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500 Years After Leonardo Da Vinci's Death, France Celebrates His Life And Work

A new exhibition at the Louvre includes Leonardo's sketches, drawings and 11 paintings. "You can really get into his brain and try to see how he thought," says biographer Serge Bramly.
When Leonardo da Vinci arrived in France in 1516, he brought three of his own paintings with him — "Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" (left), "Saint John the Baptist" (right) and the Mona Lisa.

The largest-ever collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci is drawing record crowds at the Louvre in Paris this year, the 500th anniversary of the artist's death. The Louvre has brought together more than 100 paintings, drawings and manuscripts for the exhibition, which opened in October and will end in February.

Leonardo was a perfectionist, which is why, experts say, he produced only about 15 paintings. The exhibition includes 11 of them, the most ever

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