Leonardo da Vinci: Quick Facts

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Nov. 3, 2026

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Born	April 15, 1452 • Italy
Died	May 2, 1519 (aged 67) • France
Notable Works	“Battle of Anghiari” • “Last Supper” • “Leda” • “Mona Lisa” • “Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci” • “St. Jerome” • “The Benois Madonna” • “The Virgin of the Rocks” • “Treatise on Painting” • “Virgin and Child with St. Anne”
Movement / Style	Early Renaissance • Renaissance
Subjects Of Study	painting • perspective • proportion • anatomy • cosmology • mechanics • architecture

Leonardo da Vinci wrote from right to left in "mirrored writing", so his work was only legible when held up to a mirror.
Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying machine over 400 years before the Wright brothers achieved the first sustained flight.
In 2017 "Salvator Mundi", a painting attributed to Leonardo, sold at auction for $450.3 million.
Bill Gates purchased one of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts for $30.8 million.