davinci works of art

Lady with an Ermine, completed around 1490, is one of only four portraits of women painted by Leonardo. Currently on display at the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, Poland, the oil painting is a portrait of the young Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Leonardo’s patron, Luduvico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Gallerani is shown wearing a relatively simple dress, revealing that she does not come from a noble family. The significance of the white-coated ermine, similar to a weasel, has been discussed at length. It is possible that the animal represents purity, as it was believed that an ermine would never soil its white coat under any circumstances.
The Mona Lisa is arguably the best-known painting of all time. Painted between 1503 and 1506 in Florence, today La Gioconda has found her home at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The painting’s title comes from Renaissance art historian Giorgio Vasari’s biography of Leonardo, which was published 31 years after the artist’s death. It is widely accepted among scholars that the portrait is of Lisa del Giocondo, a member of a wealthy Florentine family. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, creating worldwide intrigue and significantly increasing its public profile. The thief was discovered two years later – Vincenzo Peruggia had taken the Mona Lisa back to Italy, where he was hailed as a patriot for bringing her home.

The Benois Madonna, also known as Madonna and Child with Flowers or Madonna with The Flower, is displayed in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This work was discovered and attributed (for centuries it was considered lost) to Leonardo in the early 20th century. The painting is a charming piece that depicts the Madonna with baby Jesus on her lap, looking inquisitively at the little flowers in his mother’s hands — the Madonna and Child theme was a favorite of Leonardo’s.
Leonardo da Vinci was known for his notebooks filled with sketches, drawings, ideas, texts and so on. The Codex on the Flight of Birds is a rare treat that is rarely on display. It is kept out of display in order to protect it and allow it be around for future generations. What makes the work even more special is that in 2009, researches discovered what they believe to be a self-portrait of a younger Leonardo hidden among some of the handwriting.

To the present day, art enthusiasts worldwide consider the iconic “Mona Lisa” to be among the greatest paintings of all time. Her image continues to appear on items ranging from T-shirts to refrigerator magnets, and rather than trivializing the import of the masterpiece, this popularity serves to immortalize Leonardo paintings and drawings. They still remain at the forefront of people’s hearts and minds centuries after his death.
Although a member of the Florence painters’ guild as of 1472, the artist continued his studies with Verrocchio as an assistant until 1476. The influences of his master are evident in the remarkable vitality and anatomical correctness of the Leonardo paintings and drawings.

Over time several of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings have been lost for one reason or another. They may only exist now as copies.
That said, to most people his most famous works are likely to be The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. During his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci created several works of art that are easily recognisable. He was more of a specialist in painting than Michelangelo, who preferred sculpture.

It is primarily as a painter that Leonardo was and is renowned. Two of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper occupy unique positions as the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. Leonardo’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also iconic. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive, the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise a contribution to later generations of artists only rivalled by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
(April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)

Resources:

http://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/the-10-works-by-leonardo-da-vinci-you-havent-seen-before/
http://www.leonardodavinci.net/
http://www.leonardo-da-vinci.net/paintings/
http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/
http://www.findglocal.com/US/Chula-Vista/174915682709740/Davinci-Metal-Gate