Leonardo Da Vinci and France

The Chateau de Clos-Luce in Amboise is known not only for its beauty but also because it was the last home of Leonardo da Vinci. Organized in collaboration with the Association des Amis de Leonard de Vinci, this is an exhibition event which is the first in a series of scientific meetings devoted to the genius of Leonardo da Vinci (24 June 2009-31 January 2010). The initiative seeks to facilitate and present in this volume edited by Professor Carlo Pedretti, a series of research on the relationship between Leonardo da Vinci and France, not only during his stay in Amboise (1516-1519) but also in the Artist's Milanese period (1507-1513). Hence the presence in a single volume of essays on the latest drawings of Leonardo da Vinci as the artist leaves the French Codex Arundel and drawings now in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice done in France - the Three Dancers and Studio of Flowers, exposed by Annalisa Perissa Torrini. The first part of the catalog is enriched by the publication of a letter from the king of France, Guillaume Gouffier de Bonnivet, Ambassador of France in Rome, or Antonio Maria Pallavicini, dated March 14, 1516 which is explicitly mentioned in the invitation from Francis I in favor of Leonardo. The second part of the book is a collection of essays on the relationship that existed between Leonardo da Vinci and the French culture from the text by Andrea Bernardoni dedicated to the fusion of the equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza. Leonardo as an architect and hydraulic engineer, is the subject of essays by Pascal Brioist, Romano Nanni, Sabine Frommel and Jean Guillaume who have focused their attention on the villa of Romorantin, respectively, on projects designed to funnel the artist, the project of the villa for Charles d'Amboise and Chambord villa. Paolo Cordero and Laure Fagnart have instead analyzed the myth of Leonardo in France examining respectively the luck of the artist in nineteenth and twentieth century France and copies of Leonardo's Last Supper. The framework of the essays is completed by a talk by Pietro Carlo Marani on the manuscripts of Leonardo currently stored in France and a text by Alessandro Vezzosi on a portrait of Leonardo executed by the French artist Guillaume de Marcillat.