Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452, Vinci, d. 1519)

His Roman Sojourn

Leonardo moved to Rome - capital of the temporal power of the Pope - on the invitation of Giuliano de' Medici and was accompanied by Francesco Melzi and other disciples. During his stay in the Eternal City, Leonardo continued his anatomical experiments and filled his notebooks with studies of dissected corpses. Leonardo had always observed and studied the bodies of men and of animals, with the eye of an artist who wishes to reproduce the reality of nature in his works.

Leonardo's interest in anatomy increased around 1513, when he began to meet other researchers, and reached its peak during Leonardo's time in Rome, when his focus shifted from art to science. Leonardo noted that he was forced to work nei tempi notturni in compagnia di tali morti squartati e scorticati e spaventevoli a vederli ("at night, in the company of corpses, quartered and skinned; a frightful sight").

These experiments were unpleasant and Leonardo's Roman years were unhappy. His activities, considered on the verge of witchcraft, were disapproved of and, in 1516, Leonardo voluntarily left the city to move, together with his closest collaborators, to France, where, on the invitation of King Francis I, settled in the castle of Cloux in Ambois.

[ Leonardo in Florence ]
[ His Years in Milan ]
[ Leonardo in France ]
[ Flight and Freedom ]
[ Leonardo the Engineer ]
...[ Leonardo and Warcraft ]
...[ The Art of War ]
...[ Leonardo and Water ]
...[ Entertainments ]
...[ Mechanics ]
[ The Portrait of Mona Lisa ]