Abstract

The story goes that 500 years ago, on 2 May 1519, in the Clos Luc manor house near the royal castle of Amboise, King Francis I of France was lovingly assisting an old man who was on his deathbed. The man was neither a king, an aristocrat, nor a victorious general. He was the out-of-wedlock son of an Italian notary. France was, after Spain, the most powerful state in Europe, and, at that time, aristocrats avoided caring for people below their status. There is a chance that this story, portrayed in romantic paintings, is a legend; but what is certain is that Francis I devoted considerable attention to the old man whom he had invited to spend his last years in AmboiseLeonardo da Vinci.