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00:12Let us take you on a journey, a journey into the life of an extraordinary man.
00:20Talking about Leonardo da Vinci means confronting a mystery.
00:25We know a lot about his work, we know a lot about his life, but the misery remains.
00:34How could a single person, a single mind, have imagined and achieved so many different things?
00:44What makes Leonardo the top of the bright guys of the Renaissance, compared to Raffaello,
00:52to Michelangelo, to many other remarkable figures, is that he was not simply an artist.
01:03Leonardo, everything was interrelated. Science, painting, all the arts, let's say like that.
01:12Probably for him, painting was at the top of his activities.
01:21Someone who is able to represent the world as a person, and someone who is able to give
01:26a poésie to the human expression inouïe, inégalable at this time.
01:34Leonardo invented himself, that's clear already in his letter to Lodovico El Moro.
01:39He's saying things that he cannot yet do, but he will learn to do, in order to fulfill the promise.
01:48Leonardo is above all the absolute man, curious of the world, curious of understanding the world, curious of modifying and
01:55improving the world.
01:57The one for whom nothing is impossible.
02:01Leonardo is above all.
02:16To better understand Leonardo, you have to look at the two aspects of what he has left us.
02:22Leonardo is above all.
02:23He left us, he left us, and we left us, majorly, 10.000 pages of notes and drawings,
02:31by which we can follow him in his daily life, in the evolution of his thinking, in his research,
02:38and we really have the impression of being with him.
03:10We have to understand and to reconstruct the path of the child, the apprentice,
03:16and the man who will develop work methods that would lead into astonishing universality.
03:26Our first destination is the village of Vinci, located in Tuscany, in Italy, where Leonardo was born.
03:37Leonardo nasce a Vinci il 15 aprile del 1452.
03:43È un figlio illegittimo di un notaio, Ser Piero da Vinci, e di una donna di nome Caterina.
03:56Essere figli legittimi all'epoca non era drammatico come si potrebbe supporre.
04:05Teniamo conto che la famiglia di Leonardo era una famiglia abbiente e Leonardo fu il primo figlio maschio
04:16e quindi rimase all'interno della famiglia paterna dove venne educato.
04:24C'erano però delle limitazioni e, per esempio, i figli illegittimi non avevano la possibilità di intraprendere la carriera di
04:35notaio.
04:36Léonard apprend à écrire, probabilmente en famille.
04:41Ce qui me fait dire cela, c'est qu'il écrit dans le type d'écriture des notaires de son
04:46temps.
04:48Alors, bien sûr, il écrit de façon spéculaire, c'est-à-dire que son écriture ne peut se lire que
04:55dans un miroir.
04:56Il écrit à l'envers, si vous voulez, il écrit de la droite vers la gauche.
05:01Est-ce que c'est une preuve de son génie ?
05:04Je ne crois pas, puisque beaucoup de gauchers sont capables d'écrire dans les deux directions.
05:09Est-ce qu'il écrivait en écriture spéculaire pour cacher ses secrets ?
05:16Je ne crois pas non plus, parce qu'une fois qu'on a compris le principe, il est très très
05:20facile de retrouver les choses.
05:21Non, je crois que simplement, c'est une manière commode pour un gaucher d'écrire sans repasser avec la main
05:29sur l'encre.
05:30Et donc, ça permet tout simplement d'éviter l'hépater.
05:33Mais c'est certainement la preuve aussi d'un apprentissage autodidacte.
05:44Leonardo est influencé par l'ambiance naturelle de Vinci.
05:54Il crebe a contact avec la nature.
05:56Et il y a certainement, il y a beaucoup de roussillon de la ville de Vinci.
06:14On ne sait pas grand-chose de l'enfance de Léonard. On peut l'imaginer.
06:20Le papier, il doit y en avoir dans une maison de notaire, mais le papier est quand même relativement rare
06:25encore, ou cher à la Renaissance.
06:27En revanche, avec des pierres plates, il y en a plein dans la région, et un bout de charbon, on
06:33peut tout à fait s'amuser à dessiner.
06:36C'est peut-être ce qu'il a fait. Il a dessiné les animaux, les arbres, les montagnes qu'il
06:41voyait.
06:42Et ses dessins ont probablement émerveillé ses parents, émerveillé son entourage.
06:48Et on s'est dit, tiens, cet enfant a des dispositions pour l'art.
06:52Et donc, tout naturellement, son père l'a mis en apprentissage à Florence dans l'atelier d'Andrea Verrocchio,
06:58qui était un sculpteur très renommé.
07:00Et il a fait un excellent choix, parce que Verrocchio était vraiment le maître qui convenait aux jeunes Léonards.
07:21Léonards arrivés à Florence comme un jeune homme,
07:27venant d'un petit village avec un endroit où il n'est pas aujourd'hui.
07:31Il n'est pas aujourd'hui à l'heure, mais il n'était le naturel son de la notary,
07:36qui avait une maison, une petite maison en France,
07:40et excellent relations avec les pouvoirs autorités de Florence.
07:45Donc, il n'était pas venu pour rien.
07:48Plus, il était absolument impressionnant,
07:51comme tout le monde aurait été,
07:53venant à l'aise possible le plus le plus le plus le plus le plus le plus le plus le
07:57plus le plus le plus le plus.
