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Leonardo da Vinci, the mysteries of the life of a genius

2022-09-16 19:02:12Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Leonardo da Vinci, the mysteries of the life of a genius
Leonardo da Vinci, the mysteries of the life of a genius

Leonard Da Vinci was one of the greatest minds to ever walk the earth. The works that da Vinci left behind are proof of his genius. But in his private life, experts are still looking for answers.

For experts, Leonardo da Vinci's life has always been an endless treasure hunt. The Tuscan genius, who was born in Vinci, a Tuscan village near Empoli, on April 15, 1452, died at the age of 67, leaving behind brilliant artistic masterpieces and a chaotic mountain of notes and drawings. But also many questions about his private life. We know that he was eclectic, painter, scientist, naturalist, engineer, architect, mechanic, scenographer, writer, designer, musician. Leonardo was an extremely curious man who wrote down everything that came to his mind. Except for what had to do with his private sphere.

ILLEGITIMATE CHILD. He was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, a Florentine notary, and Caterina. We do not know for sure either the surname or the origin, but it is documented that five years later she let the little boy go to live with his father. As an illegitimate, Leonardo could not aspire to follow the career of Ser Piero, but the man had the merit of sensing his son's extraordinary artistic abilities.

Thanks to his knowledge, his father introduced him to one of the largest and most famous artistic workshops in Florence: the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. Around 1469 he became a favorite of the master:, thanks to his extraordinary skills, but also for his appearance. Homosexuality, at that time, was theoretically condemned, but in reality widely practiced. And not infrequently, among the pages of Leonardo's codices, dark, unsuspected drawings seem to refer to them. He wrote in 1508 about the male member: "he must be adorned and appear solemnly, as a minister of the human species." And that "minister" sometimes appeared among his notes, portrayed in "solemn positions" to the point that the author preferred representatives of his own sex to those of the opposite sex.

THE ACCUSATION OF SODOM. But was Leonardo really gay, as dictated by a tradition born in the 20th century. Were the new students, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, aka Salai and Francesco Melzi really his favourites? Certain evidence or admissions have not been found so far. However, there remains an allegation of sodomy dated 1476 and archived as anonymous. At that time, it had been two years since the prodigy had painted, and it would be another two years before he did so again.

In general, some historians agree that Leonardo had a definite hiatus. Some of his works remained unfinished or were rejected by clients. In the absence of documents, literature has transformed these strange "failures" into a curse that would accompany the painter from the beginning. "It was often treated as a sign of an environment that was unable to immediately appreciate his innovative ideas," says art historian Costantino D'Orazio, in his essay Leonardo secret (Sperling & Kupfer).

HERETIC? There is no doubt that in his career, in addition to the excessive desire to experiment, bad luck also had a certain weight. As in the case of the Last Supper. He worked for it between 1495 and 1498, commissioned by the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. But as usual he did his job and chose to paint in dry plaster, rather than "in fresco", so that he could work unhurriedly and continue to pursue his myriad interests. Eventually, the wetness of the table wall of the Dominican Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie presented him with the bill. If not the image, at least the fame of the work remained intact over the centuries. And thanks to several historical fiction novels, including Dan Broën's The Da Vinci Code and Javier Serra's The Last Supper, Leonardo was given the nickname of a heretic.

Serra, assumed that the master of Vinci was a supporter of the Cathar heresy (spread in Europe between the 10th and 14th centuries), of which the Cenacle will contain some symbols. There are also those who have seen, in their preaching about the figure of St. John the Baptist, an indication of joining his sect, the Knights of the Order of Malta dedicated to St. John. Currently, there are no records to reconstruct his thinking about Catholic doctrine.

YELLOW OF CHRIST'S SHROUD. The idea that the linen cloth that wrapped Christ's body in the tomb, preserving its imprint, could be a creation of Tuscan genius comes from two "mystery detectives": Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince. The face of the shroud, the American artist Lillian Schwartz echoes, would be a self-portrait of Leonardo. None of them seem to pay much attention to the fact that historical sources and radiocarbon date the sheet to a period before da Vinci's birth by a century or two.

In addition to that of the forger and the heretic, Leonardo also collected another identity. His biography shows that in 1502 he left Florence to answer the call of Cesare Borgia. The infamous Duke of Valentinois had appointed him his military engineer as he fought to conquer part of Central Italy. And there are those who doubt that Leonardo actually went into the service of this brave leader with the task of sending secret information to the Republic of Florence.

Leonardo da Vinci, the mysteries of the life of a genius

THE LAST MYSTERY. Was he a spy? "In fact, in the months that see him together with Cesare Borgia, the artist does not seem to carry out the great military works for which he was employed," dares D'Orazio. His 007 experience ended in less than a year. After that we find him again in Florence, Milan and recently in Rome. In 1517, he moved for the last time, to Amboise (France), where King Francis I called him "the first royal painter, architect and engineer". The sovereign granted him an annual salary of one thousand scudi and room and board in the manor of Cloux (now Clos-Luce).

But the happiness lasted only two years. Sick and old, he died eight days after leaving his will, on May 2, 1519. He was buried where he had requested, in the nearby chapel of the Church of Saint Florence. And here the last mystery of the Tuscan genius is fulfilled. His remains were probably lost during the Calvinist rebellion of 1560, but in 1863 the French poet Arsene Houssaye convinced everyone that he had found them in the ruins of the church, along with three fragments of a tomb, with the partial inscriptions “INC,” “ LEO" and "EU DUS VINC". Those bones are now in the nearby chapel of Saint-Hubert, but are they really his? "Truth is the daughter of time," wrote Leonardo da Vinci.


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