Rose Sgueglia - The Real Leonardo Da Vinci

THE REAL

LEONARDO DA VINCI

To those who are not scared of experimenting, trying new things and going after what they want wholeheartedly.

Rose Sgueglia

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

PEN AND SWORD HISTORY

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Rose Sgueglia, 2021

ISBN 978 1 52676 105 7

eISBN 978 1 52676 106 4

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52676 106 4

The right of Rose Sgueglia to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Thank you to the team at Pen & Sword for all their help and support.

Thank you to film director Jesus Garces Lambert for talking to me about his beautiful film, Io Leonardo .

Thank you to the press office at Sky Arte for being so professional, supportive and wonderful during such a challenging time.

Thank you to Lucky Red, Fabio Zayed and Maila Iacovelli for letting me use their beautiful pictures from Io Leonardo .

Thank you to writer, researcher, founder and president of Comitato nazionale per la valorizzazione dei beni storici, culturali e ambientali, Silvano Vinceti, for taking the time to answer my questions about his findings concerning the Mona Lisa .

A special thank you goes to my sister for taking care of literally everything else while I finished this book.

Thank you to my family.

And finally, thank you to my friends for all your virtual hugs during COVID-19.

I finished writing this book during the COVID-19 crisis. One day we were in work, gathering in groups of more than fifty, the next not so much, then not at all.

The last public gathering I went to was a concert at the end of February in Cardiff with my sister, a surreal experience, right before everything kicked off. Leonardo was my little anchor and escaping to the Renaissance the only possible vacation from lockdown.

During those long months, I had the chance to go on a challenging yet incredibly rewarding trip. I took the time to visit a different Florence, an open-minded, artistic, libertine Florence. I soared over Milan where I imagined what it would have been like living at the court of Ludovico Sforza and then I stayed with the infamous Borgia family for a bit, where I almost feared for my life.

It was a no-passport adventure and all happening through the pages of this book, but certainly the experience of a lifetime. Leonardo was my companion; trustworthy, loyal Leonardo who did not like injustice and was there for his friends.

I learnt about him by looking at his beautiful paintings, really looking at what he did, and what a sublime artist he was. I found out about his mysteries, his love for learning, and I read his notebooks, about his inventions. It comes as no surprise that he was a talented man.

Far from being only the wise man with a long beard and what could only be described as prophetic eyes, who always kept looking at the future and never stayed too much in the present, Leonardo was incredibly human; particularly so in his ways of approaching his work, his relationships and his passions.

I found an insecure genius who could paint beautifully but who would also leave most things unfinished and still, today, I am not 100 per cent sure why.

Leonardo gave me a little breather from lockdown, COVID-19 and the incertitude of it all. We got close. He was a writer, yet not an emotional one he was a man of science. I found a man who had been missing love, from his parents, from his family, a man who tried to fill a void by learning about everyone, about everything, as much as he could.

I researched his life, his iconic reputation and why people still cannot seem to get tired of him. He is present in what we do and he is everywhere we look. He is the Mona Lisa , he is the maestro, he is the innovator, the myth, the legend and the icon.

He is so many things, yet here I am showing who he is to me. Heres my real Leonardo.

This is the fierce stare of someone who cannot and will not be tamed. The fatal shot is now gone, the warrior stands tall, the head of his opponent at his feet. He is handsome, young but above all, he is luminous, a celestial being in the making. Look at me, he is saying, I won, no one expected me to but I did, me with my light but chiselled figure, me with the recklessness of my years, that lack of experience, education perhaps, me with only the power of my wit, now bow down to my victory, bow down to me, David, Leonardo, the underdog.

The arrogance of youth, the beauty and a smile that tells it all. Its a legendary story that unravels before our eyes and probably one of the greatest masterpieces we will ever see by sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio: the bronze statue of David succeeds in distinguishing itself by many aspects but, most importantly, it surely has the merit of showing a more realistic version of the well-known story. It perhaps still stands today as one of the closest representations to the original.

Verrocchios David is beautiful, athletic, flawless to many but its not the muscular, bulky figure we have grown accustomed to through the work of other artists in the history of the art world. Compared to other representations of David, and granted that most of them came after Verrocchios personal interpretation, Verrocchios statue is almost fully clothed and holds a sword, carelessly.

Yes, he is armed, but this David needs no arms to make him the man that he really is. In order to kill Goliath, he has been graced with unstoppable gifts no one else seems to have; its in his agility, in his brain, in his beauty and, of course, in his speed that this biblical hero is capable of finding the key to finally kill the giant.

The head of Goliath, far from lying between his feet, is positioned directly under Davids right foot, a little trick which magisterially manages to maintain the balance of the composition; the beauty and the difference, if not the originality, of Verrocchios statue is vivid and present in Davids expression, as this turns out to be of a young, provocative, gorgeous lad who smirks at the audience.

Verrocchios David is still a man, a young man, and this man tells us a story, unravelling a double narrative we are not necessarily prepared to listen to, perhaps not yet; at first, its biblical, the plot is simple yet layered. We all know the fable of a young, mighty, foxy shepherd named David who fights the giant Goliath and wins, triumphs despite doubters.