Illustrated catalog · 1452 -1519

All works by Leonardo da Vinci

Preserved paintings, studio paintings, anatomy and engineering drawings, monumental projects and missing masterpieces: a guide to understanding what is certain, discussed or lost.

° 20surviving paintings according to the perimeter chosen
° 600drawings in the Royal Collection alone
4 statusesautograph, collaboration, discussed, lost
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa seen in full
The Mona Lisa, Louvre - the icon represents only a small part of Leonardo's work.
Emblem with laurel, palm and juniper by Leonardo da Vinci
The Madonna Dreyfus, work of Leonardo da Vinci's entourage
The right answer

How many works did Leonardo leave?

There is no single total

We generally remember around fifteen widely accepted paintings, then several panels made with the workshop, reworked or contested. The drawings are much more numerous: the Royal Collection alone preserves nearly six hundred. Notebooks, frescoes, ephemeral decorations and unexecuted projects must also be added. We must also add notebooks, frescoes, ephemeral decorations and unexecuted projects. Saying "all works" therefore requires showing the degree of certainty, not adding blindly.

Autograph widely acceptedLeonardo's hand dominates and there is broad consensus on attribution.
Collaboration or workshopLeonardo designs or intervenes, but other hands participate.
Attribution discussedSpecialists differ on the extent of the master's intervention.
Lost or not realizedThe work is known through texts, studies, copies or fragments.
Catalog of paintings

The preserved core, work by work

Dates often remain approximate. The statutes below summarize the current consensus without hiding the debates. The "see reproduction" links only lead to product pages actually present in the store.

The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Collaboration

The Baptism of Christ

Around 1470 -1478 · Offices, Florence. Painting by Verrocchio to which Leonardo would have given the angel on the left and part of the landscape.

See reproduction
The Annunciation of Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Admitted

The Annunciation

Around 1472 -1475 · Uffizi, Florence. Enclosed garden, observed wings and vast atmospheric landscape already announce his research.

See reproduction
Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Admitted

Ginevra de' Benci

Circa 1474 -1478 · National Gallery of Art, Washington. Leonardo's only painting preserved in the Americas.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna Benois seen in full
Admitted

The Benois Madonna

Around 1478 -1480 · Hermitage, Saint Petersburg. A mother and her child united by the play of a flower.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna with the Carnation seen in full
Very likely

The Madonna with the Carnation

Around 1473 -1478 · Alte Pinakothek, Munich. The attribution to Leonardo is generally defended, despite altered material.

See reproduction
The Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Unfinished

The Adoration of the Magi

1481 -1482 · Offices. The departure for Milan leaves visible the construction of the painting, from the first routes to the modeled areas.

See reproduction
Saint Jerome in the Desert by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Unfinished

Saint Jerome in the desert

Around 1480 -1490 · Vatican Museums. Tense anatomy, rocky landscape and deliberately unfinished surface.

See reproduction
The Virgin of the Rocks of the Louvre seen in full
Admitted

The Virgin of the Rocks, Paris

Around 1483 -1486 · Louvre. First version, where gestures, looks, water and rocks make up a continuous world.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Lady and the Ermine seen in full
Admitted

The Lady with the Ermine

Around 1489 -1491 · Czartoryski Museum, Krakow. Cecilia Gallerani turns the body and the gaze as if captured by an event.

See reproduction
Portrait of a musician by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Admitted

Portrait of a musician

Around 1485 -1490 · Ambrosian, Milan. Only painted panel by Leonardo remaining in Milan; the identity of the model is not established.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Beautiful Ironworker seen in full
Admitted

La Belle Ferronnière

Around 1490 -1497 · Louvre. Frontal gaze, parapet and precise modeling make the portrait an almost physical presence.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper seen in full
Mural

The Last Supper

1494 -1498 · Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Dry painted on the wall of the refectory, it was fragile from the 16th century.

See reproduction
The Virgin of the Rocks of London seen in full
Workshop and master

The Virgin of the Rocks, London

Around 1491/1499 -1506/1508 · National Gallery. Second version, with workshop participation still debated.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa seen in full
Admitted

The Mona Lisa

Around 1503 -1519 · Louvre. Portrait continually repeated, where the sfumato connects face, air, water and landscape.

See reproduction
The Virgin, Child Jesus and Saint Anne by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Admitted

The Virgin, Child and Saint Anne

Around 1503 -1519 · Louvre. Three generations fit together in a moving pyramidal composition.

See reproduction
Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Admitted

Saint John the Baptist

Around 1508 -1519 · Louvre. The saint emerges from the shadows, smile and raised finger leading towards the invisible.

See reproduction
The Madonna Litta, work of Leonardo da Vinci and his workshop, seen in full
Workshop/discussed

Madonna Litta

Around 1490 · Hermitage. Probable Leonardian conception; execution often attributed to a Milanese collaborator.

See reproduction
Leonardo da Vinci's Scapigliata seen in full
Discussed

The Scapigliata

Around 1500 -1510 · National Gallery of Parma. Unfinished female head, often accepted but without absolute unanimity.

See reproduction
Bacchus, work from Leonardo da Vinci's studio, seen in full
Atelier

Bacchus

Around 1510 -1515 · Louvre. Ancient Saint John transformed into Bacchus; execution is today given at the workshop.