07:58Il n'y a pas de la ville.
08:00Il n'y a pas de la ville,
08:01il n'y a pas de la ville,
08:03parce que c'était une petite ville,
08:05avec n'armi,
08:06mais une très forte économie.
08:11Florence has been a city of intense building activity since the 11th century and so we must
08:22try to imagine the moment when the young Leonardo arrived in this thriving and extremely modern and
08:32ambitious city from a much more sleepy place nonetheless he would have found a city that was
08:38an open chantier an open work site with churches palaces rising and so he would have seen Florence
08:47as a place that was always in activity always changing always getting bigger more beautiful
08:53more modern he would have absorbed the Florentine passion for modernity and excellence he was a
09:02certainly impressed of the beauty of the buildings of the richness of the collection of the private
09:07families and also and not last by the workshop in which he was took to work Verrocchio's workshop
09:14is generally portrayed in movies as a very elegant place where people are using brushes and and
09:22painting or sculpture in a very elegant way no Verrocchio's workshop was a new zine was something
09:29where you had hammers you have tools he was building sculptures he was creating gun powers he was
09:37having furnaces to cast bronze and other things so the impact has been very strong and certainly must
09:45have been an enormous surprise
10:20so when he was learning needs left w
10:23of Verrocchio's shop, Leonard started with the base.
10:27He prepared the colors,
10:29broyed the pigments, assembled them,
10:32and made pinceaux,
10:33enduits,
10:34châssis in wood.
10:39The first work that Leonard did for Verrocchio,
10:43or in any case,
10:45that he participated in,
10:47is a pure engineering work.
10:49It is about to make a very light-hearted piece of wood,
10:55but that's not the problem.
10:57It is about to install it,
10:58and to be able to make it solidly
11:00on the long-term,
11:01at the cathedral's dome,
11:03at about 100 meters high.
11:18The ball atop the lantern of the dome
11:22would be more than 110 meters from the ground.
11:26It was very heavy.
11:28We don't know the exact weight,
11:30because it was struck with lightning,
11:32and fell in 1600.
11:35We do know that the large ball,
11:38exactly reproducing the shape,
11:40that was made to replace it,
11:42weighs 6,000 kilos.
11:476,000 kilos is a great deal to lift 110 meters.
11:53We believe that Verrocchio's original ball
11:57was much heavier.
12:00And so you're talking about a problem
12:03that is positively mind-boggling.
12:07One cannot imagine how to do it.
12:09Bear in mind that the ball is at the center
12:11of a dome that has a 43 meter diameter.
12:16So the great crane that has to be put in place
12:20to lift the ball up has to have an arm
12:23that extends at least 25 meters,
12:26half the width of the dome,
12:29and then beyond that to allow it to be lifted,
12:31the ball to be lifted from the ground
12:33without actually touching the dome.
12:36It is almost unbelievable
12:37that they could have constructed scaffolding
12:40and a crane in those dimensions.
12:43How they did it, we do not know.
12:45That they did it, we know.
13:06Like all apprentices, Leonardo started very modestly
13:09at Verrocchio's workshop.
13:11Then he became a workman, a better position,
13:15and as such, he started participating more
13:18in the activities of the workshop.
13:21During all that time, he drew from nature
13:24whenever he could.
13:26Like all the students, he made draperies
13:29and learned to work with light and reflections
13:31in order to give volume to his drawings.
13:35When he did those paintings, imagine,
13:37he was only in his early twenties,
13:39and five hundred years on,
13:41you can still admire those paintings.
13:47We know the studies of drapery
13:49were very, very important and relevant
13:51for the activity of the artists at the time.
13:54Especially they were a kind of exercise.
13:56They were studying, probably all together,
14:02drawing and painting from reality,
14:05studying real draperies.
14:06This kind of drawing and studies
14:08then will eventually be useful for paintings,
14:13but also for sculpture.
14:15Unfortunately, we don't have
14:16any surely sculpture attributed to Leonardo.
14:21This is a big problem
14:22because we know that Leonardo was also a sculpture.
14:47The Madonna with a child is a terracotta sculpture.
14:51And the style of this statue is really unique.
14:55And the only possible candidate
14:57is the young Leonardo da Vinci
14:58in the studio of Verrocchio.
15:00At the time of Leonardo is learning
15:02at the time of Verrocchio,
15:04there is a little revolution
15:06in the art of painting.
15:07Until now,
15:08we paint at the tempera,
15:10at the water,
15:10at the water,
15:10at the water.
15:13We start to see,
15:14thanks to the paintings
15:16from the North,
15:17from the Flandre,
15:18the beginning of the painting
15:19to the oil painting.
15:20And the painting to the oil painting,
15:21it's a real change.
15:23Because with the oil painting,
15:25we make better,
15:26we make better shadows,
15:27we make better shadows,
15:29we can work the material differently.
15:32Leonardo is probably passionate
15:35since his arrival
15:36for this new thing.
15:38At the time of Verrocchio,
15:40at the time of Verrocchio,
15:40we paint still at the water,
15:41a tempera.
15:44Leonardo innove.
15:45Leonardo is starting
15:46in this new technique.
