01 It's hard to say that he didn't paint an egg, but he's not really called Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci learned to paint as a child and painted eggs for three years.
I believe that many people have heard this story and used the truth in the story to educate the next generation:
Success is the result of constant effort, and even a great painter like Leonardo da Vinci started with the simple task of painting eggs repeatedly.
Although the truth is correct, it does not necessarily mean the truth. In other words, sometimes history has no truth, only summed up truth.
Da Vinci self-portrait
Whether leonardo da Vinci painted eggs for three years is not known, but at least not in the biography of Leonardo da Vinci written by the famous biographer Walter Isaacson.
当然，这部颇为全面地记述达·芬奇一生的著作也相当的厚，无疑让繁忙的现代人读起来耗时费力，而基于这部传记的时间线所拍摄的8集电视剧《列奥纳多》不仅时长紧凑，而且故事也很精彩。
TV series "Leonardo"
When biography and suspense are combined, history and imagination blend, it brings no less look and feel than the famous movie "The Da Vinci Code". And the total time of less than 8 hours can make you half a da Vinci expert, and then when you drink and brag, you can tell a master's anecdotes, which can make you the most knowledgeable boy in the crowd.
What's more, after watching the show, you will most likely no longer tell your child the story of "Da Vinci Drawing Eggs". For in the first place "Leonardo da Vinci" is not called "Leonardo da Vinci", to be precise, "Leonardo da Vinci" is not the name of this great painter, nor is it his last name.
Leonardo da Vinci in Leonardo
Second, after learning about the history of the time and Leonardo da Vinci's astonishing talent, you will have doubts about drawing eggs for at least three years.
最后，关于达·芬奇，其实有着许多比画鸡蛋精彩百倍的故事，比如他设计了机器人骑士这件事，应该更能激发孩子去了解这位大师的好奇心。
Leonardo da Vinci's aircraft
Not to mention the strange objects of the 15th century, such as flying machines.
A restored aircraft based on da Vinci's design
Unlike previous biographical dramas, the show does not start from a long time ago (a long time ago), but rather involves the male protagonist Da Vinci in a bizarre murder at the beginning of the story, exactly like the beginning of a suspense film like "The Da Vinci Code".
Caterina in Leonardo
The poisoned deceased, caterina da Cremona, is a fictional woman in the plot who has been tied to Da Vinci for the rest of her life, and the character is played by The Italian actress Matilda de Angelis, who glamorously overplayed Nicole Kidman in the 2020 American drama "Do Nothing".
Matilda de Angelis in Inaction
Why does the plot allow a female character who does not exist in history to break into the life of Da Vinci, who has never married, has no heirs, and never talks to women about love?
Because every pore of this woman seems to exude a charming smell, a single look can seduce the soul of a person, and of course, the soul of young Leonardo da Vinci.
Makes Da Vinci desperate to pay her... Don't try to be crooked, pay her to be a model, because in da Vinci's eyes she is like her own muse, mysterious and charming.
Leonardo
In the words of Da Vinci in the play, she is love!
But why would Leonardo da Vinci be accused of poisoning his own muse?
Once the accusation is established, he will be sentenced to be hanged if he has not finished the Mona Lisa at that time, and there will be no future generations of this painting. So whether the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and why is this painting so mysterious?
The Unfinished Mona Lisa in Leonardo
And there are two new ideas in the play that can be said to be sensational:
First, da Vinci's greatest work has not yet been discovered, and its disappearance is a mystery.
Second, da Vinci had a son named Francesco.
Leonardo da Vinci and his son Francesco
You know, the Mona Lisa or The Last Supper is considered to be da Vinci's greatest work, and in the 502 years since da Vinci's death, there has never been any evidence that Leonardo da Vinci had an heir, not even such a rumor.
Leonardo da Vinci and The Last Supper
Moreover, anyone who has studied Leonardo da Vinci knows that he is not only a painter, it can be said that he has also made great achievements in the fields of human anatomy, engineering mechanics, geological astronomy, etc., and it is not an exaggeration to call himself a scientist.
