France and Italy commemorate 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death

French President Macron and Italian counterpart Mattarella bond over Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci after months of tensions between Paris and Rome over Italy's populist government and its support for French "yellow vest" protesters.

A visitor looks at paintings "St John the Baptist"  and "Virgin of the Rocks" by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre museum in Paris, France. December 3, 2018.
Reuters

A visitor looks at paintings "St John the Baptist" and "Virgin of the Rocks" by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre museum in Paris, France. December 3, 2018.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella on Thursday kicked off commemorations to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died in France, paying their respects to the Renaissance genius in a show of unity after months of diplomatic tensions.

"The bond between our countries and our citizens is indestructible," Macron said after the two men lunched at the Clos Luce, the sumptuous manor house where Leonardo spent the last three years of his life.

The two heads of state began their visit at the royal chateau in Amboise, where they laid wreaths at Leonardo's grave.

Reuters

French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella pay their respects at the tomb of Italian renaissance painter and scientist Leonardo da Vinci to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death, at the Saint-Hubert Chapel during a visit at the Chateau d'Amboise, France, May 2, 2019.

The joint celebrations come after months of mounting diplomatic tensions between Paris and Rome over the hardline policies of Italy's populist government and its support for France's anti-government "yellow vest" protesters.

In the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since World War II, Paris briefly recalled its ambassador from Rome.

Amboise, a sleepy town on the Loire River, where Leonardo died in 1519, was in virtual lockdown because of fears of protests by France's grassroots "yellow vest" movement.

Later Thursday, the two presidents headed to the sprawling chateau of Chambord – whose central double-helix staircase is attributed to Leonardo, though the first stone was not laid until four months after his death.

Among glitterati attending the events were Italian star architect Renzo Piano, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and historian Stephane Bern, a prominent French television personality.

But a new scandal hung over the event after a French art magazine revealed on Tuesday that an investigation had been opened into the alleged destruction of listed property during extensive renovation work at the Clos Luce in 2017.

The online La Tribune de l'Art said workers removed 18th-century woodwork and a fireplace and made major alterations to floors and ceilings in the privately owned mansion.

Architect of the king

Francis I, known as the "Sun King of the 16th century," is widely credited with bringing the Renaissance to France, even if his predecessor Louis XII had begun the process by bringing in architects and artisans from Florence, Milan and Rome.

Leonardo was 64 when he accepted the young Francis I's invitation to Amboise, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars.

With Leonardo's commissions drying up, it came as a great relief and no small vindication for the Tuscan artist, who received a handsome stipend as the "first painter, engineer, and architect of the king."

At the time, Francis I was barely 23, and his ambitious mother Louise of Savoy "knew that Leonardo would be the man who would allow her son to flourish," Catherine Simon Marion, managing director of the Clos Luce, said.

Leonardo brought with him three of his favourite paintings: the Mona Lisa, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and Saint John the Baptist – all of which today hang in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Italy and France have also sparred over an accord under which Italy will lend several Leonardos to the Louvre in October.

With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them, as well as 22 drawings.

During his three years in Amboise, Leonardo organised lavish parties for the court and worked to design an ideal city for Francis at nearby Romorantin – one of the polymath's many unrealised projects – all while continuing his research.

Macron is the first French president to visit the town since Charles de Gaulle came in 1959.

Experts comb through DNA from possible Leonardo hair

A lock of what some historians think is Leonardo da Vinci's hair went on display Thursday at a museum in his Tuscan birthplace as they seek to prove it contains his DNA 500 years after the genius died.

Presenting what he called a "relic" at the Leonardo library in Vinci devoted to the painter and Renaissance giant, art historian Alessandro Vezzosi shared how the whitish-blond hairs emerged from the shadows.

"This lock remained secret for a long time before we discovered it three years ago in the United States," he said. 

"It will allow us to do DNA research on Leonardo," Vezzosi added.

"After studying Da Vinci's genealogy for 40 years, in 2016 we presented 35 living descendants of the master, and a short time later I was contacted by the collector who owns it and who agreed to show it." 

Leonardo was born April 15, 1452, in Vinci, northwest of Florence, the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and a teenaged peasant.

He died May 2, 1519, in Amboise, central France, where he had lived as the guest of King Francis I.

Leonardo had no children but he had a dozen half-siblings on his father's side and several more on his mother's side.

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