Editing Leonardo da Vinci (section)

== Personal life ==
{{Main|Personal life of Leonardo da Vinci}}

[[File:Leonardo da Vinci - Saint John the Baptist C2RMF retouched.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo)|Saint John the Baptist]]'' {{circa|1507–1516|lk=no}},{{#tag:ref|'''''Saint John the Baptist'''''
* {{Harvtxt|Kemp|2019|p=189}}: {{circa|1507–1514|lk=no}}
* {{Harvtxt|Marani|2003|p=340}}: {{circa|1508|lk=no}}
* {{Harvtxt|Syson ''et al.''|2011|p=63}}: {{circa|1500 onwards|lk=no}}
* {{Harvtxt|Zöllner|2019|p=248}}: {{circa|1508–1516|lk=no}}
|group=d}} Louvre. Leonardo is thought to have used [[Salaì]] as the model.<ref name="Pedretti-2009">{{Cite book |editor-last=Pedretti |editor-first=Carlo |title=Leonardo da Vinci: l'Angelo incarnato & Salai = the Angel in the flesh & Salai |date=2009 |publisher=Cartei & Bianchi |isbn=978-88-95686-11-0 |location=Foligno (Perugia) |pages=201 |oclc=500794484}}</ref>]]

Despite the thousands of pages Leonardo left in notebooks and manuscripts, he scarcely made reference to his personal life.{{sfn|Zöllner|2019|p=20}}

Within Leonardo's lifetime, his extraordinary powers of invention, his "great physical beauty" and "infinite grace," as described by [[Giorgio Vasari|Vasari]],<ref group="‡">{{harvnb|Vasari|1991|p=284}}</ref> as well as all other aspects of his life, attracted the curiosity of others. One such aspect was his love for animals, likely including [[vegetarianism]] and according to Vasari, a habit of purchasing caged birds and releasing them.<ref>MacCurdy, Edward (1928). "The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci." In: [http://www.ivu.org/history/davinci/hurwitz.html ''Leonardo da Vinci's Ethical Vegetarianism.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227121050/http://www.ivu.org/history/davinci/hurwitz.html |date=27 February 2009 }}</ref><ref group="‡">{{harvnb|Vasari|1991|p=286}}</ref>

Leonardo had many friends who are now notable either in their fields or for their historical significance, including mathematician [[Luca Pacioli]],{{sfn|Bambach|2003}} with whom he collaborated on the book ''[[Divina proportione]]'' in the 1490s. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for his friendship with [[Cecilia Gallerani]] and the two Este sisters, [[Beatrice d'Este|Beatrice]] and [[Isabella d'Este|Isabella]].<ref>Cartwright Ady, Julia. ''Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, 1475–1497.'' J. M. Dent, 1899; Cartwright Ady, Julia. ''Isabella D'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474–1539.'' J. M. Dent, 1903.</ref> While on a journey that took him through [[Mantua]], he drew a portrait of Isabella that appears to have been used to create a painted portrait, now lost.{{sfn|Bortolon|1967}}

Beyond friendship, Leonardo kept his private life secret. His sexuality has been the subject of satire, analysis, and speculation. This trend began in the mid-16th century and was revived in the 19th and 20th centuries, most notably by [[Sigmund Freud]] in his ''[[Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood]]''.<ref>Sigmund Freud, ''Eine Kindheitserinnerung des Leonardo da Vinci'', (1910).</ref> Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils [[Salaì]] and [[Francesco Melzi|Melzi]]. Melzi, writing to inform Leonardo's brothers of his death, described Leonardo's feelings for his pupils as both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of a sexual or erotic nature. [[Walter Isaacson]] in his biography of Leonardo makes explicit his opinion that the relations with Salaì were intimate and homosexual.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|pp=129–138}}

Earlier in Leonardo's life, court records of 1476, when he was aged twenty-four, show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with [[sodomy]] in an incident involving a known male prostitute. The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and there is speculation that since one of the accused, Lionardo de Tornabuoni, was related to Lorenzo de' Medici, the family exerted its influence to secure the dismissal.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017}} Since that date much has been written about his presumed homosexuality<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Jonathan  |date=26 March 2021 |title=Leonardo, ladies' man: why can't we accept that Da Vinci was gay? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/26/leonardo-aidan-turner-amazon-prime-video-series-gay |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511221427/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/26/leonardo-aidan-turner-amazon-prime-video-series-gay |archive-date=11 May 2022 |access-date=27 March 2021 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> and its role in his art, particularly in the [[androgyny]] and [[eroticism]] manifested in ''[[Saint John the Baptist (Leonardo)|Saint John the Baptist]]'' and ''[[Bacchus (Leonardo)|Bacchus]]'' and more explicitly in erotic drawings.<ref>Michael Rocke, ''Forbidden Friendships'' epigraph, pp. 148 & 298, N120.</ref><ref name="Pedretti-2009" />{{efn|[[Martin Kemp (art historian)|Martin Kemp]] states that "it is clear that Leonardo, whether he was active or not, was homosexual. But the question is, then, what do we do with that information? Is this profoundly expressed in his art? Is this a major explanatory mode? Over years of looking at Leonardo, I am not resistant to thinking of sexuality as a key but I have not found it particularly helpful."<ref>{{cite web |author=Ana Finel Honigman |title=Universal Leonardo |url=https://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/honigman/honigman1-19-06.asp |website=Artnet |access-date=11 May 2025}}</ref>}} <!-- The info contained here is beyond dispute. It HAS been claimed. Please look at the main article and carry on the argument there. -->{{clear left}}