Leonardo da Vinci, La Scapiliata, 1503-1508, oil on wood, Galleria Nazionale, Parma

It is rare enough to see a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from close up and –  to enter the residence of the Italian Ambassador in France, Giandomenico Magliano. So doing both at the same time really made me happy. Especially since three friends had called me saying “How come the diary has not reported on this event yet”?

Cesare da Sesto, Virgin with child with a lamb, circa 1520, oil on wood, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

It was a great surprise to enter this Hôtel particulier of rue de Varenne built in 1732 and often called Hôtel de La Rochefoucauld Doudeauville. The occasion was the celebration of the 500 th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s arrival in France in 1516, at François I’s invitation. The French King, just recently victorious in Marignan, had met the artist in Bologna the previous year, and insisted that the aging painter (he was 64 at the time) come to Amboise and Blois to work on, what would become, the best examples of French Renaissance architecture in the Loire valley. He died two years later and a lovely painting by Ingres, shows François I attending to his last moments in a filial attitude, a fake but touching reconstitution since the king was in Fontainebleau at the time of his death.

Giandomenico Magliano, Italian Ambassador to Paris

His crossing of the Alps through Mont Cenis has been reestablished by scholars of the Louvre and Leonardo’s peregrinations are now precisely shown on a map and a model, in the grand salon of the embassy. A XVII th century globe of the world is at the center of the room where an interesting film describes Leonardo’s arrival and installation at Clos Lucé, the small castle he resided at, now in the hands of writer Gonzague St Bris and his family.

The amazing Sicilian theatre decor where the Leonardo drawing is exhibited

The very elegant Ambassador, whom I met by chance in the courtyard and who, gracefully, offered to guide me around, told me he was looking for an idea to celebrate Leonardo in Paris when the head curator of the Parma National Gallery, offered to lend “La Scapiliata” one of a few Leonardos kept in Italian museums.

Hard to beat the Louvre where “Mona Lisa” attracts millions of visitors every year. But opening up the embassy and its amazing 18 th century rooms, is enough of a privilege for the French public. Leonardo had travelled to France for the last two years of his life, bringing with him three paintings, a Saint Ann, Saint John the Baptist (where he used his assistant Salai as a model) and Mona Lisa. A fourth one of Leda and the swan seems to have been lost, but a copy by Francesco Melzi, was lent by the Uffizi and is shown in the beautiful Sicilian theatre room near the Scapiliata… and the faces are similar.

Through the windows, appears Michelangelo Pistoletto, il Terzo Paradiso, 2013

The particularity of the show “Leonardo in France” is to exhibit works by two of the master’s faithful disciples, Francesco Melzi (his executor) and Gian Giacomo Caprotti, Salaï, on which experts think that Leonardo added his touch. Influences by the master on his disciples’ works are minutiously explained in the catalog published by Skira.
Leonardo was paralyzed from the right hand but was an ambidextrous artist and needed help for large formats from his assistants. While in France, he mostly did drawings and technical sketches as well as decors for the king.

Francesco Melzi, Leda and the swan, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Firenze

Through the windows, one can glimpse at the pretty garden where « Il terse Paradiso », a sculpture by Michelangelo Pistoletto, lies on the lawn along a Coysevox marble sculpture of Marie Adélaide de Savoie as Diane the huntress.

Coysevox, Marie Adélaide de Savoie as Diane

The ambassador, a Neapolitan who was trained at Sciences Pô and Insead as well as La Sapienza  in Rome,  likes culture and has obviously put a lot of personal efforts to organize this amazing show. You don’t have to be a Renaissance man nor to live on rue du Bac to go. It is an exquisite moment of art history and a good occasion to meet other art lovers who discreetly share the same pleasure. (Leonardo in France, until November 20, Italian Embassy, 47 rue de Varenne)