When one comes to France, one comes with the preconceived understanding that he or she will see the works of Leonardo DaVinci - The Mona Lisa, Saint John the Baptist, among other things. It is easy to forget, however, that the Master only came here in the last years of his life, and died here far from his birthplace in Italy. All the same, the French loved and continue to love Da Vinci, and the place he stayed in those last years is now a museum called Clos Luce in Ambois.
The town of Ambois is a small area nestled beneath the
shadow of a great castle and a great old house. The city itself probably only has 20,000
people living in it, but it was without a doubt one of the most charming places
we visited while in France. It was here
in the 1500’s that King Francis I invited Leonardo Da Vinci to stay his
remaining years in the Chateau Clois Luce.
There he would be free to pursue whatever his heart desired, with free
reign of the house and a good amount of money under the simple condition
that the king be able to speak to him every day.
The friendship between Francis I and Leonardo Da Vinci is
perhaps one of the more fascinating parts of French history. The great man was in the last years of his
life, yet he had already accomplished so much that he could have probably
continued to live in Italy. As it was
though, France was more stable, and the invitation was enough to convince Da
Vinci to saddle up a donkey and made the trek over the Alps alone. According to historical fact,
he brought two of his favorite things with him: the Mona Lisa and his still unfinished painting of Saint John the
Baptist. So began the tale of how those
paintings came to France, and so too begins the tale of the end of Da Vinci’s
life.
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| Leonardo's bedroom, it is here that the great man died. |
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| This was the bedroom for the mistress of the house, next door to Leonardo's room |
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| Painting of Mary on the chapel of the house, interestingly, Leonardo didn't paint anything while he was here. |
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| One of the "modern" salons, but Da Vinci finished Saint John here when it was a studio |
I always wanted to see Clois Luce being a fan of Leonardo
myself, so we took the opportunity to walk up the street and see the house
while we were there. At first, I
expected it to be like the Chateau we were staying in since both were built
around the same time. This was a much
larger house, but nice and simple brick and stone with a huge park spread out
behind it. The house was owned by the
French royal family, but Da Vinci lived and worked there for the last years of
his life … he even died there and is interred at the castle on the hill.
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| This is a copy of the Mona Lisa, but DaVinci had the real one here at one time. This is as close as you can get to the real thing while in France. |
Inside the chateau there is a distinctive renaissance
feeling. It is warm and inviting and it feels as if the great Leonardo Da Vinci
merely stepped out for a moment. The
bottom level is chock full of small scale models of his various inventions
which were built to his specifications by IBM.
All of these models supposedly work and include a machine gun, a
parachute, a flying machine, a tank, an Archimedes screw, steam powered
machines, ball bearings, bridges and canals, a paddleboat and a car (yes, really).
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| This is a "machine gun" |
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| A Tank |
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| Underground passage going to the garden. They had a cut out of DaVinci down there |
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| Bicycle and car |
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| Parachute |
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| Life preserver |
Looking at these things, I felt a sense of remarkable
privilege to be in this house and in the “presence” of such a great man. He truly was far, far ahead of his time and
looking at his inventions I wondered what he would think of the marvels which
our modern world has expanded from their original conception.
Upstairs in the rooms, there were several beautiful ones,
including a chapel, a dining and eating area and Da Vinci’s bedroom. The dining room was the original home of the
Mona Lisa and Saint John when Da Vinci worked on them, and he converted some of
the other rooms into studios while he finished the latter. There were copies on the wall, neither of
which were nearly as good as the real ones in the Louvre. Still, it was fun to see them up close.
I had to stop myself from gawking as a Chinese couple sat
in Da Vinci’s chair, again no one was there to stop them. But I moved on and stayed a moment in his
bedroom. It’s a simple room, simple bed
all overlooking the garden. Beyond, I
could just make out the castle where Francis I lived, almost walking distance
from Da Vinci. There’s a painting on the
wall showing Francis I at Da Vinci’s side as he died. The king has such a look of compassion and
sadness in his eyes. He cradles the great man as if he were the most precious
thing on earth.
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| A painting of DaVinci's death. Interestingly, the King was supposedly not there when the man died, but you can see the likeness of the room. |
The room in the
painting does match the real thing, and it is exactly where he died. It is incredible to think about the
friendship these two men had. Francis I
was a warrior king, seeking to expand his nation’s influence, but he allowed Da
Vinci the exact freedoms he so desperately deserved after so long and
prosperous a career. In return, Da Vinci
brought France his incredible intellect, and helped shape the nation’s future
with his own influence. This was only the beginning of the museum, however. We still had the extensive gardens to explore.
