London ( CNN ) -- There are few historical figures that can compete with Leonardo da Vinci 's celebrity . This , despite what little we actually know about him . Other than the complex and often mysterious works of art and writings that are his legacy , what 's left today amounts to a few basic facts , and anecdotes told by 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari . And yet , nearly 500 years after his death , da Vinci continues to fascinate , standing in popular culture as a totem of the supernaturally gifted individual . An exhibition , which opened in London this week , includes nine of da Vinci 's 15 surviving paintings -- the first time so many of his paintings have been shown off together -- with an estimated insurance value of $ 2 billion . `` The big cultural figures like Dante and Shakespeare and Goethe and Einstein , they all have their cults and their 'loonies ' as I call them -- but Leonardo is in a league of his own , '' he said . The quintessential Renaissance man who was brilliant in the fields of both science and art , da Vinci is widely regarded as a genius . `` He really was a polymath , '' said art historian Richard Stemp . `` He worked on everything -- he studied anatomy , he studied the natural world , he saw himself as a painter-philosopher really , '' he continued . Da Vinci was born in 1452 , the illegitimate son of a Florentine landlord and notary , on his father 's estate in Vinci . He was apprenticed at the workshop of Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio when he was just a teenager . In 1482 , he entered into service of the Duke of Milan as an official painter and engineer and remained there for 17 years , during which time he created such masterpieces as the first version of `` The Virgin of the Rocks '' and the `` Last Supper . '' It was also in this period that he turned to scientific studies . `` In his mid-30s , he starts to diversify and towards the end of his life he would have seen himself essentially as a scientist who also did a bit of painting on the side , '' said Martin Clayton , Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection in the UK , which contains an extensive collection of drawings by da Vinci . Da Vinci 's mechanical drawings included prototype designs for such modern contraptions as helicopters and tanks . But it was during his second stint in Florence , from 1500 to 1506 , that he painted his masterwork , the `` Mona Lisa . '' Though we are now so used to this image of the smiling noblewoman , the painting 's `` startling originality , '' according to Clayton , is still visible today . `` There 's simply nothing out there like it before , this sense of looking at an individual and yet taking the individual out of the context of her own life and presenting her as this mystical , idealized figure who stands outside of time , '' he said . Da Vinci spent his last years in France , serving as a painter , architect and engineer to the King of France , and died there in 1519 . The `` Mona Lisa , '' which he brought with him to France , stayed . Today , the portrait -- with its notoriously enigmatic smile -- remains the star attraction at the Louvre Museum in Paris . The aura of mystery around the `` Mona Lisa '' and , indeed , the artist himself could be what draws people into the cult of Leonardo , according to Italian art historian Mina Gregori . `` Even he could not explain himself completely , '' she said , referring to the unfinished nature of many of his works . `` He continued to create question marks , he always created problems , he created the curiosity to know more , '' she continued . Perhaps our best clues to who da Vinci really was are to be found in his paintings , writings and drawings . But as with all art , his works are open to interpretation . `` On a religious level , I think he was a probing person -- he questions ( things ) a lot , '' said Monsignor Renato Bellini , a priest in Vinci , where Leonardo was born and baptized . However , according to art historian Pietro Marani , the idea that Leonardo was either a divine talent or a supernatural being detracts from what we are able to read in the works themselves . `` ( We ) no longer ( have ) an image of Leonardo that is all one piece -- a semi-God , a magician -- but a multi-faceted Leonardo , a contradictory Leonardo , who changes ( his ) ideas , '' he said . Many of the drawings featured in the `` Leonardo -- The Lost Painting '' are held in the Royal Collection : royalcollection.org.uk .
Few historical figures continue to enchant like Leonardo da Vinci . A man considered mysterious and inscrutable . Intitally a poet , towards end of life he becomes a scientist . They show a questing , never satisfied soul , according to art historians .