2019/09/01 by Massimo Guarnieri · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Neuroscience · #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Architecture and Art History Studies #Art #Art history #History #Legend #Literature #Painting #Romance #State (computer science) #Visual Culture and Art Theory
paper · doi:10.1109/mie.2019.2929366
openalex publication_date 2019/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The story goes that 500 years ago, on 2 May 1519, in the Clos Lucé manor house near the royal castle of Amboise, King Francis I of France was lovingly assisting an old man who was on his deathbed. The man was neither a king, an aristocrat, nor a victorious general. He was the out-of-wedlock son of an Italian notary. France was, after Spain, the most powerful state in Europe, and, at that time, aristocrats avoided caring for people below their status. There is a chance that this story, portrayed in romantic paintings, is a legend; but what is certain is that Francis I devoted considerable attention to the old man whom he had invited to spend his last years in Amboise-Leonardo da Vinci.