United States or Germany ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He died in the Chateau de Cloux, at Amboise, and it is said that "sore wept the king when he heard that Leonardo was dead." In Milan, near the Cathedral, there stands a monument to his memory, and about it are placed the statues of his pupils. To this day he is wonderful among the great men of the world. This, as we have said, is in the former convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, in Milan.
The outer one bore an inscription, which I copied: "Doubles grilles a gros cloux, Triples portes, fortes Verroux, Aux âmes vraiment méchantes Vous représentez l'Enfer; Mais aux âmes innocentes Vous n'êtes que du bois, de la pierre, & du fer!"
At length, after protracted suffering, this great and most extraordinary man died at Cloux, near Amboise, May 2, 1519, being then in his sixty-seventh year. It is to be regretted that we cannot wholly credit the beautiful story of his dying in the arms of Francis I., who, as it is said, had come to visit him on his death-bed.
Whether or not the bones are those of Leonardo, a fitting memorial to the great artist is this bust near the lovely quincunx, whose overshadowing branches form a roof of delicate green above it like the pergolas of his native Italy. We afterwards visited the little Château de Cloux, where Leonardo had once lived.
Court chronicles do their best to demolish this story, by proving Francis to have been at St Germain on the day when Lionardo died at Cloux. Lionardo was never married, and he left what worldly goods he possessed to a favourite scholar.
At Pavia Lionardo was presented to Francis I, of France, who, zealous in patronizing art, engaged the painter to follow Francis's fortunes at a salary of seven hundred crowns a year. Lionardo spent the remainder of his life in France. His health had long been declining before he died, aged sixty-seven years, at Cloux, near Amboise. He had risen high in the favour of Francis.
Word Of The Day