While many of da Vinci’s designs seem far-fetched, he did work on ideas and items we use today. He created the first usable versions of scissors, portable bridges, diving suits, a mirror-grinding machine similar to those used to make telescopes, and a machine to produce screws.

Leonardo da Vinci was famous for his designs, art, cartography, geology, and studies. Leonardo’s designs later helped us to invent things like the tank, parachute, helicopter and many other things. He was also a very talented artist. Most of his pictures and paintings are in art galleries and museums.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is exhibited for the first time in America.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Ginevra de’ Benci is a portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci of the 15th-century Florentine aristocrat Ginevra de’ Benci (born c. 1458). It is the only painting by Leonardo on public view in the Western Hemipshere.

The Renaissance Man While Leonardo da Vinci is best known as an artist, his work as a scientist and an inventor make him a true Renaissance man. He serves as a role model applying the scientific method to every aspect of life, including art and music.

The Mona Lisa hasn’t left the Louvre in 44 years. The last time it was shown outside of Paris was in 1974, when it went on view in Tokyo and Moscow. Prior to that, Leonardo’s masterpiece traveled to Washington, DC, and New York in 1963. But even that journey had its problems.

National Gallery of Art West Building
Portrait of Ginevra Benci/Locations

Among the qualities that make da Vinci’s work unique are the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition, and his use of sfumato.

His biggest project was destroyed Leonardo’s most substantial commissioned work was for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico il Moro, called Gran Cavallo or ‘Leonardo’s Horse’ in 1482.

Leonardo never married, but he had many close relationships with other artists and intellectuals as well as with his assistants. Read more about Tuscany, the region where Leonardo da Vinci was born and raised.

Biografía Considerado el paradigma del homo universalis, del sabio renacentista versado en todos los ámbitos del conocimiento humano, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) incursionó en campos tan variados como la aerodinámica, la hidráulica, la anatomía, la botánica, la pintura, la escultura y la arquitectura, entre otros.

Como ingeniero e inventor, Leonardo desarrolló ideas muy adelantadas a su tiempo, tales como el helicóptero, el carro de combate, el submarino y el automóvil. Muy pocos de sus proyectos llegaron a construirse (entre ellos la máquina para medir el límite elástico de un cable), puesto que la mayoría no eran realizables en esa época.

Aunque era considerado plenamente desde su nacimiento como hijo de su padre, Leonardo nunca fue reconocido formalmente como un hijo legítimo. Su padre se casó hasta cuatro veces, y tuvo diez hijos y dos hijas legítimos.

Giorgio Vasari, su primer biógrafo, relata cómo el genio de Leonardo, siendo aún un niño, creó un escudo de Medusa con dragones que aterrorizó a su padre cuando se topó con él por sorpresa. Consciente del talento de su hijo, su padre le permitió ingresar como aprendiz en el taller de Andrea del Verrocchio.