Da Vinci was what we would now term as a gay man. Rarely is it mentioned that this genius was accused of sodomy in Florence around the time he was approximately 24. This has been hetero-sanitized right out of the story. The people of France seem perfectly comfortable talking about the later years of Da Vinci and his involvement with King Francis I. Their king gave him an existing chateau. They met clandestinely via an underground tunnel that connected the castle to Da Vinci's last home. In the mid Eighties the New York Times established that every square inch of the Mona Lisa's face matches the only acknowledged self-portrait of Da Vinci himself. Rather than label this as Leo in drag, it may be more about the artist asking us to reconsider issues of gender and the male/female aspects within each of us. These concepts were common during the Renaissance as it was centered in Florence.

 

The mysterious figure in The Last Supper, now thought to be Mary Magdalene could also be considered John, the youngest apostle. Sangeet Duchane, in “Beyond the Da Vinci Code” has collected strong evidence indicating this. Leonardo could just as profoundly be acknowledging bi or homosexuality in The Last Supper. It is astounding to me to read all of the information available, outside of the Catholic Church. The literal translation of the German word “Florence” was “Homosexual” in the Fifteenth century. Da Vinci depicted Jesus as a religious leader whose love encompassed all and who broke bread with all- an especially significant concept to Renaissance Italy.

 

 

As I did more reading post Da Vinci Code, I was introduced to the Holy Shroud of Turin theory. A spectacular research trip! Taking the evidence of carbon dating further, the authors (Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince) establish that it was DaVinci himself who created that shroud. That makes Leonardo Da Vinci the world's first Trompe L'oeil artist, an artform I've been passionately expanding upon since the early Eighties.