Leonardo da Vinci is surely one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance and of the whole history of art. Rivers of ink have been spilled over him, and a million books have explored every facet of this most illustrious figure.
Not only was he a complete artist in every respect, he was also one of the most important scientists in history. His inventions were an inspiration in the centuries that followed and, even in his own time, Leonardo da Vinci was already known across much of the world and recognised as one of the most influential of men.
In our own age there are countless films inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as novels; yet there are some clichés that are often misleading and deserve a closer look, so as not to fall into simple mistakes.
For example?
Well, to name just one of the most common tales, many believe that the Mona Lisa was stolen by the French. In reality the story went very differently, and if you’re curious enough to read on, below you’ll find the answer to this fascinating question and other important curiosities that few people know.
Want to know more about Leonardo da Vinci?
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Read also: 10 works by Michelangelo you can’t not know!
1 – Why is the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris?
I’m asked this very often, but above all people ask me: did Napoleon really steal Leonardo’s Mona Lisa?
In reality the Mona Lisa is in France because it was brought there by Leonardo da Vinci himself, to the French court of Francis I, where it remained after his death. By 1625 the Mona Lisa is already recorded among the works of the French kings, and it was moved to the Louvre after the French Revolution.
So there was no theft after all?
In reality there was a theft, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa really was stolen, but by an Italian in 1911: his name was Vincenzo Peruggia and he actually worked at the Louvre. His idea was to bring the Mona Lisa back to Italy, so he stole it from the museum and kept it hidden for two years, risking serious damage. Paradoxically, it was precisely this sensational theft that turned the Mona Lisa into the most famous painting in the world.
Once recovered by the authorities, the canvas was returned to its place at the Louvre.
2 – Were Leonardo and Michelangelo friends?
Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti were more than 20 years apart in age, but we’re certain they worked together at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The works commissioned from them depicted scenes of the Battle of Anghiari and the Battle of Cascina, commissioned from the two masters in the same years.
Sadly, of these compositions only copies of the beautiful preparatory drawings survive today, but the story they left us is just as interesting.
There are in fact anecdotes about Leonardo and Michelangelo that tell of the jealousy between the two, above all on the part of the young Michelangelo.
How do we know?
The manuscript known as the Anonimo Gaddiano reports a quarrel between the two in which Michelangelo supposedly mocked Leonardo da Vinci for having failed to complete the colossal equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza.
“You who made a design for a horse to cast in bronze, and could not cast it, and out of shame gave it up.”
We don’t know for sure whether there was a healthy rivalry between the two, as in the case of Bernini and Borromini, but what is certainly true is that the two learned from each other and influenced one another.
3 – Is Mary Magdalene depicted in Leonardo’s Last Supper, as written in “The Da Vinci Code”?
Every reader of Dan Brown will have wondered whether it’s true that Mary Magdalene is depicted in Leonardo’s Last Supper.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but like all novels, this one too contains completely invented parts.
However suggestive it may be to think there are esoteric meanings in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, there is no documentary basis, scientific proof or expert analysis to support any of the theories written in Dan Brown’s novel.
So who is the figure to Christ’s right?
If it seems to you that a woman is hidden among the twelve apostles of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, it’s only because the work has been retouched and altered so many times over the centuries that some figures have almost completely lost their original features.
By the way: the Last Supper, technically, isn’t a fresco. A true fresco is painted on still-damp plaster and has to be done quickly; Leonardo instead, so he could work at his own slow pace and achieve subtle shading and detail, painted it a secco, in tempera and oil on the dry wall. A revolutionary choice, but an extremely fragile one: the paint began to flake just a few years later, which is why the work has been restored and retouched countless times.
In reality the apostle depicted is Saint John.
He was in fact the youngest of the 12 apostles, and his appearance reflects the tradition of the time, in which he was described as a young adolescent with long hair and soft features.
Even Peter’s hand, which looks suspicious because it’s at throat height, actually faithfully follows one of the passages of the Gospel in which Peter lays his hand on John’s shoulder to ask him who, in his view, the traitor was.
And the halos?
The absence of halos has been read by some as a “heresy” in Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. In reality many artists before him had chosen not to include halos in their paintings. You can indeed find several examples, especially in northern Europe and in the works of Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina.
So is it all just imagination?
Certainly the image of Leonardo da Vinci as a genius, his strange habits and his personality have all helped to create an aura of mystery around him. Even so, we must distinguish what is real or plausible from what is invented!
4 – Leonardo was handsome, wrote backwards and dressed “strangely”
Everything has been said about Leonardo. Some aspects of his personality are very interesting, such as the fact that he was left-handed and used to write from right to left rather than the other way around.
