Leonardo's Bedroom
Leonardo’s bedroom in Clos Lucé
Leonardo’s bedroom is a restoration but what about the bed? Visitors whisper in reverence ‘that’s the bed where he died’ but is it? Nothing to say it is or is not in the tourist literature but not at all implausible it is authentic. Many chateaux along the Loire have older beds.
Leonardo doesn’t look very comfortable in the painting (a copy) on the wall next to the bed. François I receives the last sighs of Leonardo da Vinci (1818). Not one of Ingres’ best. He has painted the maestro as if his head is falling off. The painting shows what looks like the same bed. In typical Renaissance style, it has carvings of chimeras, cherubs and marine animals. Did Ingres copy the bed? Or is the bed copied from the painting? A much more credible posture for a dying man was painted in 1781 by François-Guillaume Ménageot. Death of Leonardo da Vinci in the Arms of Francis I was commissioned by Louis XVI for a tapestry to be woven in the Gobelin factory in Paris. Ménageot either took artistic licence or was no historian. He sets the death in Château Fontainebleau.
Death of Leonardo da Vinci in the Arms of Francis, François-Guillaume Ménageot.
What about the legend that Leonardo died in the King’s arms? Pragmatists say not possible, he was in Chateau Saint-Germain-en-Laye in Paris where the queen had given birth. Romantics say Henry (II) was born 31 March 1519. Leonardo didn’t die until 2 May. François I, an indifferent husband, had plenty of time to get to Clos Lucé. He would have had no compunction leaving Queen Claude behind or bundling her and the baby onto a litter. Besides, for some as yet unexplained reason, Leonardo was not buried until August, giving François even more time to at least kiss the corpse before interment. Like all myths and legends there is often a grain of truth which gave rise to them.
Post by Pamela
Pamela, a Graduate and Tutor in the History of Art, trained as a magazine journalist at the London College of Printing and has been a freelance writer for over twenty years.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Amboise Connection
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