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Leonardo da Vinci A modern-day genius

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2019 marks 500 years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a timeless genius who continues to fascinate.

Leonardo da Vinci in France

Having excelled in all fields of the arts and sciences in Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was invited to Amboise by François I in 1516. He spent the last three years of his life there, sketching architectural projects and organizing dazzling feasts for the king and his court.

Although Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany in 1452, his exceptional talent for the arts and sciences soon led him to travel all over Italy. A pupil of the great painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrochio in Florence, he came to the attention of the Medici, who sent him to Milan in 1482, where he carried out his first major architectural works for Duke Ludovico Sforza.

Whatever Leonardo undertook, he succeeded with genius. A jack-of-all-trades, he was interested in clocks, cranes and other urban and hydraulic plans, all the while pursuing his artistic endeavors. It was in Milan that he painted The Last Supper, arguably his most famous fresco.

10. Le Studiolo Et Le Ghost De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres10. Le Studiolo Et Le Ghost De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres
©10. Le Studiolo Et Le Ghost De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres|eonard De Serres
Leonardo da Vinci's roomLeonardo da Vinci's room
©Leonardo da Vinci's room|Léonard de Serres
Lhelice Volante David Darrault 2Lhelice Volante David Darrault 2
©Lhelice Volante David Darrault 2|David Darrault

    "Free to dream, think and work".

    Continuing his career in Venice, he also spent time in Mantua, Rome and Bologna, where he pursued painting, anatomical studies and scientific experiments, among other things. The Mona Lisa, which he painted between 1503 and 1506, remained with him for the rest of his life. And when Leonardo left Rome to work in France, disappointed by the unimportant assignments he was given, it was with his Mona Lisa that he took up residence at the manor house of Cloux d’Amboise, now known as Clos Lucé.

    François I’s intentions were clear when he invited the Florentine genius to Touraine. While he wished, as a true patron of the arts, to leave him “free to dream, think and work”, he also appointed him “First Painter, First Engineer and First Architect to the King”, as he intended to organize celebrations as extraordinary as those at the Medici court.

    Leonardo da Vinci thus became “Master of Entertainments”, staging the court’s receptions, which at the time were enjoying unprecedented splendor. For these occasions, he created automatons, breathtaking scenography (such as his recreation of the battle of Marignano, with 10,000 costumed extras, or his celestial vault traversed by the movement of the stars), and sumptuous water fountains that amazed his noble audience.

    Ateliers De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres 1Ateliers De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres 1
    ©Ateliers De Leonard De Vinci Leonard De Serres 1|Leonard De Serres
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    ©Image 3988609|Château Royal d'Amboise
    Da Vinci ChallengeDa Vinci Challenge
    ©Da Vinci Challenge|Cap Découverte

      Leonardo da Vinci's last monumental projects

      François I, fascinated by Vinci as a father, also entrusted him with larger-scale projects. The artist’s talent for architecture and engineering was put to good use: he imagined the construction of a new palace at Romorantin, requiring the detour of a river, produced the first sketches of a canal between the Loire and Saône rivers, and inspired the famous double-helix staircase at Chambord.

      Three years after his arrival in France, Leonardo da Vinci, ill and weakened, died at the Château du Clos Lucé on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67. He was buried at Château d’Amboise, his bones now lying beneath the tombstone in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert. Although he lived only a short time in France, Leonardo da Vinci left his mark on the history of the Loire Valley and, more than five centuries after his death, continues to inspire young and old alike.

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