A crane designed by Leonardo da Vinci
而该剧还揭露了他的另一项鲜为人知的能力，是一名对毒药颇有研究的高手。 Therefore, all the evidence in the story also shows that Da Vinci is the real culprit who poisoned Caterina! The story follows the arrest of Da Vinci and the investigation of the case by the young officer Giraldi, slowly unfolding from the memories of everyone involved.
The young officer Giraldi in Leonardo
The role is played by actor Freddie Hammer, who plays the genius doctor Sean Murphy with autism in the hit American drama "Good Doctor".
The genius doctor Sean Murphy in "Good Doctor"
Da Vinci met the deceased, Caterina da Cremona, a female model invited by the studio. 从第一眼开始，达·芬奇就被她迷住了，对画好这位模特充满了激情和疑虑，总是对作品不满的他在画室交了白卷，所以自己付钱请卡特琳娜为自己当私人模特。
However, at that time, Da Vinci was a fool who was only obsessed with art, so her poor interpersonal skills caused constant friction between her and Caterina, but the more friction was, the more intimate the relationship between the two became, and there was a tendency to develop into love.
The two looked at each other and first introduced themselves:
Caterina said her name was Caterina, from Cremona, Caterina da Cremona
Leonardo da Vinci said his name was Leonardo, from Leonardo da Vinci
Notice that they all have a "da" in the middle of their names? In fact, this "da" and the content behind it are not their names, but the meaning of where they come from. The play went with the flow, using a casual plot to explain the puzzle of the name Da Vinci to the audience.
Leonardo da Vinci's full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, and in Italian, "di" indicates that the following word belongs to the preceding word, or to describe and qualify a certain nature. "da" refers to the source, from where it comes from. "ser" means gentleman, so the full meaning of the name Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is:
From Vinci, the son of gentleman Piero, Leonardo
It is like the meaning of "I am Zhang Yide of yanren" and "I am Zhao Zilong of Changshan" in the Three Kingdoms. It's just that both the fierce and the victorious generals are famous and surnamed, and both from the historical records and the plot accurately explain that because Da Vinci was an illegitimate child, there is no real surname, only the name - Leonardo. And "Leonardo da Vinci" means that he was born, or came from this place outside Florence. In fact, anyone from this place in Vinci can be called Da Vinci.
It is equivalent to the fact that he is from Beijing, and this man is from Shanghai. It was only because Leonardo, the man from Finch, was so famous that Da Vinci became a special reference to him.
Kili in The Hobbit
In the play, Leonardo played the most handsome dwarf Kili KiliChili in the movie "The Hobbit" trilogy, and circled a large audience with his appearance;
"No One Survives"
In the British drama "No One Survives", the Irish actor Aidan Turner played the role of abs mermaid line and making the heroine fawn mess around. I have to say that Aidan Turner's three-dimensional face, deep eyes, and melancholy temperament are perfect for playing Leonardo.
In fact, Leonardo did not begin to study painting in Florence until he was about 15 years old when he entered the studio of Maestro André del Verrocchio. Is it much later than we think of "when we drew eggs as a child"?
André del Verrocchio in Leonardo
The master is played by Inspector Pazzi, the wife of the film "Hannibal".
Inspector Pazi in Hannibal
In pursuit of perfection, Leonardo, who could not always hand over model sketches, was almost thrown out of the studio by the master, but Caterina secretly handed over Leonardo's work to Master Verrocchio.
Leonardo's painting of Caterina
I think the role of Caterina at this moment is actually metaphorically referred to as Leonardo's inner entanglement, because in Leonardo's eyes, these portraits are never perfect (here is also the foreshadowing of the creation of the Mona Lisa), and on the other hand, Leonardo strongly believes that his works have surpassed other apprentices.
Therefore, at the beginning, I also completely thought that the fictional character of Caterina, which did not exist in history, was to be metaphorically used as the inspiration goddess of angels and demons in the depths of Da Vinci's heart. However, I was wrong, and as the plot progressed, I was only more and more stunned.
Caterina
Because of Caterina's presence and boldness, Leonardo received a different eye from Master Verrocchio and soon became the chief disciple. The master also invited him to work with him on the creation of The Baptism of Christ.
