Page 57 - PROTAGONIST 117

PROTAGONIST / CELEBRATIONS
056-061 P_LEONARDOeng.indd
ollowing the river Arno against the current,
only 50 kilomteres separate Vinci form Flor-
ence. That ‘da Vinci’ whose geographical consistency
has by now been lost to become the epitome of uni-
Fversal genius was born at this distance, from a Flor-
ence-centric concept of the world which with its Medici aristoc-
racy at the height of its splendour and power for more than a
century, between the mid-1400s and the end of the 1500s, was
the metre and the measure of the universe. It is precisely by ob-
serving the pages of the atlas that you understand why none oth-
er than Florence could claim the birthright of the itinerary of
events and celebrations that, throughout 2019, will be saluting
the five hundredth anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vin-
ci. The prototype of universal man: a painter, musician, engineer,
anatomist and pathologist. A life without a homeland (he lived in
Florence, Milan and Rome, following Borgia and his cruel mili-
tary adventures, then again in Florence and Milan, and finally in
France), and yet attached to the here and the where of that ‘da
Vinci’ who for six centuries has brought the infinite breath of his
genius to the shadow of the Lily. Leonardo spent the years of his
adolescence in Florence, the illegitimate but acknowledged son
of Ser Piero, a notary with a flourishing career, since 1469 actu-
ally the notary of the Florentine nobility. In Florence he entered
a workshop in the attempt (imposed by his father) of channel-
ling his powerful but disorganised creative energy. That work-
shop belonged to none other than Andrea del Verrocchio, and
over those same years it was also to forge the talents of Sandro
Botticelli, Il Perugino and Domenico Ghirlandaio.
In Florence, Leonardo received his first major commissions,
which were always thwarted (he never completed the work and of-
ten had to return the advance payments, which had already been
cashed and spent; one example of this is the Adoration of the Ma-
gi, which remained in Florence), and he entered the ‘magic cir-
cle’ of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He could have settled down for
good in Florence, and yet he left almost angrily, officially sent by
the aristocracy to Milan, to the Sforza, as an ambassador of Flor-
entine cultural superiority. After other restless peregrinations, he
returned to Florence to leave new indelible signs of his superla-
tive talents, such as the (much debated) fresco of the Battle of An-
ghiari, in direct competition with his younger rival Michelange-
lo. More than a biography, which would be infinite, what counts
here is emphasising the barycentric role of the city with respect to
Leonardo’s schizophrenic existence. A bond in which, in the last
few years, the threads have been re-woven with intelligence and
vision. Almost as though Florence now once more feels ready to
extend a special embrace to its most famous prodigal son. Mark-
ing time is the Gallerie degli Uffizi, the quintessential city insti-
tution headed by the German Eike Schmidt, who is lining up a
path to valorise the genius of Leonardo. And so here is the del-
icate restoration work of the Adoration of the Magi, performed
Left, a self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci in red chalk on paper, which
is kept at the Royal Library in Turin. The opus was produced
around 1512, seven years before his death, which took place in France.
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