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The Sixteenth Century
Leonardo da Vinci
Italy at the time of the Renaissance and the struggles between the Medicis and Borgias and the various city states.
Leornardo da Vinci and his two companions rescue a boy from drowning. The boy says that his name is Matteo and that he is an orphan. Matteo stays with Leonardo and acts as his assistant.
But Matteo tells Leonardo a pack of lies. For a start his name is not Matteo. He has been living with the gypsies after the death of his grandmother. But many people do not like the gypsies and Matteo decides to hide that fact. He has an even worse secret. He is a hunted boy. The brigand Santino had tricked Matteo into stealing the great seal of the Medicis by telling him that he was actually helping the Medicis. When Matteo discovered that he had been tricked he ran off with the seal. And now he is trying to evade Santino.
This has tragic consequences. For a time Leonardo and his companions stay with a family who are kind to Matteo and accept him. After he has left with Leonardo Santino and his brigands attack the keep of Perala where the dell O’rto fasmily live. The keep is destroyed and the family members killed. Only one son, Paolo, and one daughter survive. Matteo is consumed with guilt. He knows that Santino was searching for him and not any of the dell O’rto family. Then years later when Paolo, is a young man, he determines to avenge his family. He is going to form his own company, join the French and fight against those whom he is convinced had caused the destruction of his family. He asks Matteo to join him as his second in command.
But Matteo has just accepted an offer by Leonardo to let him go to university and study to become a doctor which is what he really wants to do. Does his feeling of guilt make him give up this chance and join with Paolo? And do we find out Matteo’s real identity?
Apart from the story of Matteo this book gives a well-rounded picture of Leonardo. His treatment of Matteo shows his humanity. And through Matteo we see the full scope of Leonardo’s interests with his notebooks full of sketches of plants and rocks. Matteo assists him when he goes to the mortuaries to dissect corpses. He also helps with one of Leonardo’s frescoes and we learn of the problems involved. There is even the tragic result of a failed attempt to build a flying machine.
Alongside is the struggle between the city states with the treachery and brutality of the Borgias. The plight of the ordinary people is shown as, when a conquering army enters a town, the people stand to lose everything they have including their lives.
A story with a real sense of mystery which brings Renaissance Italy to life. And shows the scope and humanity of Leornardo da Vinci.
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There is a note at the beginning about the discovery of this diary of Luigi Cannelloni, the studio assistant of Leonardo da Vinci. There is another note at the end saying that there is no evidence that Luigi ever existed and suggesting, by implication, that the diary is a fake.
Be that as it may it does contain a great deal of information about the life of Leonardo and the Italy of the time. It is told in a modern, chatty, colloquial style, but, except for the odd case, it is minus the deliberate anachronisms, puns and witticisms of some others in the Lost Diary series.
Luigi stays with Leonardo from the time he was a young painter right up to his death in 1519. He tells us about Leonardo's childhood - because Leonardo used to talk to him about that. He tells us about his own work and gives details of how he used to mix paint. For example he used to pound up lumps of a blue stone known as lapis lazuli for blue and for red he had to squeeze roots of the madder plant.
The most important of Leonardo's paintings are covered - such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. Leonardo's techniques of light and shade are also explored.
Luigi also points out that Leonardo was often slow at finishing a commission. This was because he was always getting sidetracked. He wanted to understand the laws of nature. More than that, he wanted to understand how everything worked. As well as being a painter and sculptor Leonardo is interested in architecture, anatomy and engineering. He draws up plans for canals, an armoured car and even a flying machine.
Considerable detail is given about one particular commission - a giant bronze horse for Lodovico Sforza of Milan. It was never actually made but there is a note at the back telling of the attempts of modern art historians and engineers to construct one using Leonardo's drawings and instructions.
A good picture of Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries is also given. We are shown:- the city states constantly at war: the opulent palace of the Medicis:the fact that artists survive on the patronage of the wealthy:and Leonardo's jealousy of the young Michaelangelo.
Nowadays we are all specialists but at the time of Leonardo it was still possible for one person to dabble in all subjects of human knowledge.
This book may have an unusual format but it is still a tribute to a most remarkable man.
There are black and white illustrations on nearly every page.
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