Leonardo Da Vinci | trudymason.com

Day 29, Tuesday, September 26, 2023

In 1516 King Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to come live and work in Close Lucé. When Leonardo was 64, he crossed the Alps on a mule with some of his pupils and three of his major paintings, the Mona Lisa, the Virgin and the Child, and St. John the Baptist as well as his notes, sketches, and manuscripts.

Leonardo spent the last three years of his life working here.This is Leonardo’s bedroom. I am standing in the room where Leonardo da Vinci slept!
At one time the walls were decorated, but little of it remains.The adjoining room is his studio, where he painted…

…sculpted…

and worked on his drawings and manuscripts.

It is quite the experience to be in the same place as this amazing man lived and worked. His studio is furnished in the manner of a 16th Century artist’s workshop, with reproductions of his drawings…

paintings…

and replicas of his books and the little notebooks that he carried in his pocket.

His study contains ancient texts and a cabinet of curiosities. Leonard had a library of 200 books which was very unusual for an individual in 1516.

An audio visual production in the next room recreates a historical meeting between the Cardinal of Aragon and Leonardo, who shows the Cardinal his paintings. .https://youtu.be/Ih_uiJSrths

The dining room has a reproduction of the Mona Lisa. We saw the original in Paris and now we are in Leonardo’s home and studio where it resided until his death in May, 1519.

I didn’t know that Leonardo was a vegetarian. He believed that “sobriety, healthy meals and a proper sleep will keep you in good health.”Downstairs there is a display of 40 of his inventions, recreated from his drawings by IBM. He was truly a genius. Among his many inventions are life preservers, ballbearings, cam shafts that are used in modern engines, and this screw wrench that is still in use today in plumbing.

He also had ideas for bicycles and cars centuries before they were actually invented.

After our visit of the chateau we find a spot for our lunch near this life size model of his idea for a helicopter. The school kids loved it and were fun to watch.

We sat under this enormous tree which I like to think was growing when Leonard walked these gardens. The literature says that there are centuries old pines, cypresses and yews growing here so it is entirely plausible.

There are forty 3 and 4 meter tall translucent canvases hung throughout the garden. We love these…

and the many life size models of his inventions.

We saw the original of this painting during a previous trip. It looks fantastic high in the trees…

along with this model of a flying machine.

Everywhere we look there are beautiful installations showcasing Leonardo’s work, and enhancing the beauty of the gardens.

I’m not so sure that this was enhancing anything!

One of the paths showcases many of Leonardo’s most well known drawings. They are very impressive…

as were these.

I loved this heart growing on the wall of the pigeon house.

This five hundred year old pigeonnier (pigeon house) was built not long before Leonardo arrived. It held 1,000 pigeons! Pigeonniers were status symbols, proof of wealth, authority and power. The keeping of pigeons was a right restricted to royalty, the clergy and the nobility. Peasants were prohibited by law from killing pigeons which attacked their crops. Pigeons were kept for their meat, their eggs and their guano, which was used to fertilize the fields.

There is a new exhibit, The Leonardo da Vinci Painter and Architect Gallery. 17 of his masterpieces and 200 of his drawings are projected in a giant fresco on the walls and ceiling of the gallery. It is incredible. I sit through the 15 minute show twice. We are so fortunate to have seen most of these paintings in museums during our travels. The one we missed is the Last Supper. We didn’t realize that we needed to book way in advance so we were out of luck. We do see the Last Supper here, projected with larger than life details and preparatory sketches. It isn’t the real thing but it was pretty wonderful anyways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we38niQIB4U

The gardens are beautiful, and have amazing views everywhere we look.

There are lots of bridges that were designed by Leonardo, including this double decker one.

The garden has been planted with many of the same plants that were growing when Leonardo lived here. He drew the trees and plants in his garden. There are plaques showing his drawings along side of the same plants growing today.

As we leave the gardens we check out the cars that drove in while we were having lunch. They are all Opels, which I had never heard of but Bob recognized them right away.

I need to walk through the house one more time before we leave. Leonardo was known to sit here beside this fireplace to keep warm. This whole visit was quite remarkable. I was overcome with emotion several times, walking in Leonardo’s home, studio and garden, and standing in the room where he died. It was an amazing day.

Quiet Day

Day 30, Wednesday, September 27, 2023

AlthoughI really enjoyed yesterday I completely ran out of energy on the drive home, and needed a two hour sleep once we were back in Tours. Then to bed early and I didn’t wake up until almost noon today, still feeling really tired so just took it easy all day. No pictures, nothing interesting to write about.

Day 55, Sunday October 29, 2017

After packing the car we take the metro into town to see about lining up at 2:00 this afternoon for last minute tickets to The Last Supper. We have been unable to get tickets anywhere. We find out that these tickets, if we were lucky enough to get them, would be for after 7:00 pm tonight which doesn’t work for us. We have a three hour drive to La Spezia, which is our next destination. Too bad but “oh well.” We should have booked three months ago! I guess we will just have to try to get back to Milano some time.

This is the church where the Last Supper is located. I somehow thought it would be a bigger Church. I couldn’t seem to find a spot where there were no power lines to take the photo.Walking towards the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana I spot this little balcony with an orange tree full of fruit. I’ve never seen that before.We pass a little church and I decide to peek in. We are really glad, because it is absolutely amazing. The Chiesa di San Maurizio was built in 1503. This room is used as a public church and we when we went through a little odd shaped door in the back left corner of this church…we find another church that was used as a cloistered church. I think it was called the Nun’s Hall. There are over 4,000 square metres of pictorial decoration in this church. If you look carefully you will see a painting of the Last Supper on the back wall. We had a little laugh about that. At least we get to see a painting of The Last Supper even if it is not Leonardo Da Vinci’s!Here is a close up of the beautiful painting in the arched area of the above photo. It was stunning!The shops are closed today but we can still window shop a bit. I have enjoyed experimenting with a few different fountain pens this trip, but I certainly can’t afford any of these.We arrive at the Bibliotheca Ambrosia only to see a sign saying we need to go to a different address to buy our tickets. I peek into the door and find someone who explains that the tickets are available at the front of this building, and that this is the exit. Of course there are no signs explaining this to us, or anyone else. This is actually a very nice art gallery, and not really a library at all. There are 26 rooms of beautiful paintings, sculptures and other objects including an exhibit of Ambrosian Liturgical Codices which is very interesting. The oldest one in the top left corner below is from the 9th century and is usually not on public display.I quite liked this little group of sculptures from the 17th century. They’re about a foot tall.We get to see yet another Last Supper, and …finally we find a room that looks like a library. It contains the exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketchbook pages that we had come to see.There are 16 pages on exhibit. I am surprised at how small they are. I have a book of Leonardo’s drawings at home and I always thought that the pages of his sketchbook were much larger. His writing is a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. Da Vinci also mirrored his writing, starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left, so if you want to read it you must hold the page up to a mirror to reverse it.All too soon it is time to leave. We walk past the Duomo one more time, just as all the pigeons decide to take flight. What a commotion! There were kids laughing and kids crying and adults ducking to get out of the pigeon’s way. It reminded me of the movie ‘The Birds.’I wanted to see the gargoyles on the Duomo. There is so much to look at on this building that I didn’t even notice them yesterday. There are lots of them high on the side of the church.On our drive to La Spezia we pass some interesting buildings, including several of these oddly angled high rises with very strange windows.It was getting dark as we pulled into La Spezia and the very dark clouds were backlit with the setting sun. I have never seen a sky like this before, it was quite eerie. The colours in this photo are true to life, not enhanced at all.Our new Airbnb is very nice and I think we will be quite comfortable here for the next week.