Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination".According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote".Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time.
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| Study of a Tuscan Landscape, c. 1473 |
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| Study of Arms and Hands, c. 1474 |
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| Man with a Staff, c. 1476-1480 |
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| Siege Machine, c. 1480 |
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| Saint Sebastion, c. 1480 |
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| Study of Horse and Rider, c. 1480 |
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| Study of Horse and Rider, c. 1481 |
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| Designs for a Boat, c. 1485-7 |
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| An Artillery Park, c. 1487 |
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| Study of a Young Woman in Profile, c. 1485-7 |
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| Grotesque Profile, c. 1487-90 |
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| Design for a Flying Machine, c. 1488 |
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| Design for a Flying Machine, c. 1488 |
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| Proportions of the Head, c. 1488-9 |
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| Study for the Sforza Monument, c. 1488-9 |
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| View of a Skull, c. 1489 |
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| View of a Skull, c. 1489 |
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| View of a Skull, c. 1489 |
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| Study of a Womb, c. 1489 |
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| Proportions of the Face and Eye, c. 1489 |
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| Five Characters in a Comic Scene, c. 1490 |
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| Ill-matched Couple, c. 1490 |
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| Study of a Woman, c. 1490 |
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| Vitruvian Man, c. 1490 |
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| Christ Figure, c. 1490-5 |
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| Studies of Concave Mirrors of Differing Curvatures, c. 1492 |
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| Coition of a Hemisected Man and Woman, c. 1492 |
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| Study for the Last Supper, c. 1495 |
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| Stretching Device for a Barrel Spring, c. 1498 |
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| Anatomy of a Male Nude, c 1504-6 |
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| A Grotesque Head, c. 1504-7 |
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| Design for a Flying Machine, c. 1505 |
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| Study for the Head of Leda, c. 1505-7 |
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| Study for the Kneeling Leda, c. 1505-7 |
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| The Principal Organs and Vascular and Urino-Genital Systems of a Woman, c. 1507 |
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| Study for the Trivulzio Monument, c. 1508 |
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| Study of Brain Physiology, c. 1508 |
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| Studies of Water passing Obstacles and falling, c. 1508-9 |
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| Studies of the Shoulder and Neck, c. 1509-1510 |
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| Studies of the Shoulder and Neck, c. 1509-1510 |
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| Studies of the Shoulder and Neck, c. 1509-1510 |
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| Sedge, c. 1510 |
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| Studies of the Arm showing the Movements made by the Biceps, c. 1510 |
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| Views of a Fetus in the Womb, c. 1510-12 |
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| Head of Saint Anne, c. 1510-5 |
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| Study of Cats and Other Animals c. 1513 |
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| Old Man with Water Studies, c. 1513 |
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| Possible Self-Portrait, c. 1513 |
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| Anatomy of the Neck, c. 1515 |
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| Detail from a Study of a Dragon Costume, c. 1517-8 |
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| Masquerader in the guise of a Prisoner, c. 1517-8 |
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| Study of Skeletons |
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| Peter Paul Ruben's copy of the lost Battle of Anghiari, c. 1603 |
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| Study of a Figure for the Battle of Anghiari |
"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding." - Leonardo