The Death of Leonardo da Vinci or Francis I Receives the Last Breaths of Leonardo da Vinci is an 1818 oil painting by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, showing the Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci dying, with Francis I of France holding his head. It was commissioned by Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas, the French ambassador in Rome, and is now in the Petit Palais in Paris.[1]
Another version of the painting created is held by the Smith College Museum of Art.[2]
The painting depicts the death of the Italian Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci, which took place in the Clos Lucé house, in Amboise, on May 2, 1519. As a source of inspiration for this painting, Ingres took up the story of the death of the painter present in the Lives of Giorgio Vasari. The king of France Francis I embraces the dying artist to receive his last breath, while other characters, including priests and servants, observe the scene. The young dauphin Francis of Valois sadly observes the scene and a cardinal places a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. On a table next to Leonardo's bed are a Bible and a small crucifix. The face of Francis I takes up a painting by Titian dating back to 1538.[3]