auction record like that of Salvator Mundi can suddenly change public notoriety.
This classification is not a catalog raisonné
It measures fame, influence and presence in cultural history. Attribution labels follow the cautious positions of institutions and flag disputed cases.
Explore the store
Collections linked to Leonardo and the Renaissance
Each work in the classification leads to its reproduction. These collections allow you to explore the corpus by artist, genre, period and museum.
Institutional sources
Museums and reference works
The locations and statuses have been compared to the official notices. Attribution may change with search.
Louvre Museum
The five essential paintings preserved in Paris and the synthesis of the Léonard retrospective.
Notice of workVirgin of the rocks
Dating, dimensions, location and history of the Louvre version.
MilanoMuseo del Cenacolo Vinciano
Official website of the museum which preserves The Last Supper in its original refectory.
KrakowLady with ermine
Official notice of the National Museum in Krakow.
LondonNational Gallery
The second Virgin of the Rocks, her technique and her underlying drawing.
WashingtonGinevra de' Benci
Notice and official presentation of the National Gallery of Art.
VaticanSaint Jerome
Official notice from the Vatican Pinacoteca.
FlorenceUffizi Gallery
The Annunciation and Leonardo's Florentine beginnings.
Alpha CatalogWorks of Leonardo
Reproductions linked to the painter, checked in the store's catalog.
Frequently asked questions
Understanding Leonardo's corpus
What is Leonardo da Vinci's most famous painting?
The Mona Lisa is his most famous work and probably the most recognized painting in the world. The Last Supper comes just after with its artistic and cultural influence.
Did Leonardo da Vinci really paint twenty paintings?
He designed or participated in more than twenty compositions, but fewer than twenty paintings are unanimously accepted as entirely autographs and preserved. The classification therefore indicates collaborations, attributions discussed and works lost.
Why's Vitruvian Man not on the list?
Because it is a pen and ink drawing, not a painting. It remains one of Leonardo's most famous images, but this classification is reserved for paintings and painted compositions.
Where to see the most Leonardo paintings?
The Louvre Museum preserves five essential paintings: The Mona Lisa, The Virgin of the Rocks, La Belle Ferronnière, Saint John the Baptist and The Virgin, the Child Jesus and Saint Anne.
Is Salvator Mundi really Leonardo's?
Its attribution remains debated. Some specialists defend a major intervention by Leonardo, while others insist on the participation of the workshop, the state of conservation and the extent of the restorations.
What is the difference between the two Rock Virgins?
The first version is in the Louvre; the second at the National Gallery in London. They take up a similar composition, but differ in light, gestures, certain religious attributes and the degree of intervention of the workshop.
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