15:48And in a painting
15:50that we know
15:51that the teacher and the teacher,
15:53Verrocchio and Leonardo,
15:54do together,
15:55we have the two techniques
15:57who mix up.
16:07And in the book
16:08who mix up the waters
16:09and those who mix up
16:10when we commanded
16:10a Verrocchio
16:11a baptism of Christ,
16:14the Maître
16:15is the most important part
16:16of the book
16:18in the book,
16:18he was given
16:19to the young Leonard
16:22the realization of the two angels who are at the feet of Christ.
16:35The legend says that when Verrocchio saw what Leonard was able to do
16:41with this new technique of oil that he didn't use,
16:45he was so amazed that he decided to abandon
16:50definitively, disons, the department peinture of his atelier
16:53and to give it to the young Leonard.
16:56He would never touch a pencil in his life
17:00since he thought that the teacher had already been surpassed by the teacher.
17:12We are in 1481.
17:15Leonard seemed to work for his own own.
17:17He had no doubt quitté the Atelier.
17:19He had important commandes.
17:22A large table representing the Adoration of the Mages.
17:27A Saint-Jérôme.
17:30These are important works.
17:33And yet, these two paintings, they left leave
17:36and leave Florence for Milan.
17:39This is perhaps the first mystery in the life of Leonard,
17:44because we don't understand why.
17:52Why did he abandon these paintings?
17:54Including a large format that seemed very promising
17:58and for which he had done many studies.
18:01Perspectives, characters, composition.
18:06What's more, if we look closely, we can see some of his future masterpieces.
18:12Saint Anne.
18:13Saint John the Baptist.
18:16The Battle of Hungary.
18:19Some of the expressions in the last supper.
18:22The equestrian moment.
18:25So why did he abandon it?
18:28Why did he leave?
18:52Why did he leave?
18:56Why did he have no idea to be able to?
18:59Even when he was no type of Buddha,
19:03he must be able to leave the Roman mark.
19:04Leonard should first prove that it's obvious.
19:06He's a fellow unknown, to Milan.
19:09He will do the best at the painting.
19:11He will be in his years'
19:12to two lombards, the brothers De Predis, very well introduced in the city,
19:17and he will obtain the commande of the Vierge Rocher.
19:24In April 1483, the commande is passed to Leonard de Vinci, but also to two other
19:30peintres, the brothers Evangelista and Ambrogio De Predis. They commande for the
19:35painting and the execution of a chapel in the franciscan church in Milan,
19:41the Eglise San Francesco Grande, Saint François le Grand.
19:44We don't know very well what happened, but at the end, the artists have
19:49manifestly made two versions for the painting that was in the centre of the
19:54retable. There is one, everyone thinks that it is the most ancient Vierge Rocher,
19:59which is located at the Museum of the Louvre, and then there is a second one, who was
20:02made in a second time, and today is located at the National Gallery of London.
20:09It is true that when we observe these two tableaux, the composition in general
20:13seems to be the same, but there is still some significant details. The angel, who is
20:19at the right of the composition, in the tableau of London, does not look at it and
20:23does not have a gesture of the right hand that is designated Saint Jean-Baptiste and
20:27the Vierge. However, in the tableau of the Louvre, we have this angel who looks at it, who
20:34encourages us, by his gesture of the right hand, to go look at Saint Jean-Baptiste.
20:39What happened in the tableau of the Louvre, Léonard has painted the composition as we see
20:46in the tableau of London, and at the end, when the tableau was finished, he transformed the
20:51position of the angel, turned slightly towards the spectator, with a look that follows us,
20:56which is directed towards us, and added the gesture of the angel hand, directed to Saint Jean-Baptiste.
21:03In the Virgin of the Rocks, Léonardo shows us Mary, who, on the one hand, tries to protect
21:10her son, her left hand descends as if to protect her son, her right hand tries to restrain,
21:18to hold back little John the Baptist, because he is the prophet of her son's future death.
21:23Her left hand can never fully descend, because there is the finger of an angel pointing back
21:29to John the Baptist. Léonardo is exploring a psychodrama in the mind of this woman. He knows
21:35that in religious terms, she is the servant of God, and she accepts God's will. But he says,
21:42in human terms, it must have been terribly difficult for her to accept her son's death.
21:47And so he shows her trying to prevent God's will from happening, but ultimately, he has to allow it to
21:54happen.
21:55It must really take time to look at each of these four faces who express a slightly different feeling.
22:06And one of the most poeticals is perhaps that of the angel of the angel, where we feel this
22:09smile of a wonderful smile, which is addressed and which is really an invitation to enter
22:15in this sacred mystery that is the Virgin of the Rocks. So, at the time, in 1483,
22:21on va dire, s'il est achevé vers 1486-1887, la Vierge Rocher a dû subjuguer les contemporains
22:28par l'extraordinaire poésie de Léonard de Vinci, quelqu'un qui est capable de représenter
22:32le monde comme personne et en même temps quelqu'un qui est capable de donner une poésie à
22:38l'expression humaine inouïe, inégalable à cette époque.
22:44Après la Vierge Rocher, Léonard peint d'autres tableaux pour la cour de Milan, probablement
22:51un portrait d'une maîtresse du duc. On voit bien qu'il progresse dans l'entourage de Ludovic Sforza.