Baptism of Christ, now in the Uffizi Museum in Florence
In 1476, the master himself completed the main part of the painting, giving the part of the little angel to Leonardo to paint. When the painting was revealed, it also gave Verrocchio the intention of withdrawing from the painting world. 因为当时年仅24岁的列奥纳多的绘画天赋与技法已经超越了41岁的自己。 Leonardo also became famous for this work, and gradually began to be commissioned for paintings, sculptures, murals, etc., indicating that his creative ability was already very comprehensive at that time.
Leonardo's portrait of Geneviera Banchi
In other words, although the 10 years of studying in the studio may seem like a long time, Leonardo actually has to master painting, sculpture, carpentry, machinery, making drawing boards, formulating plaster powder, making homemade paints and many other skills during these 10 years.
Leonardo creates sculptures
So, spending 3 precious years just painting eggs seems less realistic. Moreover, Leonardo has a unique talent that no one in that era can stand out, to put it bluntly, he is better than other people who spend three days on eggs than others to paint for three years, so even if the matter of painting eggs cannot be verified, I think everyone will have a number in their hearts.
02 Mona Lisa Who is she? Her smile was so mysterious and so beautiful
Mona Lisa Who is she?
Her smile was so mysterious and so beautiful
这两句歌词出自林志炫演唱的一首脍炙人口的歌曲《蒙娜丽莎的眼泪》
I think in the lyrics, Mona Lisa, who is she? And why is her smile so mysterious and beautiful? This question has also been a mystery for more than 500 years since the work was published.
Leonardo creates the Mona Lisa
In fact, there is a long history of who the Mona Lisa is, or the official belief that the prototype of the Mona Lisa is Lisa Giorgundo, also known as Lisa Gladini, who is the wife of Francisco, a wealthy Florentine silk merchant.
Lisa Gladini in Leonardo
"Mona" is actually an abbreviation for Madonna, and in Italian Madonna Ma is mine, donna means lady and lady, together it means "my lady", which was an honorific title for married women at the time, so a more accurate translation of this painting should be "Lady Lisa".
Curiously, however, Leonardo began to conceive the painting in 1503 when he was commissioned by the wealthy merchant Francisco, but it took 14 years to complete the painting until 1517. And what is even stranger is that he did not give the painting to the client, but kept it by his side. It was not until his death that it was passed on to his apprentice Salle, and later bought by King François I of France from his apprentice, that the work was collected in the Louvre museum in France.
Mona Lisa in the Louvre, France
This leads to the question, why does Leonardo cherish this work so much? There has been a lot of speculation and debate for more than 500 years, and there has been no conclusive conclusion for more than 500 years. However, the drama "Leonardo" gave the audience the biggest and boldest idea in 2021.
This brings us to the two most important people in Leonardo's life:
One is the apprentice of a man in history, Gian Giacamo Caplotti, nicknamed Sarai.
Leonardo and Saleh
The other is the fictional Caterina in the play. In the play, Caterina, as leonardo's inspiration goddess, not only brings him creative inspiration, but also ignites the passion of his life all the time, the acquaintance of this handsome man and beautiful woman should have been dry wood in the eyes of ordinary people, but when Caterina wanted to further develop the relationship between the two, it was stopped by Leonardo. Because in Leonardo's mind art is always greater than love.
Leonardo and Caterina
Leonardo, who went to Milan to develop, became a doorman for the Grand Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. During this period, the Grand Duke of Milan was poisoned by political enemies, and it was Leonardo who concocted antidotes for him to save his life.
Archduke of Milan and Leonardo
To put it simply, at that time, many pigments were toxic, such as lead white, lead red, arsenic green contained lead, mercury, arsenic toxic elements. So you can easily find out from art history the incident of mass poisoning of painters at that time. Painters who have been tested by life and death gradually became familiar with the toxicity of pigments, so they also became masters of detoxification, and the genius Leonardo was naturally no exception.
He defused the poison of his political opponents, another dangerous pigment, lead antimony, also known as Neapolitan yellow. Leonardo became the court painter of the Grand Duke of Milan.
The Last Supper by Leonardo
When the wife of the Grand Duke of Milan died, he was commissioned to create the Last Supper and met the street thief Sarai, who stole Leonardo's things and caused him a lot of trouble, but Leonardo always forgave him, not only making him his royal model and apprentice. He also stayed by his side as an assistant and stayed with him for the rest of his life. So much so that after his death, he left his inheritance, including the Mona Lisa, to Sarai.
