(ANSA) -The extraordinary life of Leonardo da Vinci has been recounted in a series of documents and letters collected for the first time in a new show in Florence.
One of the highlights of the show, which is entitled Leonardo da Vinci: The True Image, is the only record of his birth on April 15, 1452. This historic document, written by Leonardo's grandfather, only came to light in 1939. It was unearthed in Florence by the art historian Emil Moller.
The show includes 35 documents from the Florence state archives and others from archives in Mantua, Modena, Milan and Paris. Many of the Florence papers trace Leonardo's difficult relations with the members of his father's family. Most centre on property disputes aimed at depriving Leonardo of his rights because he was illegitimate.
One significant piece is a copy of Leonardo's uncle's will, which is generous to his nephew. The family contested the will but Leonardo got his due in the end, helped by support from Florence's city government.
"The backing he obtained from the city shows the importance they already attached to the artist," said curator Vanna Arrighi, pointing out that it was "highly unusual" for an illegitimate son to win a property dispute at the time.
One of the Milan finds appears to prove that Leonardo's mother Caterina died in that city on June 26, 1494, while Leonardo was in the service of Milan strongman Francesco Sforza. The Archives Nationales in Paris have provided evidence of the generous pension paid to Leonardo by his last great patron, King Francis I of France, shortly before Leonardo's death in 1519.
A letter of praise from Cesare Borgia is the only piece on show from a wealth of papers left to Leonardo's young pupil Francesco Melz. The others have been scattered around the world's museums. The show is not just a bare collection of dry documents
but has been enriched by a selection of art works. They include a portrait of the Renaissance genius by one of his disciples, bronze copies of the horses from his great lost fresco of the Battle of Anghiari, a copy of the famed Virgin of the Rocks from Rome's Palatine Gallery, medallions of Francis I by Benvenuto Cellini, and two priceless vases from Lorenzo the Magnificent's treasure trove.
The show at Florence's Archivio di Stato closes on January 28.