22:59Mais pourtant, il va falloir presque dix ans, dix années, avant que le titre d'ingénieur
23:06ducal ne lui revienne et qu'il puisse vraiment s'atteler à la grande sculpture qui lui tient à cœur.
23:12Il est en Milan que il s'émerge comme un homme, comme un artiste fully acclaimed.
23:19Mais il est aussi en Milan que, à un certain point, nous voyons Léonard qui essaye de apprendre
23:25latin.
23:27Ses notes, où il s'est essayé de memoriser les formes de latin verbes, sont movinges,
23:33parce que ce homme brillant, ce génie spontané, n'a pas le plus simple et basique
23:41de la vie intellectuelle de l'époque.
23:44Quelqu'un qui ne pouvait pas parler et lire latin était simplement « out ».
23:48Et dès cette époque, à Milan, on voit Léonard avoir des ambitions proprement encyclopédiques.
23:55Plus rien ne lui fait peur.
23:57Il écrit même « il est facile de devenir universel parce que si tu connais une chose,
24:03mettons les proportions du corps humain, tu peux en deviner une autre, mettons les proportions
24:10du corps des animaux ».
24:12L'analogie est le système fondamental de la pensée de Léonard.
24:18Il pense que le macrocosme est reflété dans le microcosme, le petit est reflété
24:24dans le grand, et que si, par exemple, on a bien étudié la circulation sanguine, ce
24:31ne sera pas très compliqué de comprendre comment les fleuves s'écoulent en se ramifiant
24:37de la même façon, finalement, que les artères et les veines se ramifient.
24:41Ou que l'arborescence fait qu'un arbre pousse d'une telle façon et pas d'une autre.
24:49C'est ce système-là des analogies, des concordances, qui permet à Léonard de passer sans cesse
24:55d'un sujet à un autre, de passer de l'anatomie à la botanique ou à la géologie ou à
25:02l'architecture
25:03ou à Dieu seul sait quoi.
25:04Les premiers dessins de Léonard qui se trouvent dans le manuscrit B sont des dessins de machines
25:11qui visent sans doute à convaincre le commanditaire, à convaincre Ludovic Sforza.
25:19Leonardo wanted to seduce, he wanted to convince, and his best weapon was his pencil.
25:25He knew that an engineer would be more highly respected than an artist.
25:30And so he designed machines for the Duke, starting with military machines.
25:38Ces machines sont des machines horribles, on a des tanks, des chars à faux.
25:44Mais quand on regarde le détail de ces machines militaires, elles ne fonctionnent pas.
25:50C'est le cas par exemple du char d'assaut, qui est très convaincant pour un commanditaire
25:55mais qui est absolument non fonctionnel parce que les engrenages font que les roues avant
25:59vont vers la droite et que les roues arrière vont vers la gauche.
26:02Autant dire que le char ne bouge pas.
26:04Et il y aurait d'autres problèmes techniques dans le char, notamment les canons et la fumée
26:09qui asphyxieraient nécessairement les pilotes du char.
26:13Donc ce ne sont pas toujours des machines très efficaces.
26:17Mais elles sont là pour convaincre celui qui peut-être embauchera le nouvel ingénieur militaire.
26:25Il y a cette sorte de révolution industrielle en Italie.
26:29Il y a beaucoup d'ingénieurs, des architectes, Tachola, Brunelleschi.
26:37Donc il est influencé par ces ingénieurs.
26:40Généralement, on a des ingénieurs qui sont spécialisés.
26:43Et Léonard, lui, c'est un généraliste, mais un généraliste dans l'excellence.
26:49Léonard a été particulièrement intéressé en l'ingénieur civil, en machines utilisées
26:54pour la vie quotidienne.
26:56Cette winch, par exemple.
26:58C'est designé avec un ratchet pour éviter l'effort humain de se débrouiller.
27:09Léonard de Vinci a aussi des machines pour le théâtre.
27:12Ce automobile, par exemple, serait utile dans la rue, mais pourrait produire des effets magiques sur le stage.
27:21Alors, Léonard de Vinci aurait inventé l'automobile.
27:24Oui, il s'agit d'une machine à trois roues, deux roues motrices et une roue directionnelle, avec un guidon.
27:32Et on peut imaginer que cette machine est lancée de l'automobile.
27:37Mais en fait, c'était plutôt une machine de théâtre.
27:39Et on peut voir peut-être un artiste au-dessus de cette machine, qui traverse une scène de théâtre,
27:46provoquant un effet extraordinaire, un effet spécial.
27:52Il y a aussi des machines flottantes, comme ce bateau à l'activité, qui laisse les mains de l'utilisation.
28:02Et enfin, après, il y a aussi, il y a aussi, il y a des projets, comme ce grand excavate
28:08pour digger les canaux.
28:12Le Duc était intending de faire une nouvelle ville de Milan, une nouvelle ville moderne.
28:19Et il y a très ambitieux, Ludovico Sforza.
28:21Et donc, il y a eu, pour Leonardo, pour le voir,
28:25il y a des possibilités d'approval par le patron,
28:31proposant quelque chose qui correspondait à ses ambitions.
