Collection: Art Prints by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, naturalist and engineer who is considered one of the greatest universal geniuses in the history of mankind. He was born out of wedlock in the small town of Vinci in Tuscany, where he grew up as the son of a Florentine notary and a simple peasant woman, and showed an unusually broad intellectual and artistic talent at an early age. From 1466, Leonardo completed an apprenticeship in the renowned workshop of the Florentine painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio, where he worked intensively on painting, sculpture and goldsmithing and, even as a young apprentice, surpassed his master in the quality of his work.

In his early works, Leonardo devoted himself primarily to religious themes and portraits and created works that captivated with a hitherto unknown softness of transitions, a subtle treatment of light and shadow and a psychological depth of the figures depicted. His years at the court of Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan, where he worked not only as a painter but also as a fortress architect, stage designer and court engineer, were decisive for his artistic and scientific development. This unique combination of art and science permeated his entire oeuvre from then on and fundamentally distinguished him from all artists of his time.

A central feature of Leonardo's work was his tireless exploration of the visible world as the basis for all artistic representation. Famous are his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, which are among the best-known and most interpreted works in the entire history of art and have lost none of their fascination to this day. Leonardo also filled thousands of pages with drawings and notes on anatomy, hydraulics, optics, bird flight and mechanical engineering, creating a scientific legacy that goes far beyond his importance as a painter.

In addition to his work as an artist and researcher, Leonardo was a fascinating yet enigmatic figure in European intellectual life. He left numerous works unfinished, as his restless mind constantly raised new questions before old projects could be completed, and he spent the last years of his life at the invitation of the French King Francis I at the Clos Lucé castle near Amboise. He was held in the highest esteem during his lifetime and was regarded as an unsurpassable role model by contemporaries such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Today, Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as the epitome of the Renaissance man, whose works and ideas are preserved in the world's most important museums and libraries and continue to fascinate and inspire mankind to this day.