One of the best-known anecdotes about the artist concerns precisely his way of writing. Leonardo da Vinci was in fact used to writing words backwards, that is, instead of writing CIAO he wrote OAIC, following the mirror-writing model, easily read in a mirror.
Today this device is easy to decipher, but in Leonardo’s day it probably wasn’t, and the artist used this trick to make his writings “indecipherable”.
But there’s more!
The sources of the time describe this genius as a handsome man, strong and graceful, with gentle manners.
In old age Leonardo da Vinci still dressed like a young man, in short, colourful clothes, and wore a long beard and long hair, which was highly unusual.
In short, he must have seemed an eccentric figure to his contemporaries, so it’s no surprise that, alongside great admiration, he also drew genuine slander.
5 – Is it true that Leonardo da Vinci was homosexual?
Among the various things said about the artist, there are some very private ones concerning his sexuality.
While for Michelangelo it’s well known that he was homosexual and had intimate relationships with other men (we gather this from his own writings), for Leonardo the situation is quite different.
The only thing we can be sure of is that Leonardo da Vinci was accused of sodomy (a crime at the time), but the charge was dropped because it was anonymous. Despite the many speculations about his sexual tastes, to this day no writings in his own hand have been found that speak of a relationship with anyone, woman or man.
So why is he thought to have been homosexual?
Some even see disguised male faces in his female portraits, and relationships in his deep bonds with his pupils. In particular, some scholars claim Leonardo had a relationship with Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salaì, but there’s no documentary proof.
Homosexuality in Leonardo da Vinci’s day was officially a crime, but it was tolerated to the point of being widespread, especially in Florence. It would be nothing shocking, then, if our artist too had had relationships with other men.
Some argue that his thorough studies of the male body are a clue in favour of his homosexuality. Yet this proof doesn’t make much sense either: we know Leonardo was a most attentive observer of nature and drew women, men, plants and animals tirelessly.
So the answer to this question is that we know nothing for certain about Leonardo da Vinci’s sexual tastes and, personally, I see no need to dig into this aspect of his life.
Leonardo’s innovations and his art
Leonardo’s influence was fundamental for all sixteenth-century art and beyond. Just think that the famous Leonardesque “sfumato” influenced a great many artists who came after him.
In the same way, his technical experimentation and his thorough anatomical studies shifted attention onto new elements, in both the artistic and the scientific fields.
The brilliant mind of Leonardo da Vinci is still able to amaze us and leave us open-mouthed today, isn’t it?
Who was Leonardo da Vinci – A short life
Curious to discover a little more about the life of Leonardo da Vinci? Here’s a brief summary of the life of this timeless artist.
Leonardo was an artist, an engineer and a man of science. He was born near the town of Vinci, precisely at Anchiano, on 15 April 1452, the illegitimate son of a provincial notary.
He trained in the workshop of Verrocchio, an important artist, alongside other great painters such as Botticelli, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. Their generation embodies the principles of the Renaissance, of which Leonardo is the most famous and important exponent worldwide.
Leonardo da Vinci worked with Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as the Magnificent, and was influenced by the Neoplatonic ideas of his circle.
From 1482 to 1500 he was in Milan, sent perhaps in the role of “ambassador”, to the court of Ludovico il Moro.
In the following years he travelled widely across the peninsula in the service of important figures: he was in Rome, Mantua, Venice, Florence, Milan again and many other places.
In 1517 he left for France, where he entered the service of King Francis I, for whom he carried out some important architectural projects.
And after all this wandering, where did Leonardo da Vinci die?
As I told you at the start of this post, the artist died in France, at Amboise, in the manor of Clos Lucé that Francis I had put at his disposal, on 2 May 1519.
He was a constant experimenter and a great scientist: his intuitions were incredible for the time, and he was an astonishing forerunner of his age.
Where to see Leonardo da Vinci’s works
Leonardo painted very little (the autograph pictures number fewer than twenty) and his works are scattered across Europe and the world. Here’s where to find the most famous:
- The Mona Lisa, the Annunciation (with Verrocchio), the Virgin of the Rocks and The Virgin and Child with St Anne are at the Louvre in Paris (a second Virgin of the Rocks is at the National Gallery in London).
- The Last Supper (the Cenacolo) is in Milan, in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie: it can be seen by booking only, with capped entries of just a few minutes.
- The Vitruvian Man is in Venice, at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, but it’s an extremely fragile drawing, shown only rarely.
- The Lady with an Ermine is in Kraków, the Adoration of the Magi at the Uffizi in Florence.
Leonardo, incidentally, also appears in the guise of Plato in Raphael’s School of Athens: proof of how much of a living legend he already was for his contemporaries.
If you’re passing through Milan and don’t want to risk being left out, it’s best to book a skip-the-line ticket for the Last Supper in advance: slots sell out weeks ahead.
And you, which work by Leonardo do you love most?