28:35Et donc, il y a eu une fantastique idée
28:38de la ville de la ville, où l'eau était remouillée,
28:41où l'eau était allée de l'eau, où l'eau était allée de l'eau,
28:44où l'eau était allée de l'eau, où l'eau était allée de l'eau,
28:47où les carrières et les hôtes ont leurs droits, et ainsi de suite.
28:51C'est un projet magnifique qui introduit une nouvelle vision.
29:01Léonard est un homme qui touche à tout.
29:03On le voit fréquenter les universités pour se renseigner sur toutes sortes de sujets
29:07qui vont de l'hydraulique jusqu'à la géologie, l'atmosphère, etc.
29:14Et en même temps, accepter une commande extrêmement importante
29:21pour le réfectoire d'un couvent où il doit peindre, sur tout un mur,
29:27l'immense scène, le dernier repas du Christ.
29:43Christ has just said, one of you will betray me.
29:46And as the apostles remonstrate and gesticulate and ask what he means,
29:51he then begins to institute the Eucharist.
29:55One hand reaches to the cup of wine, another to the bread,
29:58and on his face you see a deep sadness.
30:02You see the sadness because he is thinking of his future death.
30:05In that same room, the dining hall of the Dominicans in Santa Maria de Grazie,
30:11on the opposite wall, there is a crucifixion scene.
30:15If Leonardo's Christ lifted his eyes,
30:17he would see himself the next day on the cross.
30:20And so, Leonardo is trying to capture the moment
30:23when he has said, one of you will betray me,
30:26and then he gives them the great sign, the gift, that he is willing to die.
30:30This bread is my body, this wine is my blood.
30:36The impact of the new works by Leonardo at the time
30:41was probably something incredible,
30:44because for the first time ever, the figures painted were living.
30:50In the last supper in Milan, in this fresco, unfortunately very damaged,
30:57we know that Leonardo was able to give life to these figures
31:01in order to show the internal psychology.
31:14There is no evidence that Leonardo was a personally devout person.
31:19On the other hand, he was a man of his time,
31:22and would have had great religious information.
31:26As an artist, he had to use that.
31:28And it was really his passionate interest in human nature,
31:35his scientific interest in the body,
31:38and above all in what he calls the moti del lamente,
31:42the movements of the mind,
31:44the emotions of the movements of the spirit,
31:47that allowed him to become the great interpreter of Christian art that we know.
31:52Because Christianity believes that God became man.
31:58And so, in the measure in which an artist can penetrate
32:01the depths of the human mind and spirit and system of choices,
32:08that artist becomes a potential interpreter of Christianity.
32:13And Leonardo certainly succeeded in doing that.
32:21In 1492, he is finally named an engineer of the Cale,
32:24and, as he says, he puts himself on the horse.
32:27That means that he has never completely lost his sight.
32:30He has done drawings, worked, he has thought about it,
32:33but he puts it seriously.
32:35Leonardo is mainly known as a painter,
32:38but we know that he was a sculptor,
32:39and if we think about his Milanese period,
32:42we know that about a decade of this time
32:45was completely dedicated to the big sculpture of the horse.
32:48He must say that the horse is not a mince company.
32:53It is the project of the time.
32:55There are times where the project is to march on the moon.
32:58At the time, the project was to make a bronze
33:02which, by its size and its realisation,
33:04could rivalise with the antiquity
33:07what we do not believe entirely.
33:10We want a colossal statue,
33:12something that fills the admiration of all the Occident.
33:21It took many years of work,
33:23first designing the shape,
33:26then finding the system to arrive
33:28at one only casting process for the whole structure,
33:32a huge structure.
33:33You need 40 tonnes of metal to fill that.
33:37The problem has many aspects.
33:40The first one is the size of a horse.
33:42It is an unheard size.
33:43Seven metres high, just the horse.
33:45And the amount of material that you need
33:49to get the casting process.
33:57The third one is the machines that you have to elaborate,
34:01nobody existing before,
34:02to move such a heavy object
34:05from the place where it is prepared
34:08to the casting pit.
34:09and making all the accessories necessary to produce this work.
34:15It took years to go ahead in that direction.
34:33Leonardo, luckily, has recorded in his manuscripts
34:37many of the data on which we base our conclusions.
34:43So there we find the drawings of the machines he has considered.
34:47We find these remarks about the alloy that he was intended to use.
34:51We find details on the casting of the head and the legs
34:54separated from the rest of the body.
34:57We have plenty of information, which is precious information,
35:00and beautiful information because the red chalk drawings are spectacular.
35:05And when he arrived not far from being close to producing the horse,
35:10the French army arrived in Milan
35:12and put an end to the duchy of this force domination on the city.
35:18Ludovic Lemort is captive.
35:20He is taken to the French army.
35:21He is taken to the hospital,
35:22he is taken to the prison,
35:23he is taken to the animal.
35:25Leonard,
35:26he is a man with him,
35:27not only someone who he respected,
35:29but also a powerful protector,
35:32and who he left relatively free from his time.
35:36The Borgia,
35:37the powerful montant in Italy,
35:40are called to him.
35:42It's not going to go very long.
35:43But while working in the service of Borgia,
35:49Leonard meets a little man who doesn't pay money,
35:53who listens,
35:54who listens,
35:54who takes notes.
35:56It's Nicolas Machiavel.
35:58And they are liable.
