“It’s even better than a class!” » says Théo, 12 years old, with a broad smile. His history teacher adds: “I didn’t know that Leonardo’s mother, Caterina, was a slave from the Caucasus (it would have fallen into the hands of the Turks in Constantinople before ending up in the Venetian galleys) ! » This revelation was made by Carlo Vecce, genius biographer, professor at the University of Naples, one of the two curators of the exhibition currently presented at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire), entitled “Leonardo da Vinci and perfumes in the Renaissance”, in the same place where the Italian master spent his last three years until his death on May 2, 1519.
“This is the first time in the world that such work has been devoted to Leonardo da Vinci’s interest in perfumes. Here, we enter into the depths of our memory and our sensory universe,” rejoices Carlo Vecce. We learn that he participated in the perfume revolution, designed stills and made distillation techniques more efficient.
The exhibition tells a story through a multiplicity of sensory approaches: visual, sound and olfactory. “We worked with Givaudan noses, notably Calice Becker, one of the inventors of I adore by Dior. They interpreted twenty-eight Renaissance fragrances, presented throughout the course,” explains François Saint Bris, president of Clos Lucé.
We also discover two original drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, taken from the Codex Atlanticus, on loan from the Ambrosian Library in Milan. The exhibition also presents around sixty original works from French and Italian national museums and private art collections.
“Leonardo da Vinci and perfumes during the Renaissance”until September 15 at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise.
