by Shana Priwer
In 1476, the twenty-four-year-old Leonardo was still officially part of Verrocchio's studio, but was beginning to take on outside commissions. On April 8, 1476, an anonymous accusation was placed in a wooden box, put up for this purpose in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, in Florence. Someone had accused Leonardo and three other young men of having a homosexual affair with a male model and suspected prostitute, seventeen-year-old Jacopo Saltarelli. A second anonymous accusation against Leonardo was made on June 7.
In Florence, homosexuality was common and not particularly stigmatized, and the authorities usually ignored such conduct. However, sodomy was a criminal offense, and once formal charges were made, they had to be prosecuted. Leonardo and the others were actually taken into custody by the authorities and held for two months in confinement.
Fortunately for Leonardo and the other three accused, the charges were dropped due to lack of conclusive evidence and witnesses. It is also possible that the powerful Medici family influenced the outcome; one of the other young men accused along with Leonardo da Vinci was Lionardo de Tornabuoni, a relative of Lorenzo de Medici. This acquittal was conditional, however: It only applied if Leonardo and the others were never again subject to a similar accusation.
Because of this scandal, Leonardo and the others ended up being targets of the “Officers of the Night” in Florence, a loosely run organization that was the Renaissance equivalent of a vice squad! This group, known as the Uffiziali de Notte in Italian, was created in 1432 specifically to find and prosecute crimes of sodomy. Florence was the first European city to have such an authority.
Perhaps due to the accusation, there is no record of Leonardo's work or even his whereabouts from 1476 to 1478, although it is assumed that he remained in Florence. Leonardo appears to have recovered his equilibrium by 1478, however, for it was in that year that he received his first official commission, The Adoration of the Shepherds. This work, while never finished, seems to have launched Leonardo on his way to becoming an acclaimed artist.
While Leonardo appears to have put the accusation of homosexuality behind him fairly quickly, it is also likely that it influenced him for the rest of his life. His general paranoia could have been expressed in his mirror writing, which served as a foil to casual observers. His grotesque drawings of gossiping village people show exactly what he thought of rumormongers. In his writings, he also mentions the spreading of malicious rumors as a highly evil trait.
Leonardo may have eventually left Florence, his home city, to escape the memory of such accusations. As a budding artist, Leonardo needed a solid reputation, and escaping the Florence rumor mill may have put him back on the right track.
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Amigos, compadres … lovers?
Leonardo was not what you would call a playboy. He wasn't hanging out in bars, picking up gorgeous women. In fact, he didn't have any relationships with women that we know about. He did, however, have two long-term male companions during his lifetime. The first, Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, was brought into Leonardo's household in 1490 when he was ten years old. He had a changing role in Leonardo's life, though few details are known. Was he an adopted son, an art student, a servant, or an intimate companion? Given the indulgence that Leonardo showed him, and the length of their twenty-five-year relationship, it seems clear that he was much more than just a common servant.
Giacomo was quickly nicknamed Salai, which means “little satan,” or “devil,” and this fellow lived up (or down) to his nickname. Leonardo's notes describe his early antics, especially his thievery. Salai began stealing from Leonardo as soon as he moved in; he even stole the money Leonardo had given him to buy new clothes. Not exactly the way to repay someone's kindness!
Undoubtedly a large part of Salai's appeal, in addition to his apparently indomitable spirit, was his beautiful appearance. His long, blonde curls were a favorite with Leonardo, and a number of his sketches of Salai show off his fine features. In particular, Salai was likely the model for the young man in Leonardo's Portrait of an Old Man and a Youth.
Leonardo tried to teach Salai to paint, but he does not seem to have been particularly talented. Under Leonardo's tutelage, he did produce a few paintings, which Leonardo is rumored to have retouched. The affection between the two men seems to have been genuine, and Salai remained with Leonardo until almost the end of Leonardo's life, over twenty-five years. Many marriages today do not survive that long! In Leonardo's will, he left Salai a house and half of his vineyard.
Leonardo's second long-term companion was Francesco Melzi, a minor noble from Florence who joined Leonardo's household in 1505, at age fifteen. Melzi appears to have been a more talented painter than Salai, and less of a handful! Melzi was also supposedly a very handsome young man, like Salai.
A number of Melzi's paintings and drawings survive, including a portrait of Leonardo. Leonardo-inspired elements are clearly visible, but Melzi's work lacks depth. His paintings appear almost flat, and his sense of proportion is less well defined.
Melzi remained with Leonardo until Leonardo's death, upon which he became the executor of Leonardo's will. Leonardo left the bulk of his estate to Melzi, including his clothes, the paintings in his possession, and perhaps most importantly, his notebooks. Melzi faithfully kept the notebooks safe until the end of his life, around 1570, and is thought to have organized some of them into a longer version of A Treatise on Painting. Unfortunately, by the time of Melzi's death the importance of the notebooks had been forgotten, and they were scattered by Melzi's heirs (see number 71). Although no direct evidence exists to prove that Leonardo and Melzi had a sexual relationship, the fact that Leonardo named Melzi as his heir and left his precious notebooks in Melzi's care indicates the deep love and trust he felt for his former student.