36:00And it's this important friendship
36:03that will also justify the remembrance of Leonard to Florence,
36:07where he is appointed as a hero.
36:09We just built the hall of the Grand Council
36:12in the Palais of the Seigneurie.
36:14And this hall,
36:15we have to decorate it.
36:16And we choose a minor incident incident,
36:19but on the title of the battle,
36:22the Battle of Anguari.
36:23When Leonard abandoned César Borgia,
36:27in 1503,
36:28he is traumatized.
36:30He has experienced absolutely horrible things.
36:34The proof of this post-traumatic
36:38of Leonard,
36:40he of war,
36:41is what happens when we ask him to paint the war.
36:45And paint the war,
36:46it's the moment when the Republic of Florence
36:49asks him to paint the battle of Anguari.
36:52He wants to paint the war,
36:53but at this moment,
36:54it will have the ruins,
36:56the rivers of sand,
36:57the fumée,
36:59and then,
36:59the men who transform them
37:01in bêtes
37:03because of the haine,
37:05of the anger,
37:06and of the fear.
37:07So,
37:07it's the time where he wrote
37:09that the war is the most bestial.
37:11He was traumatized.
37:13The Battle of Anguari,
37:15we don't know it.
37:16We don't know the few croquis
37:18that left,
37:18we don't know it.
37:19We don't know the drawings
37:21that were made,
37:23one by Rubens
37:24which gives a great view.
37:26There are others,
37:28unfortunately.
37:29This painting will remain
37:31unbeatable
37:32for quite a long time
37:33on the walls of the Seigneurie.
37:36And finally,
37:38Vasari
37:39will do all this
37:40and will make his own
37:42own paintings.
37:43And we don't even know
37:44exactly where the paintings
37:48started by Léonard.
37:51This failure,
37:52which is not the first one,
37:53there are many mistakes
37:54in the life of Léonard,
37:56that Léonard
37:57le marque durablement.
37:59And when Léonard
38:00rencontre
38:01this sort of
38:02an echec,
38:02he evade
38:03by the thought,
38:04he reprend his dreams.
38:05And immediately,
38:07in the crowd,
38:08could we say,
38:11it's the work
38:12on the flight
38:13that he started
38:14at Milan
38:15who abruptly
38:17it occupies
38:18all.
38:19There is,
38:20next to Florence,
38:21a colline,
38:22that of Fiézol.
38:24On this colline
38:25there is a small
38:26ventricule
38:27called the Mont du Cygne.
38:28And Léonard
38:29wrote,
38:29from the Mont du Cygne
38:32the great oiseau
38:34that will fill the world
38:36of stupor.
38:44The tradition
38:45in portraying
38:47or imagining
38:48men flying
38:49is based
38:50on no mechanism
38:51at all.
38:52It is wax
38:54wings
38:54or things like that.
38:57Leonardo introduced
38:57a revolution
38:58in the field.
38:59It tries to create
39:00a machine
39:01that is conceiving
39:03precise tools
39:05to transmit
39:07and empower
39:08the force
39:09of the men
39:09and to emulate
39:12the mechanics
39:13of the birds flying.
39:16So,
39:17it's quite a revolution.
39:19There is nothing
39:19similar before.
39:21This is what is new
39:22in his imagination.
39:24A mechanical system
39:25to fly.
39:34Leonardo quickly
39:35comprehended
39:35aerodynamic lift
39:37and using a machine
39:38he tested
39:39air resistance.
39:46He studied
39:47the flight of birds
39:48especially that of bats
39:50which are like us
39:51mammals.
39:52And if bats can fly
39:54humans should also
39:55be able to fly.
40:01Leonardo therefore
40:02pursued the idea
40:03of a machine
40:04that flies
40:05by beating its wings.
40:12But he soon understood
40:13that the materials
40:14wood,
40:16metal,
40:17rope,
40:18fabric
40:18were too heavy
40:19for human strength
40:20alone.
40:22So,
40:23he turned his attention
40:24to a sort of glider.
40:31There,
40:32with his assistant
40:33and friend
40:34Zoroaz de Peretola,
40:36they built
40:36a steering wheel
40:37and they tried
40:38the experience
40:39of Zoroaz de Peretola
40:42accepting
40:43to play the pilot.
40:45We don't know
40:46everything,
40:47but what we know
40:48is that
40:48they were finally
40:50lifted
40:50from the top
40:51of the great oiseau,
40:52from the mountain
40:53of the cygne
40:53and that
40:54they were
40:55and the flight
40:57took about
40:57a kilometer,
40:58which is not bad,
40:59which proves
41:00that the steering wheel
41:01worked.
41:03The failure
41:03was a bit harder.
41:05Zoroaz de Peretola
41:06broke his leg,
41:07but he survived.
41:11Obviously,
41:12the limit
41:12of the plans
41:13by Leonardo
41:14is the materials.
41:16He didn't have
41:17the light materials
41:18that we can have
41:19today.
41:19He had,
41:20inevitably,
41:22his flying gliders
41:23were heavy,
41:25possibly too heavy
41:26for producing
41:27some output.
41:28And at the same time,
41:32Leonard accept
41:33two paintings
41:34where he was
41:35in two paintings.
41:37The one,
41:38the Saint Anne,
41:40which he occupies
41:41for a moment,
41:42and the second,
41:44the Zoconde.
