A Night at the Louvre: Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa Myth

Janina Ramirez explores the BBC archives to create a TV history of Leonardo Da Vinci, discovering what lies beneath the Mona Lisa and even how he acquired his anatomical knowledge.

In November 15, 2017, the painting Salvator Mundi, attributed to Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), was sold for an unprecedented $450 million. An examination of the dirty secrets of the art world and the surprising story of how a work of art is capable of upsetting both personal and geopolitical interests.

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

The world’s museums are closed. What are you missing?  Take a real-time walk through the Louvre towards the “greatest painting ever” and contemplate what it would be like to be there yourself.

On the occasion of the fourty years anniversary of François Mitterand's election, a look back to the relationship between the President and artists, from admiration to manipulation.

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

Lucy Jarvis -- the plucky camerawoman known for becoming the first Westerner to film inside communist China -- breaks barriers once again with this exclusive look at the world-famous Musée du Louvre, a place that previously barred access to all filmmakers. Charles Boyer is your host on this personalized tour of the museum's most prized possessions, including works by da Vinci, Michelangelo, Vermeer and Van Eyck.

A portrait of the artist as a "sublime demon with the archangel's face", with an innovative musique concrète soundtrack.

Le Louvre, un musée pharaonique

An in-depth and in real time delve into the jewel heist that took place on 19 October 2025 and saw men disguised as construction workers break into the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon through a second floor window and shatter display cases, grabbing pieces of the French Crown Jewels, including tiaras, necklaces and other jewelry valued at over $100 million. The men then fled on motorbikes.

Despite being closed to the public, on Tuesdays at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the day is busier than ever.

Leonardo da Vinci finds it difficult to pursue his own dreams while serving as the Duke's court artist, but young Roberto takes risks to convince the Master not to give up on his dreams. In this moving story of friendship, the Renaissance genius invents a flying machine and helps Roberto reach new heights.

Dive into a real-time investigation of the shocking daylight robbery at Paris' Louvre Museum. Former thieves, security staff, eyewitnesses and investigators piece together the crime and ongoing chase to recover France's crown jewels before it's too late.

Doubling as a cartography of the ever-changing city, Bill Cunningham New York portrays the secluded pioneer of street fashion with grace and heart.

People looking at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – or are they just looking at themselves?

Chambord, the most impressive castle in the Loire Valley, in France, a truly Renaissance treasure, has always been an enigma to generations of historians. Why did King Francis I (1494-1547), who commissioned it, embark on this epic project in the heart of the marshlands in 1519? What significance did he want the castle to have? What role did his friend, Italian genius Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) play? Was he the architect or who was?

Leonardo da Vinci is not just the most famous and most admired of all painters - he is an icon, a superstar. Yet, the man himself remains elusive. Accounts during his lifetime describe a man too handsome, too strong, too perfect to be accurate. But in 2009, the chance discovery in the South of Italy of an ancient portrait with strangely familiar features takes the art world by storm. Could this be an unknown self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci? Controversy erupts among the experts. The implications of such a discovery have far-reaching consequences for our understanding of the work of this great Renaissance master.

A building lost in the midst of a 5 000 hectare park, that's the equivalent of the surface of Paris, Chambord is the castle of all superlatives. Having required nearly 220,000 tonnes of stone to build, the Chateau de Chambord, in the Loir-et-Cher department, is an architectural gem. 156 metres of facade, it has more than 70 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms. The castle commissioned by Francis 1st in the 16th century is also the most mysterious. The majestic monument has its share of mysteries: identity of its architect, influence of the Florentine painter Leonardo da Vinci in its design, location in the middle of marshes in the heart of the forest and even longevity because it has survived through time without being damaged since the beginning of its construction in September 1519.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many to be one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Yet his reputation rests on only a handful of pictures - including the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.