See reproduction
Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Very controversial

Salvator Mundi

Around 1500 · private collection. Some analyzes defend Leonardo, others a largely restored studio work.

See reproduction
What doesn't fit into the core

The many "Madonnas" once attributed to Leonardo, copies of disciples and Leonardo inventions should not be counted as autographs. There Madonna with spindles, for example, is known from several workshop versions related to a lost composition by the master.

Draw to understand

The drawings are not an extra charge

Leonardo draws to think. The same sheet can combine a skull, a whirlwind, a machine and a note written from right to left. Drawing sometimes prepares a painting, but it is mainly used to observe transformations: muscles in tension, water in movement, light on a face, growth of a plant.

The Royal Collection keeps approx six hundred leaves. It would be misleading to reduce them to a list of titles: many have no origin, are double-sided and collect several searches. The most useful ranking is functional.

Six families

Figures and draperies · anatomy · animals and botany · water and geology · mechanics and flight · maps, architecture and court festivals.

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man seen in full
Vitruvian ManVenice, Gallerie dell'Accademia. The body becomes measurement, geometry and commentary of Vitruvius.
Cardboard of Burlington House by Leonardo da Vinci seen in full
Burlington House cardboardNational Gallery, London. Eight sheets assembled; only large cardboard by Leonardo to reach us.
Studies of the fetus in the womb by Leonardo da Vinci
The fetus in the wombAround 1511. Animal observation, dissection and analogies feed a never-published treatise on anatomy.
Flying machine project designed by Leonardo da Vinci
Flying machineLeonardo studies the wing as a mechanical structure, without his machines having been built and tested as is sometimes said.
A Flood drawn by Leonardo da Vinci
A FloodAround 1517 -1518. In recent years, clouds, water, rocks and debris become a single rotating energy.
Portrait of a man in the red chalk attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
"Self-portrait" of TurinIdentification remains a hypothesis. This old man's head is not a certain photograph of Leonardo's face.
What has disappeared

Works lost, destroyed or never completed

A lost work cannot be treated as a preserved painting. Copies transmit a composition, rarely the material, color or final state. They are clues, not substitutes.

Copy of the Battle of Anghiari after Leonardo da Vinci

The Battle of Anghiari

Commissioned in 1503 for the Grand Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Leonardo experiments with a mural technique that fails; the composition then disappears under the transformations of the room.

  • Survive: preparatory drawings, descriptions and copies.
  • The famous Battle of the Standard de Rubens is a late copy according to another source, not a direct facsimile.
  • No Leonardo paintings are visible on the wall today.
See the available reproduction
Old copy of Leda and the Swan after Leonardo da Vinci

Leda and the Swan

The composition of Leda standing with the swan and her children is known from several studies by Leonardo and from old copies. The original, still reported in French collections in the 16th century, is lost.

  • Survive: heads, hairdressing studies, poses and painted copies.
  • The versions of Cesare da Sesto or the entourage give a general idea of the project.
  • Their quality does not prove that they reproduce every detail of the prototype.
See a reproduction
Other major absences

Equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza: the bronze was never cast and the large clay model was destroyed. Spindle Madonna: lost prototype, known from workshop versions. Neptune and Medusa: works cited by ancient sources but not identified with certainty. Party sets and stage machines: designed for the event, they only survive in notes and drawings.

Useful timeline

Six moments to put the whole thing back together

1469 -82Florence: Verrocchio's workshop, first Madonnas, portraits and Adoration.
1482 -99Milan: court portraits, Virgin of the Rocks, Last Supper, Sforza monument.
1500 -03Return via Mantua, Venice and Florence; Saint Anne and studies.
1503 -06Mona Lisa and Battle of Anghiari; symbolic rivalry with Michelangelo.
1506 -13Milan: anatomy, water, geology and continuation of late paintings.
1513 -19Rome then France: Saint John, final retouching and manuscripts in Amboise.
Extend the discovery

Hand painted reproductions of Leonardo

Three emblematic works from the store, linked directly to their product page. Each image below is hosted by Shopify and each link has been constructed from the active catalog.

Frequently asked questions

What to remember

How many paintings by Leonardo da Vinci still exist?

Around fifteen are very widely accepted, and the total rises to around twenty when we include collaborations, workshop panels and discussed attributions. The figure therefore depends on the method chosen.

Is Vitruvian Man a painting?

No. It is a drawing in pen, ink and metal tip, accompanied by notes, preserved in Venice. Its fragility explains why it is not permanently exhibited.

Is Salvator Mundi really Leonardo's?

Its attribution remains debated. Some authorities see it as a substantially autograph work; others insist on the workshop and restorations. It must be presented as controversial, not as a certainty.

Where is the largest collection of paintings located?

The Louvre preserves five central works: The Mona Lisa, The Virgin of the Rocks, La Belle Ferronnière, The Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist. For the drawings, the Royal Collection is unparalleled with nearly six hundred sheets.

Did Leonardo make sculptures?

He designed monuments and modeled the gigantic horse Sforza in clay, but no unanimously recognized sculpture by his hand remains. His activity as a sculptor is mainly documented by texts and drawings.

Why are so many works unfinished?

Leonardo experimented slowly, changed cities and sponsors, and sometimes continued a work for years. Incompletion also reveals a method: he seeks coherence between observation, composition, light and matter which he considers difficult to close.

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