Which Venetian museum owns Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man?

The Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice owns Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. The drawing is Leonardo’s study of human proportions, inspired by the Roman architect Vitruvius and showing a male figure in overlapping circle and square compositions.

Leonardo created the work in Milan around 1490, adding mirror-written notes that discuss the proportions of the human body. Its combination of art, geometry, and classical learning made it one of the defining images of the Renaissance. It is a drawing rather than a painting, executed in pen and ink with touches of wash on paper.

The work passed through several owners after Leonardo’s death, including his heir Francesco Melzi and the artist Giuseppe Bossi. The Venetian academy acquired it in 1822. Because paper and ink are highly sensitive to light, the drawing is rarely displayed and is kept under carefully controlled conditions.

A common mix-up is to associate it with the Louvre simply because it was loaned there for a major Leonardo exhibition in 2019. The Louvre displayed it temporarily; the permanent owner remains Venice’s Gallerie dell’Accademia.