Leonardo da Vinci MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 2 Author: Gabriel Séailles Traduction: Barbara J. Barling Page 4: Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right, 1508–1512 Charcoal, black and red chalk, 20.3 x 15.6 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Layout: Baseline Co., Ltd 127-129 A Nguyen Hue Fiditourist 3rdFloor District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam © Sirrocco, London UK © Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA All rights reserved All rights of adaptation and reproduction reserved for all coun- tries. Unless otherwise mentioned, the copyright for the repro- ductions of art work belong to the photographers who created them. In spite of our research, in some cases we were unable to establish the intellectual property rights. Please address any claims to the publishing house. ISBN: 978-1-78042-217-6 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 3 FFoorrwwoorrdd “Details make perfection but perfection is not a detail.” — Leonardo da Vinci 3 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 4 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 5 Biography 1452: Leonardo is born on April 15thin a small Tuscan town called Anchiano near Vinci in the Florentine region. He is the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina. His father takes charge of him after his birth, while Caterina leaves to marry another man. His two parents, each of them remarrying, give him seventeen brothers and sisters. 1457: Leonardo goes to live with his father, who had married Alberia Amadori. 1460: The young man follows his father to Florence. 1469: At the age of 15 he becomes an apprentice in the famous studio of Andrea del Verrochio in Florence. There, he is responsible for part of the altarpieces and for some large painted panels as well as for sculptures in bronze and marble. He draws an angel in one of the Verrochio’s paintings which so impresses his master that the latter vows never to paint again. Leonardo remains in that studio until 1477. 1472: He enters the painters’ guild. 1473: Leonardo paints the first of his famous works, La Valle dell’Arno. 1478: He receives an order for an altar panel for the Vecchio Palace, a project which is never completed. 1492: Leonardo leaves Florence for Milan. He manages to enter the service of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, after boasting in a letter to him of his talent for building bridges, ships, cannons, catapults and other war machines. In fact, it is because he professes to be a musician beyond compare that he is given the post he requested. He remains as an artist in the court of Milan for eighteen years, paints numerous portraits and creates the decorations for palace parties. His fascination with complex mechanisms becomes more intense, and he studies at length physics, biology and mathematics, applying his new knowledge to his duties as an engineer. However, Leonardo’s interests are so broad that he often leaves projects unfinished. 1492: Leonardo paints The Virgin of the Rocks. He also designs elaborate armaments, among them a tank and war vehicles, as well as submarines and other battle engines. 1492: He draws remarkable plans for a flying machine. 1495: Leonardo begins work on The Last Supper, in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The work is finished in 1498. 1496: Leonardo meets the mathematician, Luca Pacioli, with whom he studies the treatises of Euclid. 1499: The invasion of Milan by the French drives Leonardo to leave the city. He goes to Mantua, then to Venice, and finally to Friuli seeking employment. 5 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 6 6 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:12 PM Page 7 1502: Leonardo begins work as a military engineer for Cesar Borgia, Duke of Romagne, son of Pope Alexander VI and General-in-Chief of his army. He supervises the building sites of the fortresses erected on the pontifical territories in central Italy. 1503: He becomes a member of the commission charged with finding a place worthy of the statue David by Michelangelo. His talents as an engineer are in great demand during the war against Pisa. He draws sketches for The Battle of Anghiari. 1504: His father dies on July 9th. There is a large inheritance, but Leonardo is swindled out of his share by the deception and trickery of his siblings. The death of his uncle soon afterwards revives the inheritance disputes; however, this time Leonardo wins out, receiving both the fortune and lands of his uncle. It is during this period that he begins to paint the Mona Lisa. 1506: He returns to Milan at the request of the French Governor, Charles d’Amboise. There he passionately studies the four elements: earth, air, water and fire. 1507: Leonardo is named painter of the court of Louis XII of France. 1514: The artist returns to Rome where he comes under the patronage of Pope Leo X. He is heavily inclined toward scientific discoveries. However, his fascination for anatomy and physiology is hindered by the Pope’s insistence that he should not open corpses for study purposes. 1516: Leonardo’s sponsor, Julio de Medici, dies on March 4th. He is then invited to France to enter the service of Francois I, as First Painter, Engineer and Architect to the King. He builds a mechanical lion on the occasion of the king’s coronation. His new patron is extremely generous and Leonardo passes the last years of his life in the luxurious apartments of a manor located not far from the royal chateau of Amboise. 1518: The artist draws the plans for a palace at Romorantin. 1519: Leonardo da Vinci dies on May 2ndat Cloux, and is buried in the church of St Valentine in Amboise. He leaves all of his manuscripts, drawings and tools to his favourite student, Francesco Melzi. All of the paintings remaining in his studio, including Mona Lisa, are given to Salai, another student. It is said that the King, Francois I, stayed at Leonardo’s side until the very last, cradling his head in his hands. 7 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:13 PM Page 8 Leonardo was born in 1452 on the right bank of the Arno in the town of Vinci between Florence and Pisa. His father was Ser Piero, who at that time was twenty-two or twenty-three years old. His mother was a young peasant girl named Catarina. One may well imagine the details of the little family drama that took place at the birth of Leonardo which put a brusque and prosaic end to his parents’ romantic idyll. Ser Piero broke his vows with Catarina, at the urging of his father without a doubt, took his son with him, The Virgin and Child with Two Angels Leonardo da Vinci and the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, probably 1470s Egg tempera on wood, 96.5 x 70.5 cm The National Gallery, London 8 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:13 PM Page 9 9 MS Da Vinci 4C.qxp 17/05/06 1:13 PM Page 10 and that same year married Albiera di Giovanni Amadori. For her part, Catarina quietly married a certain Accatabriga di Piero del Vacca, a peasant who did not look too closely into her past. As an illegitimate son living with his father, Leonardo grew up without that maternal influence that every great man with self- respect should experience. Leonardo da Vinci spent his childhood in his father’s house. Probably he was not made to suffer because he had been born out of wedlock, Baptism of Christ Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Verrocchio, 1470-1476 Oil and tempera on wood, 177 x 151 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence 10