Where can you see Leonardo da Vinci in Paris?

At the Louvre Museum: Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, The Virgin of the Rocks, Saint John the Baptist and La Belle Ferronnière. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work in Paris?

Mona Lisa, of 1503 to 1519, at the Louvre Museum. The portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine silk merchant, which Leonardo kept and reworked until his death. It hangs alone behind glass in the largest room of the museum.

When and where was Leonardo da Vinci born?

On 15 April 1452, at Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy. Leonardo da Vinci died on 2 May 1519, at Amboise, France, aged about 67.

What is Leonardo da Vinci known for?

Painted the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. Fewer than twenty paintings survive; five are in the Louvre. Spent his last three years in France, as a guest of the king. Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, of the High Renaissance.

Painter, 1452 to 1519

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo finished very few paintings, and he carried three of them over the Alps to France in his old age. That is why the best place on earth to see him is not Italy. It is one gallery of the Louvre.

Born: 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy
Died: 1519, Amboise, France
Movement: High Renaissance
In Paris: 5 works in 1 museum

Where to see Leonardo da Vinci in Paris

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Louvre Museum5 works

Mona Lisa
1503 to 1519
The portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine silk merchant, which Leonardo kept and reworked until his death. It hangs alone behind glass in the largest room of the museum.
The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
about 1503 to 1519
Three generations in one pyramid: Saint Anne, her daughter Mary on her lap, and the infant Christ reaching for a lamb. Leonardo worked on it for the last twenty years of his life.
The Virgin of the Rocks
1483 to 1486
The first of two versions, painted in Milan: the Virgin, two children and an angel in a cave of strange rock. The second is in the National Gallery in London.
Saint John the Baptist
about 1513 to 1516
Probably his last painting: the saint smiling out of deep shadow, one finger pointing to heaven.
La Belle Ferronnière
about 1490 to 1497
A portrait of a lady of the court of Milan, her eyes turned just past the viewer. Few people stop at it, on their way to the Mona Lisa a few rooms on.

The life of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo was born near the Tuscan town of Vinci in 1452 and trained in Florence. He was a painter, an engineer, an anatomist and a musician, and he filled thousands of pages of notebooks with studies of water, flight and the human body. He painted slowly and abandoned much of what he began, so fewer than twenty paintings are accepted as his.

In 1516 King Francis I invited him to France and gave him a house at Amboise, on the Loire. He brought with him the Mona Lisa, the Saint Anne and the Saint John the Baptist, and was still working on them when he died there in 1519. They passed into the royal collection, and from it to the Louvre.

What to know

Painted the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world
Fewer than twenty paintings survive; five are in the Louvre
Spent his last three years in France, as a guest of the king

Born: 15 April 1452, Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy
Died: 2 May 1519, Amboise, France

Leonardo da Vinci: common questions

Where can you see Leonardo da Vinci in Paris?: At the Louvre Museum: Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, The Virgin of the Rocks, Saint John the Baptist and La Belle Ferronnière. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work in Paris?: Mona Lisa, of 1503 to 1519, at the Louvre Museum. The portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine silk merchant, which Leonardo kept and reworked until his death. It hangs alone behind glass in the largest room of the museum.
When and where was Leonardo da Vinci born?: On 15 April 1452, at Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy. Leonardo da Vinci died on 2 May 1519, at Amboise, France, aged about 67.
What is Leonardo da Vinci known for?: Painted the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. Fewer than twenty paintings survive; five are in the Louvre. Spent his last three years in France, as a guest of the king. Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, of the High Renaissance.