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Let's talk about sex
Today, celebrities' sex lives are fair game for tabloids, TV talk shows, and dinner table discussions. In the Renaissance, gossip was probably a similar occupation, although without the modern media frenzy the pace of the rumor mill was probably a bit slower. Many aspects of Leonardo's life indicate that he was most likely homosexual. It is likely that his two long-time companions, Salai and Melzi, were his lovers (see number 87). There are also indications of his sexual orientation throughout his work. Generally, Leonardo had to be careful with regard to his private life; Renaissance society was certainly not as liberal as modern-day San Francisco.
Leonardo never married, and he is never recorded as having shown any nonprofessional interest in women. He even expressed his disgust for male-female sexual intercourse in his notebooks. A famous quote from his notebooks reads:
“The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, nature would lose the human species.”
Leonardo drew both male and female nudes, but there are fewer female drawings and they are much less detailed. Unlike other Renaissance painters, who were prolific in their renderings of the female body, Leonardo produced only one formal painting of a female nude, Leda and the Swan. Leonardo's anatomical sketches also include drawings of both male and female genitalia. While the drawings of male sexual organs are detailed and accurate, the female genitals are depicted with less detail and accuracy; more often Leonardo used them for his medical studies. Perhaps Leonardo had more ready access to male models than to female ones, but this disparity could also indicate Leonardo's disinterest in the female body.
Some of Leonardo's drawings may also suggest, in a more symbolic manner, his distaste for heterosexual intercourse. Many of his sketches and paintings depict phallic rock formations and womblike tunnels and caverns, rendered to appear harsh and unappealing. Is this analysis the product of modern interpretation, or was it Leonardo's original intention?
In spite of Leonardo's seeming preference for the male figure, he did not always portray these figures as hypermasculine. For example, in Leonardo's famous work The L
ast Supper, St. John is very effeminate-looking and appears somewhat androgynous. This portrayal has actually led to talk that the figure at Christ's right is actually a woman, with some art historians speculating that the figure may have represented Mary Magdalene, not St. John. This scenario is particularly unlikely, however, given the Church's influence and the subsequently strict adherence to traditional renditions at that time.
While Leonardo clearly enjoyed painting and drawing beautiful men, it seems almost ironic that he also painted one of the most celebrated and beautiful women of all time with the Mona Lisa. Perhaps he was capturing the true inner beauty of the model, or perhaps the Mona Lisa is a subtle self-portrait of Leonardo himself as a woman!
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Warning: Genius at work
So what makes a genius? We generally consider a genius to be someone who shows an intellectual prowess that makes him or her stand out from the crowd. Geniuses are extraordinarily skilled in at least one area; they're often outstanding in multiple fields. They also tend to have skills that come naturally—they create works of amazing impact with seemingly little effort.
Leonardo's genius is obvious. He was a skilled painter, architect, inventor, scientist, and geometrician. He designed animal stables and tried to reroute rivers. His interests and skills were diverse. But did he actually have too many artistic gifts? Many of his projects went unfinished, and many of his skills could have been further developed. If Leonardo had only been good at painting, for example, he probably would have finished more works and, in turn, these pieces might have been of an even higher quality. But because Leonardo was good at so many things, he simply did not have time to focus on all of them.
Rather than focusing on one particular art or skill, Leonardo chose to spend time with each of them—he was what is known as a polymath, someone who has myriad talents in many different areas. Essentially, he was good at just about everything he tried.
Unlike Leonardo, geniuses often choose a particular field in which to apply their talents. Albert Einstein (1879–1955) is often considered one of history's greatest geniuses, perhaps the greatest scientific mind of the twentieth century. Einstein was known for his theories that revolutionized the study of space and time, developing the General and Special Theories of Relativity, which showed that space and time were not absolute as had once been thought. Hundreds of years earlier, Leonardo had also compared space and time in some of his writings; he noted that time could be divided into smaller and smaller pieces, just as a line could be infinitely divided into smaller and smaller lengths. He thought that a single instant of time could be considered as a point. Much later, it was Einstein who showed that space and time were not the invariant quantities that Leonardo, and most other scientists, had assumed them to be.
Like Leonardo, Einstein had varied interests, although they weren't quite as far ranging as Leonardo's. Also like Leonardo, Einstein enjoyed music, appreciating the mathematical order and harmony. Leonardo had his lyre; Einstein treasured his violin. Both geniuses based their science and theories on simple observations, ones that they could make with little equipment. Both asked questions and both sought answers. But even in light of history's most intelligent people, Leonardo's genius stands apart.