41:50The Saint Anne
41:51of Leonard de Vinci
41:51is one of the most fascinating projects
41:54of the Maître
41:54because it is a table
41:56for which we have
41:57a lot of literary drawings,
41:59several documents
42:00of archives
42:01which allowed us
42:02to understand
42:03what was happening
42:05in the head
42:05of Leonard de Vinci
42:06for 20 years.
42:08What is fascinating
42:09is that we can see
42:10a reflection
42:12of Leonard
42:13on this table
42:14with, for example,
42:16a very strong thing
42:16that is the disappearance
42:18of every gesture
42:19of every gesture
42:20of every intuitive
42:21of Saint Anne
42:22in the composition.
42:23On voit
42:24qu'au fur et à mesure
42:25de sa reflection,
42:25Leonard décide
42:26de faire de Saint Anne
42:27un personnage
42:28complètement passif
42:29qui contemple
42:30ce qu'il se passe
42:31entre sa fille
42:32et l'enfant.
42:33Alors qu'au début
42:34de sa réflexion,
42:35dans le carton de Londres,
42:36par exemple,
42:37c'était l'une des plus actives.
42:38Elle se tournait vers sa fille,
42:40elle avait une main
42:41pointée vers le ciel
42:42pour bien dire à sa fille
42:43tu es consciente
42:44de ce que implique
42:45cette bénédiction,
42:46Jésus qui bénit Saint Jean-Baptiste,
42:48c'est l'annonce
42:48de la mort de Jésus.
42:51Après,
42:51dans une seconde réflexion,
42:52Saint Anne retenait sa fille,
42:54elle l'empêchait
42:54de reprendre son fils,
42:57de le détourner de l'agneau.
42:59À la fin de ses réflexions,
43:01on le voit,
43:01il décide finalement
43:02de supprimer
43:04les mains de Saint Anne.
43:06En quelque sorte,
43:07Saint Anne, désormais,
43:08laisse sa fille librement décider,
43:11je dirais,
43:12ou de retenir son enfant
43:13ou de laisser aller
43:13vers son futur,
43:14son destin,
43:15la crucifixion.
43:19En quelque sorte,
43:20il Leonardo
43:20va aller dans la direction
43:21de Dieu,
43:22pour comprendre
43:23le secret de la nature.
43:25Et nous pouvons le sentir
43:25quand nous sommes
43:26devant ses paintings,
43:28et la perfection
43:30que Leonardo
43:30voulait donner à ses créations.
43:32Et c'est assez évident,
43:34quand nous sommes devant
43:35la Mona Lisa,
43:36quand nous voyons le
43:37landscape,
43:38la psychologie
43:40interne
43:41et ainsi de suite.
43:43Tout est interrelatif
43:44avec Leonardo
43:45et probablement
43:47l'action de la peinture
43:48est le pinnacle
43:49de sa activité.
43:50On sait qu'en 1503,
43:52il peint,
43:54ou commence de peindre,
43:56le portrait
43:56d'une bourgeoise florentine
43:59qui est la femme
44:00d'un monsieur Giocondo
44:02et qu'on appelle
44:03la Gioconde,
44:04Mona Lisa Gioconda.
44:12On pourrait s'étonner
44:13que Léonard de Vinci
44:14ait décidé
44:15de peindre
44:16le portrait
44:17de cette dame
44:17de la bourgeoisie
44:19moyenne
44:20de Florence
44:20et en même temps
44:21refuse de peindre
44:23quelqu'un de bien
44:24plus important,
44:25la marquise de Mantoux,
44:26Isabelle d'Est,
44:27qui en plus
44:27ne cesse de le poursuivre
44:29pour qu'il mette en peinture
44:31un dessin qu'il a déjà fait.
44:33Alors,
44:33ça reste malgré tout mystérieux,
44:35la raison reste mystérieuse,
44:36mais on peut imaginer
44:37que la composition
44:38qu'il a mise au point
44:39avec la Gioconde
44:40l'intéressait beaucoup plus
44:42que celle qu'il avait imaginée
44:44pour Isabelle d'Est.
44:45On peut imaginer
44:46qu'il avait avec ce portrait
44:47une liberté d'invention
44:50beaucoup plus grande
44:51qu'avec une grande
44:53aristocrate
44:53à la tête
44:54d'un Etat italien,
44:57cette liberté
44:57qui est indispensable
44:58à l'art de Léonard de Vinci.
45:00Toute la vie
45:00de Léonard de Vinci,
45:01elle peut être mesurée
45:03à l'aune de ce mot,
45:03la liberté.
45:06Je me souviendrai,
45:07je crois, toute ma vie
45:08de la première fois
45:09j'ai eu la chance
45:10de la voir
45:11lorsqu'on fait l'examen annuel,
45:13lorsqu'on regarde
45:13si le tableau est en bon état,
45:15de la voir de très près.
45:16C'est la première fois
45:17vraiment que je l'approchais
45:17sans verre
45:18et je la voyais
45:20vraiment,
45:20tel que je vous parle,
45:21comme un vrai dialogue.
