Travel France - Chateau du Clos

Host to kings and Leonardo da Vinci

Dozens of swallows fill the sky and a high pitched concert of trills echoes off the brick walls.

Their graceful swoops contrast with the linear precision of the tiny Renaissance gardens, clipped hedges and perfumed roses. Off in the distance, the powerful bulk of Chateau d’Amboise fills the horizon. In the lovely shade of the garden loggia, it is peaceful, ideal for watching the birds, for contemplation and quiet conversation.

King Francois I fostered thought, discussion, and experimentation at this manor by inviting Leonardo da Vinci to France in 1516. Honored with the King’s benefaction, the master was given le Clos Luce to live in and a pension of 700 golden crowns per year.

The King asked for nothing more in return than the pleasure of listening to Leonardo converse. In one corner of the basement is the entrance to an underground passage connecting le Clos Luce to the chateau, giving the King a direct link to the home of the master he so admired.

Almost 500 years later, my husband and I toured Leonardo’s house.

It is on a quiet back street of Amboise, a town south of the Loire River between Tours and Blois about 2 hours via Rail Europe from Paris. As Leonardo must have, we made our way past the towering chateau at the town’s entrance and along a plain street with troglodyte houses built right into the limestone cliff face. Surrounded by a lushly treed park with a pond and looking over the town towards the Kings chateau, the house is peacefully inviting. It is not large, and compared to many of the immense white stone chateaux we’ve seen, its scale is warmer, more personable.

Already over sixty years old, Leonardo arrived from Rome with his student da Metzi and three canvases -- Saint Anne, Saint John the Baptist which he finished at le Clos Luce, and his very famous painting of the lady with the enigmatic smile. In this pretty manor house, he happily continued to paint, sketch, and work as an engineer, architect, and festival organizer for the court.

Leonardo said, “A well filled day gives a good sleep. A well filled life gives a peaceful death.” After only three years in Amboise, he died on May 2, 1519 and is buried in the Chapelle St. Hubert on the chateau’s grounds.

The manor tour begins by climbing the watchtower, its existence evidence of le Clos Luce having been built as a fortified dwelling. The Italian loggia style gallery connecting the tower to the main house was used as a seating area for the royal patron and his court to observe the festivities Leonardo executed in the front garden. There’s a good view of the house, its brick facade decorated with highly detailed statues and crests in carved white tufa stone, and of the small Gothic chapel. At the end of the gallery is the entrance to the house itself.

Wandering unescorted through the sparsely decorated rooms where Leonardo lived and worked gives a sense of manor life.

Most of the rooms have high, timbered ceilings, plank flooring, huge fireplaces, and Renaissance artifacts, paintings, tapestries, and furniture. Dominating his bedroom is an immense four poster bed, richly curtained with red and gold hangings, its dark wood carved with cherubs and sea animals. The study has rare pewter dishes and Italian furniture with marquetry of wood, ivory, and ebony.

Built for Anne of Brittany by her husband King Charles VIII, the intimate chapel has frescoes painted by Leonardo’s protégé, Francesco da Melzi. The brick walled reception room, where the King and visiting artists were frequently welcomed, boasts gothic chairs, chests, and tapestries. Leonardo used to warm himself in front of the kitchen’s monumental fireplace, which was big enough in which to spit roast whole carcasses.

What were used as lounges in the 18th century and are decorated in the delicate, gilded elegance of the time, likely functioned as studio space for Leonardo. Bathed in light, it may have been in these rooms that he finished his painting of John the Baptist. The house has an aura of comfort, which likely enhanced his continuing design work.

Downstairs, forty models made by IBM from Leonardo’s drawings are displayed. Nothing better demonstrates his engineering genius than his military, naval, hydraulic, mechanical, and aeronautical inventions. Devices such as swing bridges, a machine gun, an automobile, and a flying machine show sound principles of design and were envisioned centuries before they came into being.

So astonishing are they, he might rightly be remembered more for his acumen than his painting. We exit the model room into the garden. Finding a seat in the shade, we contemplate Leonardo’s remarkable life and watch the swallows.

It is feasible to do a day-trip by rail to Amboise from Paris. Buy directly online for Rail Europe passes and holidays:

Rail Europe is on the internet for Americans or Canadians at www.raileurope.com. Le Clos Luce,37400 Amboise, France, is open daily.Phone: 011 33 2 47 57 62 88.

Author: Karoline Cullen