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Minor errors of a major genius
“To err is human, to forgive divine.” —Alexander Pope, “An Essay on Criticism”
This famous quote expresses something most of us know all too well: Humans make mistakes. Try as we might, we are never perfect. That's OK, though! Making mistakes is part of the learning process. Leonardo, being human, was no exception to this rule. Though it sounds trite, the old saying is true: Even geniuses make mistakes. Einstein, one of history's greatest intellectuals, was eventually proven wrong on certain parts of his theories. Leonardo also made several known errors. But did he let his mistakes rule his life? Read on to see how they affected his reputation.
Some of Leonardo's errors were due simply to lack of information. The precise nature of human anatomy, with all its functioning and interrelating systems, was only starting to be understood in the fifteenth century. Leonardo performed “autopsies” on cadavers and made careful studies, but he had no formal medical training and was likely missing the big picture. For example, Leonardo made several sketches of a woman's womb, complete with uterus, fetus, and umbilical cord. However, he misjudged the size and shape of the placenta, and actually drew it more like a cow's.
Along those same lines, Leonardo occasionally championed popular but flawed theories. He was, for example, a fan of physiognomy, which held that it was possible to determine a person's personality and character by studying his facial features and head shape. Barthelemy Codes first published this theory in 1533, though the ideas had already been floating around for some time. This concept was, of course, fundamentally biased and had no basis in science. One of Leonardo's more technical mistakes concerns his design for a military armored tank. If you examine the details of his wheel system underneath the carriage, it is clear that the wheels would have actually been turning in opposite directions. The wheels would have spun harder and faster until the entire tank collapsed in a heap of metal and smoke. There are two theories about this peculiarity: Some think Leonardo genuinely made a mistake in the design, while others feel he probably made this error deliberately, to ensure that his design could not be stolen and copied later. You have to wonder, though, why he would go to all the trouble of sketching something, knowing full well it would never work?
One thing to remember about the errors in Leonardo's work is that, during the Renaissance, artwork was often done collaboratively. Others in his workshop may have actually done pieces that are attributed to Leonardo. He had a number of students throughout his lifetime, and their skills were less developed (and more prone to error). Consider, for example, the drawing of Isabella d'Este from 1500. The cartoon sketch for this portrait showed some of the figure, notably the arm, out of proportion; the musculature was also incorrect, and the figure would not have seemed lifelike. Given Leonardo's careful attention to anatomical detail, it seems likely one of his students made these mistakes in the sketch.
The vast majority of Leonardo's work was of superb quality and highly accurate. The only reason we're able to find these few flaws is because they stand out—his mistakes were few and far between!
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Why be normal?
Lots of artists are known for their eccentricities. Whether they're wearing an off-fashion goatee or a lopsided beret, artists march to the beat of their own drums. The creative mind doesn't always follow convention, and society tends to give artists special dispensation to do things their way. Luckily, Renaissance patrons were somewhat tolerant as well. Leonardo exhibited several oddities in his mannerisms and artwork, none of which seriously detracted from his fame or popularity. In fact, his weirdness might have even added to his mystique.
As mentioned previously, Leonardo wrote in a kind of backward mirror writing, and there are several theories as to why Leonardo wrote this way. Some say that it was a code; he was very protective of his ideas, and he didn't want contemporary artists to steal his inventions or copy his sketches. In addition, some of his religious theories were not completely in keeping with the teachings of the Church, and he may have deliberately recorded his personal thoughts so that his patrons (and the clergy) could not easily decipher them. There were rumors that Leonardo, though apparently a practicing Christian, disagreed with some stories from Genesis; he probably would not have wanted to voice these dissentions and chose the mirror writing as a way to disguise his thoughts.
Again, being left-handed, writing backwards was simply easier and more natural. Many left-handed people find it easier to write from right to left, if for no other reason than to avoid the inevitable ink smudges.
During the Renaissance, some people believed that left-handed writers bore the mark of the devil. Though it's doubtful Leonardo himself believed that left-handers were evil, he probably felt s
ome discrimination. The mirror writing, then, could have been Leonardo's own response to the idea that being left-handed was somehow worse than being right-handed. One thing is fairly certain: Leonardo probably did not write this way because of any severe mental impairment, and he appears to have known what he was doing. When he had to write notes for his patrons or others in the general public, for example, he wrote in the traditional left-to-right style. Leonardo the switch hitter!
Leonardo's eccentricities extended beyond his handwriting style. He often took liberties in his paintings that more traditional artists might have avoided. Leonardo was, in his own way, a risk taker. While he had to keep up a certain amount of convention to please his patrons, he bent the rules whenever possible. For instance, in his painting Annunciation (1487–1485), the angel's wings resemble an actual bird's wings. Leonardo may have wanted to experiment with his animal drawings, but the result is that the wings seem oddly out of synch in this otherwise religious scene. It seems clear that Leonardo's own study was of more importance than the work's final appearance, and this unconventional attitude would definitely have made Annunciation something of an oddity considering the Renaissance emphasis on both beauty and harmony. Eccentricities of this sort might not have been tolerated with lesser artists, but in Leonardo's case they only served to increase his appeal.