Leonardo sketched with Sarai as a model
On the other hand, Caterina mistakenly became the mistress of the Grand Duke of Milan, broke with Leonardo, who did not understand love, parted ways, and returned to Florence alone.
Many years later, leonardo returned to Florence with Salle and accepted the commission to start creating the Mona Lisa, but he never knew what love was, but he could not paint the perfect Mona Lisa in his heart. Until Sarai helped him find the long-lost Caterina.
The former goddess of inspiration also ignited Leonardo's creative passion, leonardo no longer avoided, confessed his love to Caterina, and left her in the studio to live. During this period he painted a large number of sketches, drafts and monumental works with Caterina as a model.
Leonardo's Caterina
At this time, Sarai, who was loyal to Leonardo, discovered that Caterina always went out to secretly meet his lover and secretly collected evidence, Salais thought that Caterina was unfaithful, and Caterina thought that Sarai was a "thief", and the contradictions between the two increased day by day.
一个是最心爱的灵魂伴侣，一个是最疼爱的徒弟，“新欢与旧爱”的针锋相对弄得列奥纳多苦不堪言，于是决定捅破这层窗户纸。
It turned out that the "lover" of Caterina's secret meeting was her own son Francesco. The child was her illegitimate son with the Grand Duke of Milan, so she kept the secret hidden.
Francesco
Leonardo, who was determined not to organize a family and could not have children, actually longed for the feeling of family in his heart while painstakingly studying art. So he Francesco saw himself as his own, and the misunderstanding between Salai and Caterina was lifted.
Seeing that the family of four was about to live happily together from then on, but the secret of the illegitimate child also reached the ears of the Grand Duke of Milan, who was worried that the illegitimate child would inherit his rights in the future, he sent someone to get rid of the mother and son.
尝尽父子幸福时光的列奥纳多此时不仅是一位伟大的艺术家，科学家，更是一位伟大的父亲。 He was determined to use his most genius brain to give happiness to his lover and children, even if he was crushed to pieces.
So he poisoned the Grand Duke of Milan with his political enemies and poisoned her in front of Catalina's old lover.
And destroyed all the paintings about Caterina, so that the world did not know what she looked like.
At the same time, Francesco was hidden in the church's permanent anonymity. Deciding to sacrifice himself, Sarai accused himself of his motives: Caterina burned the greatest painting of her life, a portrait of Caterina.
In this way, the Duke would think that all those who knew the secret were gone.
In fact, he had already detoxified Caterina and forged the body with his own understanding of the human face structure, allowing his favorite woman to take the child away and fly away. But what Leonardo did not expect was that before he destroyed all of Caterina's paintings, his son Francesco secretly took away a sketch...
When everything was done according to Leonardo's design, he himself stood on the gallows...
03 Sometimes history has no truth
As for how Leonardo survived, here is a close, everyone still go to see for themselves. Let's just say that the show ends with an answer of its own about the Mona Lisa puzzle:
Boldly imagine that Leonardo's greatest work is neither the Mona Lisa nor the Last Supper, but a sketch of the love of his life, "Caterina", which has not been discovered since Caterina's disappearance in history.
Leonardo, who had been thinking about Caterina for the rest of his life, painted her appearance into the Mona Lisa, so the Lisa Jogundo in the painting was not the appearance of the Buddha, but the appearance of Caterina, so Leonardo was reluctant to give him to the client, and even took him with him for the rest of his life.
Although this is the imagination of the play "Leonardo", in reality, people have already scanned the Mona Lisa with advanced technology and found that the work is superimposed by four portraits:
The first layer is a draft;
The second floor covers the original draft with a Portrait of a Pearl Hair Ornament;
The third layer is the Portrait of Lisa Gladini, in which Lisa looks to the left and smiles, which is also the standard portrait of the time, which is believed to be a real portrait of Lisa Gladini;
The fourth layer is the ancient Mona Lisa, and the person in the painting leaves the famous mysterious smile, as if it is Leonardo's pride.