Exploring Leonardo da Vinci: A Journey Through His Life and Art | Go Travel Daily

Exploring Leonardo da Vinci: A Journey Through His Life and Art

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Apr 12, 2019 • 7 min read

Few geniuses have left as powerful an imprint on art, science, and popular culture as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper remain mysterious and compelling, spawning endless reproductions and parodies. The Renaissance Man’s staggering body of scientific work is still studied, with many of his theories only proven in modern times.

The 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death has inspired dozens of exhibitions across Europe. Whether or not you plan a trip for an anniversary event, Leonardo’s native Italy has numerous attractions dedicated to his life and work – as does France, where he spent several productive years.

Here’s how to travel through the polymath’s life, from his undistinguished beginnings in the village of Vinci to the stately French palaces of his final years.

Rome: da Vinci’s Marvellous Machines

Begin in the ‘Eternal City’, where Leonardo designed prototype helicopters, diving suits, armored tanks, and even a robotic knight, hundreds of years before technology made it possible to build them. At Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Museo, you can see 50 ahead-of-their-time contraptions crank into life.

Two floors are filled with marvellous machines built according to Leonardo’s original designs: a multi-directional machine gun, trench digger, hang-glider, and webbed gloves (a precursor to modern flippers). Finish with a primer on Leonardo’s paintings; a gallery room houses reproductions of Leonardo’s major works.

For the real deal, one of Leonardo’s most treasured paintings hangs within the storied halls of the Vatican Museums (1km west). The unfinished oil painting San Gerolamo (St Jerome), thought to date to 1482, shows the agonized saint paying penance in the desert. The walnut-wood canvas was sliced into pieces and used as a tabletop before being rescued, restored, and hung alongside the work of other genre-defining artists of the Renaissance.

Florence: The Making of a Master

Three and a half hours north of Rome by road, Florence is where Leonardo perfected his craft under the tutelage of Andrea del Verrocchio. Most significantly for admirers of his art, this is also where he began to work on the iconic La Gioconda (c 1503), better known as the Mona Lisa (though today the lady with the enigmatic smile hangs on a wall in Paris’ Louvre).

On the north bank of the Arno River, the Uffizi Gallery has one of Italy’s finest collections of Renaissance art, including Leonardo’s Annunciation (c 1472) and Adoration of the Magi (c 1482). Both are part of Leonardo’s prolific artistic output as a young man in Florence (and both are in room 35). A few steps north of the Uffizi are more elusive treasures. Guarded by the 94m Torre d’Arnolfo, the Palazzo Vecchio is believed to hold a fresco by Leonardo, concealed behind another artist’s work in the Salone dei Cinquecento.

Vinci: An Artist’s Humble Beginnings

Some 45km west of Florence is Vinci, where Leonardo was born. Most of the details of Leonardo’s early life have been lost in time, which has not deterred local restaurants and guesthouses from naming themselves after the great artist.

A couple of noteworthy monuments warrant a visit. The Museo Leonardiano showcases Leonardo’s technical drawings and recreations of his inventions. Across two adjacent buildings, the museum attempts to join the dots between Leonardo’s ideas and their modern-day equivalents, such as his designs for textile manufacturing machinery (now considered precursors to factory-made clothing), mechanical clocks, weapons of war (including a squat prototype tank), and flying machines.

Two kilometers north, just outside town, is Leonardo’s Casa Natale (Birth House), a beautiful sandstone building in the Tuscan hills. Inside, recreations of his work (and a Leonardo hologram) invite visitors into the artist’s mind. However, it’s the bucolic setting that truly fires the imagination. Some of the town’s gnarled olive trees are centuries old; it’s possible that Leonardo himself would recognize the view.

Milan: The Pinnacle of Genius

Another three or four hours north by road, Milan is where Leonardo created some of his most celebrated works. Begin in the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, a showy Gothic-meets-Renaissance church capped with a tiered dome. Where the church building meets the refectory is The Last Supper, capturing the moment of drama when Jesus is said to have foretold his imminent betrayal. Even after centuries of neglect and destruction, the artwork holds power: the vivid emotions on each face, the play of light behind them, and unearthly blues that hint at the heavenly kingdom to come.

Five minutes’ walk south, in a 16th-century monastery, is Italy’s largest science museum, the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia. The 10,000-item collection is alive with inventions that whirr, rattle, and huff steam, including more than 130 models of Leonardo’s inventions. Ideal for inquisitive minds, is the Laboratorio, a hands-on exhibition designed to get kids using the same problem-solving strategies as Leonardo – brace yourself for a eureka moment later on.

Amboise: Journey’s End for the Renaissance Man

Much of Leonardo’s artistic work is displayed in Paris, but it’s France’s Loire Valley that lays bare the last years of his life. Leonardo arrived at Le Clos Lucé in Amboise in 1516, on the invitation of the French king. François I offered him the title ‘Premier Painter, Engineer, and Architect of the King’, along with several hundred gold crowns per year. To embrace the opportunity, Leonardo undertook a difficult Alpine crossing aboard a mule. For present-day travelers, it’s much more comfortable: an overnight train (or budget flight) to Paris, followed by a scenic onward connection to Amboise.

Now in his 60s, comfortably encased in this elegant château, Leonardo spent his final years feverishly finessing scientific theories. Peep inside Leonardo’s old bedroom, complete with richly carved four-poster bed and a huge fireplace, and imagine him at work in his old study.

Close by is the Château Royal d’Amboise, formerly a pleasure palace for French royals. In a solitary chamber within this marvel of Flamboyant Gothic architecture, an aging Leonardo wrote a will to bestow land and vineyards upon his brothers and a cherished pupil. His final resting place is the castle’s Chapel of Saint-Hubert, where he was reinterred after an archaeological dig in 1863 unearthed his bones. Debates still rage over whether these are truly the master’s remains – yet another of Leonardo’s many mysteries.

Honouring Leonardo: Special Events in 2019

Museums and galleries across Europe are marking the polymath’s 500th anniversary with special exhibitions:

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