Editing Clos Lucé (section)

=== Leonardo da Vinci's years at the Clos Lucé ===
[[File:Leonardo da Vinci - presumed self-portrait - lossless.png|thumb|344x344px|''Leonardo da Vinci - self-portrait - Royal Library of Turin.'']]
In 1516, aged 64, [[Leonardo da Vinci]] left [[Rome]] and traveled through Italy, armed with his sketchbooks and three of his most famous paintings:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/explore-frances-loire-valley-in-footsteps-of-leonardo-da-vinci-180971039/|title=Explore France's Loire Valley in the Footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci|first1=Smithsonian|last1=Magazine|first2=Jennifer|last2=Billock|website=Smithsonian Magazine}}</ref> ''[[Mona Lisa]]'', [[The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (Leonardo)|''The Virgin and Child'', ''with St. Anne'']] and [[St. John the Baptist (Leonardo)|''St. John the Baptist'']]. They are now conserved in the [[Louvre|Musée du Louvre]], Paris. His disciples [[Francesco Melzi]] and [[Salaì]] followed him throughout his travels, as did his servant, Batista of Vilanis.

[[Benvenuto Cellini]] wrote that King Francis I gave Leonardo da Vinci a pension of 700 gold [[Écu|ecus]], as well as buying his artwork, allowing him to live and work in the Clos Lucé. Leonardo da Vinci was appointed ‘The first painter, engineer and architect of the King’. Leonardo da Vinci was enthusiastic and productive during his years at the Clos Lucé. He worked on numerous projects, organized feasts for the court of Amboise, and even drew the famous “Double Spiral Staircase” of the [[Château de Chambord]]. He also spent time on other projects, one of them consisting of designing the perfect city of [[Romorantin-Lanthenay|Romorantin]]. In this, Leonardo da Vinci wanted to dig a canal to connect two rivers allowing easier trade. He is still considered as one of the most renowned artists of his time.

On October 10, 1517, he was visited by the Cardinal [[Luigi d'Aragona|Luigi d’Aragona]], who was so impressed by his works of art that he described them in his ''Itinerario'' as “rare perfection”. These include some of his most famous pieces of work: the ''Mona Lisa'' and ''The Virgin and Child with St. Anne'' and ''St John the Baptist''.

Leonardo organized a feast in the Château du Clos Lucé on June 19, 1518, to thank The French King Francis I for his multiple gifts and generosity. There were a lot of similarities with the feast that Leonardo organised in [[Milan]] on January 13, 1490 (''Festa del paradisio'', play of [[Bernardo Bellincioni]]): there was complex machinery to impress the guests, which referred to the movements of the celestial bodies thanks to a blue canvas which symbolized the heavens where ran planets, stars, the Sun, the Moon and the twelve [[Astrological sign|zodiac signs]].

Despite the rumors that he would die in the king's arms, Leonardo da Vinci passed away in his room at the Clos Lucé on May 2, 1519.<ref name="auto1"/> He left his books, drawings, sketches and manuscripts to his beloved apprentice, [[Francesco Melzi]].