45:23Et là,
45:23quelque chose d'extraordinaire
45:24s'est passé,
45:25je me suis rendu compte
45:26que mon œil
45:27ne percevait pas
45:29de contours rigides,
45:30mais qu'au contraire,
45:30dès que j'essayais
45:32de comprendre
45:32comment fonctionnaient
45:33les ombres et les lumières
45:34de ce tableau,
45:35c'était évanescent.
45:36Tout était complètement brumeux,
45:40enfumé.
45:41Il y a donc
45:42une sorte de vibration
45:43extraordinaire
45:44dans ce visage,
45:45dans cette peinture.
45:46C'est vraiment magique.
45:47On a l'impression
45:48qu'elle est
45:49véritablement vivante.
45:51Alors ça,
45:52c'est ce que disaient
45:53les gens du XVIe siècle.
45:54Vasari disait
45:55qu'il n'y a pas
45:55de différence avec la vie.
45:57De ce texte,
45:58j'ai toujours pensé
45:59que c'était une chose
46:00un peu littéraire
46:01qu'il exagérait,
46:02mais effectivement,
46:03lorsque vous regardez
46:04de près ce tableau-là,
46:05c'est profondément magique.
46:07Léonard,
46:07avec ses moyens extraordinaires
46:09de peindre,
46:10est parvenu
46:10à rendre
46:11la vibration de la vie,
46:13le rythme de la vie
46:14à sa peinture.
46:15...
46:44Juliane Médicine
46:45Léonard de Vinci est privé de sponsors, de mécènes.
46:49Et c'est alors qu'arrive l'habitation providentielle du roi de France.
46:55Tout auréolé de sa victoire de Marignan, François Ier invite Léonard de Vinci à venir résider en France.
47:02Léonard est connu déjà à cette époque comme l'homme le plus savant de son temps,
47:09comme l'artiste le plus doué mais aussi presque comme un philosophe.
47:14Et c'est cet homme-là que François Ier veut s'attacher.
47:24Et donc en 1516, Léonard quitte l'Italie.
47:30Et il sait probablement qu'il n'y reviendra pas.
47:33Il emmène avec lui tous ses manuscrits, un sacré nombre de pages.
47:39Les trois tableaux qu'elle y tient le plus et qu'il n'a peut-être pas encore tout à
47:43fait terminé.
47:45La Sainte-Anne, la Joconde, le Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
47:51Ils entreprennent ce long voyage et sont accueillis ici au château du Clou, aujourd'hui Clos-Lucé,
47:58avec le titre pour Léonard de premier ingénieur, premier architecte et premier peintre du roi.
48:05Une pension de mille écus d'or, ce qui est une véritable fortune,
48:08et la jouissance de ce manoir à proximité du lieu de pouvoir qui est le château royal d'Amboise, à
48:14à peine 500 mètres d'ici.
48:15La trajectoire sociale de Léonard de Vinci est absolument extraordinaire.
48:22Il est un fils illégitime, de notaire certes, mais un fils illégitime,
48:28et il est issu du monde des corporations, du monde des métiers,
48:33et le voilà reconnu par le plus puissant des princes de la chrétienté en ce début de XVIe siècle.
48:47François Ier l'appelle mon père.
48:50François Ier vient le voir pour lui poser des questions sur à peu près tous les sujets.
48:55Il essaye d'absorber un petit peu de la grande sagesse et du grand savoir de l'artiste italien.
49:09Léonard de Vinci va mourir le 2 mai 1519.
49:14Et la légende est belle qu'il le fait mourir dans les bras du roi de France.
49:19Mais en fait, François Ier, ce jour-là, était au château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
49:24pour célébrer la naissance du dauphin de son second fils Henri II.
49:29Il n'en reste pas moins vrai qu'apprenant la nouvelle, François Ier fondit en larmes
49:34et dit qu'il ne sera plus possible pour l'humanité d'engendrer à nouveau un homme avec une telle
49:42intelligence.
49:46Quand il m'a mort, cinq ans, en mai 2, 1519,
49:51Léonard de Vinci a abandonné l'image exemplaire d'un homme qui n'était pas seulement pour lui de se
49:57libérer de son condition
49:58et pour lui de plus en plus dans le panthéon des arts,
50:02mais aussi pour un étranger qui voulait comprendre tout,
50:06qu'il s'agit d'un homme qui dit qu'il est simple pour devenir universel.
50:11Il est dit que la Monna-Lisa est le plus célèbre en l'histoire de l'art,
50:16peut-être le très célèbre de la peinture en soi.
50:19Nous entendons maintenant un peu plus pourquoi.
50:22Dans ce livre, Léonard de ne lui limitait pas à créer un portrait.
50:27Il a voulu, avec un sourire mystique et un étranger de l'esprit,
50:32de expérimenter et la peur qu'il s'en ressentait avant la création.
50:37La Monna-Lisa est souri, et derrière elle est une background tragique.
50:43Mais elle s'en rie, en plus de la tragédie,
50:45et c'était Léonard de Vinci a la vision de la mystère de la vie,
50:50terrifiant, unfaithable et yet un source de sourire.
50:54La Monna-Lisa, comme Jean-Baptiste, comme Saint-Anne,
51:02conveys tout ce que Léonard de voulait expérimenter,
51:05et que la wonder est maintenant notre.
51:33Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
52:04Transcription by CastingWords
52:07CastingWords
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