Leonardo da Vinci & The Leonardeschi — Master, Workshop & School | Sfumato, Codex Drawings & Enigmatic Portraits | LoRA (Krea2 Turbo)

LoRA trained on the complete surviving oeuvre of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) together with his Milanese and Lombard pupils and followers — the so-called Leonardeschi: Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Marco d'Oggiono, Francesco Melzi, Giampietrino, Cesare da Sesto, Andrea Salai (Salaì) and Ambrogio de Predis. This is not just "Leonardo the genius," but Leonardo the workshop master — the smoky sfumato of his own hand blended with the softer, sometimes sweeter, sometimes more explicit Leonardesque Madonnas, Salomes and Ledas that his disciples carried into the 16th century. The LoRA covers both the enigmatic masterworks (Mona Lisa, Lady with an Ermine, Virgin of the Rocks) and the vast graphic universe of the codices — anatomy, hydraulics, flying machines, botanical studies, grotesque heads — plus the lush, mystical output of his Milanese school.

Trained and tested on Krea2 Turbo.

About the Artist and His School

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15, 1452, Vinci — May 2, 1519, Amboise) was a Florentine polymath — painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist, anatomist, inventor and writer — universally regarded as the archetype of the Renaissance man.

• Origins: Illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant woman from Vinci; raised in Vinci and later in Florence.

• Training (1466–1476): Apprenticed in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, alongside Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. According to Vasari, his angel in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ (c. 1475) was so superior that the master put down his brush forever.

• First Florentine period (1472–1482): Early masterworks include the Annunciation (c. 1472–76), Madonna Benois (c. 1478), Ginevra de' Benci (c. 1474) and the unfinished Adoration of the Magi (1481).

• First Milanese period (1482–1499): In the service of Ludovico Sforza ("Il Moro"). Created The Virgin of the Rocks (1483–86), Lady with an Ermine (c. 1490), The Last Supper (1495–98, refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie), and began the monumental (lost) equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza.

• The notebooks: Filled approximately 13,000 pages of mirror-written codices — anatomical studies of corpses, hydraulic machines, flying devices, botanical drawings, grotesque heads, and the iconic Vitruvian Man (c. 1490).

• Wandering years (1499–1513): After the fall of Ludovico, moved between Mantua, Venice, Florence and Rome. Painted Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19), The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (c. 1503–19), and the lost Battle of Anghiari cartoon.

• Second Milanese period & Rome (1508–1516): Worked on St. John the Baptist (c. 1513–16) and continued his anatomical dissections.

• France (1516–1519): Invited by François I, lived at the Château du Clos Lucé near Amboise as "first painter, engineer and architect to the king." Died in 1519.

The Leonardeschi — His Pupils and Followers

• Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1467–1516): His most faithful early Milanese pupil; Madonna and Child compositions with luminous, cool sfumato.

• Marco d'Oggiono (c. 1470–1524): Copied The Last Supper several times; known for his tender Madonnas in Leonardesque style.

• Bernardino Luini (c. 1480–1532): The most prolific and successful Leonardesco; developed a sweeter, more decorative variant of Leonardo's manner that dominated Lombardy for decades. His Salome, Christ among the Doctors and countless Madonnas are textbook Leonardesque.

• Andrea Salai (Salaì) (1480–1524): Leonardo's beloved pupil and model; painted the famous Monna Vanna (nude Mona Lisa variant) and copied many of his master's works.

• Francesco Melzi (1491–1570): Leonardo's heir, companion and executor; inherited all the notebooks and paintings. His Flora, Leda, and Vertumnus and Pomona carry Leonardo's style into Mannerism.

• Giampietrino (active c. 1508–1549): Produced powerful, dark Leonardesque works — Cleopatra, Mary Magdalene, Diana, St. Catherine — often more sensual and explicit than the master's own.

• Cesare da Sesto (1477–1523): A more experimental follower who blended Leonardo with Raphael and the Lombard tradition.

• Ambrogio de Predis (c. 1455–1508): Collaborator on the side panels of The Virgin of the Rocks altarpiece.

The Manner

• Sfumato (the signature): The "smoky" technique — imperceptible transitions between light and shadow, no hard outlines; faces and forms emerge from a soft, atmospheric haze. The single most defining quality of Leonardo and his school.

• The enigmatic smile: The half-closed eyes and ambiguous, knowing smile of Mona Lisa, St. John the Baptist, and the Leonardesque Madonnas and Salomes.

• Chiaroscuro with tenebrism roots: Figures emerging from deep, warm darkness — candlelit interiors, cave settings (Virgin of the Rocks), and nocturnal landscapes.

• Pyramidal compositions: The stable triangular arrangement of Madonna-and-Child, St. Anne, and the infant John the Baptist — the archetype of High Renaissance grouping.

• The Leonardesque female type: Oval face, high smooth forehead, lowered gaze, enigmatic smile, long wavy hair parted in the middle, often with elaborate braids — a type replicated endlessly by the school.

• Mystical Madonnas: Madonna of the Rocks, Madonna of the Yarnwinder, Madonna Litta, Madonna Benois — the mother of God rendered as an intimate, psychological presence.

• The lost mythologies: Leda and the Swan (lost original, known through Melzi and Giampietrino copies), St. John the Baptist as Bacchus, Salome — sensual, ambiguous, mythic.

• Grotesque heads: Caricature studies of ugly and aged faces — a parallel stream to the idealized portraits, foundational for the later genre of caricature.

• The Codex drawings: Mirror-written notes in sepia ink, accompanied by astonishing studies of anatomy (muscle, bone, heart, fetus), hydraulics, flight, botany, geology, optics, and fortification.

• The Vitruvian Man: The iconic synthesis of geometry and human proportion, drawn in red chalk with pen.

• Atmospheric perspective in landscape: Distant mountains dissolving into blue mist behind figures — first developed systematically by Leonardo.

• Lombard sweetness (Luini, d'Oggiono): The pupils often softened Leonardo's psychological intensity into a more decorative, sentimental, and accessible idiom.

• Lombard sensuality (Giampietrino): Giampietrino and Melzi pushed the erotic charge of Leda, Cleopatra and Magdalene further than Leonardo himself ever did.

Tested Generation Settings

Parameter

Value

Base model

Krea2 Turbo

VAE

qwen_image_vae

Text encoder

qwen3vl_4b_fp8_scaled

Steps

8

Sampler

Euler a

Schedule type

Bong Tangent

CFG scale

1

Resolution

1536×2048 (vertical — the native Leonardo format for portraits, Madonnas, and codex pages) / 2048×1536 (horizontal for The Last Supper compositions, landscapes and codex sheets)

LoRA weight

0.9–1.0 (epoch 20 — full training, sfumato Leonardesque holds full weight)

Negative prompt

Not required at CFG 1. For the Leonardesque aesthetic, add to negative: hard outlines, flat lighting, photorealism, neon, modern clothing, anime, harsh shadows, oversaturated digital color, low detail, cartoon, 3D render

Trigger Words

Leonardo da Vinci style, Leonardeschi painting, sfumato portrait, Leonardesque Madonna, Renaissance codex drawing, High Renaissance chiaroscuro

Thematic boosters: sfumato transitions, enigmatic smile, pyramidal composition, warm tenebrist background, Leonardesque female type, mirror-writing codex page, sepia ink drawing, red chalk study, atmospheric perspective, Lombard sweetness, Renaissance chiaroscuro

Versions

Epoch 20 (current) — full training; stable at weight 0.9–1.0.

Rights & Ethics

Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519. All his works and the works of his Leonardeschi pupils are fully in the public domain worldwide. Educational and creative tool.