Leonardo's life 2 E-Book

Dmitrij Sergeevič Merežkovskij

• Herausgeber: Sem Edizioni
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

From Ludovico the Moro to Cesare Borgia. From the fall of the Sforza to the Valentine's ascent. It is the path that Leonardo makes on horseback in the 1500s in a country torn apart by the rivalries of princes and kings who contend with the territory. He is the unmistakable witness of dramas and tragedies that do not undermine his main aspiration: to achieve perfection in his works. Whether the Cenacle or the Horse, dedicated to Francesco Sforza, his angels or his madons. Very sweet is the memory of her mother Catherine, determining the encounter with Verrocchio, with whom she shares a charge of sodomy.

Leseprobe

Dmitrij Sergeevič Merežkovskij

Leonardo’s life 2° - At the service of the Borgias

Editorial director: Cosimo de Leo

Editor: Claudia Barulli

Translator: Lavinia Galvagno

Cover: Michelangelo Allegri

© 2017 SEM - Editorial & Multimedia Services

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All rights reserved. No part of these pages may be reproduced in any form, included any electronic and mechanical means, without prior written permission by the Editor, except for brief quotations used for purposes of review. VAT is pre-paid by the publisher in accordance with section 74, paragraph 1, letter C of Presidential Decree 633/72 and further modifications.

ISBN: 9788897093855

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Indice dei contenuti

The golden age (1496-1497)

The two similar (1498-1499)

The quiet waves (1499 – 1500)

The wigs will sprout (1500)

Or Cesare or nothing (1500-1503)

The golden age (1496-1497)

A Prince should understand how to use well both the man and the beast.

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince.

I.

At the end of 1496 Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan, wrote the following letter to her sister Isabella, wife of the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga, Lord of Mantua:

« Most Excellent Lady and beloved sister. Messire Ludovico my husband and I wish you and Messire Francis, your Illustrious Consort, good health. As you asked me, I send you a portrait of my little Maximilian. However, I do not want you to think he is as tiny as you see. We wanted to measure him, but we were worried about because the doctor says that it may be detrimental to his growth. Instead, he makes progresses in a wonderful way. When I contemplate him, after a few days of absence, I think he has grown up, and I feel joy and satisfaction flooding into my very soul.

« Here at court we are experiencing sadness and sorrow: Nanino, the little fool, died. You have known and loved him too. Therefore, you will easily understand that I cannot get over the loss. I am not able to fill the void left by Nanino, a child of the powerful Nature, because that human being, created just to satisfy the fun of lords, was a perfect phenomenal nonsense in a fascinating ugliness. Bellincioni has composed an epitaph in his honour in which he says that if he is in heaven, the whole paradise will laugh at him. If he is in hell, Cerberus itself is silent and rejoices. Weeping, we buried him in Santa Maria delle Grazie, in our family tomb, next to my beloved falcon and to Puttina, the unforgettable bitch because I do not want either death could divide me from such an enjoyable person.

«I have been weeping for two whole nights. In order to console me, Messire Ludovico promised me a gift for Christmas holidays: a magnificent silver chair to "lay down the unnecessary weight of the belly," adorned with a bas-relief that represents the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs. There will be his vessel of solid gold and a canopy of crimson velvet embroidered in gold with the ducal coats of arms, just as that of the Grand Duchess of Lorraine. No one else has a similar chair, neither the Pope nor the Emperor nor the Sovereign in Turkey. It will be more beautiful than the famous one sang by Marziale in his epigrams. For the occasion, Merula has composed some hexameters, which start like this:

Quis cameram hanc supero dignam neget esse tonante Principe …

«Messire Ludovico would have liked that Leonardo da Vinci had inserted to the chair a striking mechanism, but the Florentine painter apologized because, he says, he is dealing with the Last Supper and the Colossus.

«My dear sister, you pray me to send you this master for a while. I would acquiesce with the greatest pleasure to your prayers, and, for my part, I would be willing to send him forever. However, Messire Ludovico, I do not know why, took him to his heart and he would not give him up for all the gold in the world. However, do not worry, because first: this Leonardo is more concerned with chemistry, mechanics, magic and other nonsenses, than with painting; second: he works so slowly that even an angel would lose his temper; third: what is more, he is an impious and a heretic.