Leonardo da Vinchi

from the Middle Ages until 1848. The works, dating from

after 1848 were transferred to the Musée d'Orsay during establishment of the latter.

Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor,

anatomist, geologist, 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. Marco Rosci points out, however, 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.

of his works, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper,

are the most famous; most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious paintings of all time, respectively, their fame approached only by Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings survive the small number due to his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques, and his chronic procrastination.