Leonardo in the Loire and Vouvray Wine

Although this is just a study, like many of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, it has a charm and an appeal all its own. From the way the hands emerge from the lines indicating the clothing to his “pentimento,” an alteration in the placement of the lady’s right arm and hand, the drawing engages us. The master’s touch is both light and fluid, as in the lines that indicate clothing without going into much detail. The hands are the main subjects. We see them emerge as full bodied creations with the fingers crimped slightly, touching a piece of cloth or holding a shadowy arm that the artist decided not to finish. The definitive outline around the hands is complimented by the layers of shading that give volume to the fingers and the backs of the hands, while the touches of white bring out the fullness expected in a life-like representation of this subject. Amusingly, in the upper left corner is a face of the kind that Leonardo was famous for drawing. It is said he followed people with unusual faces through the streets to be able to capture their unique expressions. That little face is also a reminder that this page, as lovely as it is, is in a space where an artist’s mind may wander from one thing to many.

As famous as he was and is, one cannot say that Leonardo da Vinci led a completely charmed life. His mother was not his father’s wife. His father, a prominent notary in Florence, saw to it that the boy got something of an education, though it seemed young Leonardo learned the most by roaming through nature in the countryside near his birthplace. He became an apprentice in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio at age 14, where his talent was noted. As a young man, he struck out for the duchy of Milan, arriving in a court where he was known as a “sans lettere” since his poor formal education had not taught him Latin and Greek. However, Leonardo’s innate brilliance could not be hidden. He served Duke Ludovico Sforza from 1482 to 1498, when the French king, Charles VIII, invaded and took control. From 1498 to 1515, Leonardo moved around quite a bit, from Milan, to Florence, to Venice, to Milan again, to Rome, etc. During all of this time, whether in Milan or elsewhere, Leonardo da Vinci created his most famous works. However, all of these shifts in location and patrons, accompanied by increasing age and ill health created rather strained circumstances for the artist. In his 60s, Leonardo suffered a series of strokes making his right hand useless, though fortunately he was left-handed. However, just as in a Greek play, at the last moment as if from the heavens, around 1516 in swoops King Francis I of France to carry the great artist off to a wonderful retreat in the beautiful Loire Valley. Leonardo for his part brought with him his marvelous drawings and a few paintings, like La Gioconda, more commonly known as the Mona Lisa.

Not a bad retirement home, don’t you think? Francis I was a humanist and a supporter of the arts. It was he who brought the Renaissance to France and most notably maintained close contact with da Vinci. It is said that he had a tunnel made that went from the Chateau d’Amboise to the Clos Lucé so that he could go visit Leonardo secretly and at will. Francis I made da Vinci his First Painter, Engineer, and Architect, with the grand project of designing a planned city called Romorantin, which would be engineered to allow its inhabitants to have better access to water for sanitation purposes. This was an idea that Leonardo had first conceived of in the 1480s as a possible solution to the ravages of plague. For more on that city see this article: https://phys.org/news/2019-05-leonardo-da-vinci-ideal-city.html

Artists of the Renaissance ground their own paints (as some artists do today) and made the surfaces they drew and painted on. Silver point and gold point drawings are done with a stylus that has a piece of silver or gold as the point with which one draws. Just trying this on paper does not yield any results. The surface must be a wooden panel or a piece of paper made from rag (cotton cloth) coated with bone ash, glue, and perhaps a pigment colored in cream, blue, rose, etc. That last is the reason we sometimes see drawings by the old masters on those lovely colored backgrounds. The design is then scratched or drawn on this paper or panel coated with the hand mixed ground. Highlights can be put in with touches of white watercolor or gouache or by actually scraping through the colored ground to the white underneath. For more on these techniques, I recommend this video from the British Royal Collection Trust, which has 550 of da Vinci’s drawings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f0ym3CtleQ

Alas, Leonardo’s age and poor health hampered his ability to complete the plans for the new city. However, he did come up with one engineering marvel that King Francis incorporated into his wonderful Chateau de Chambord, which he had designed with towers in the image of the medieval palace (the Louvre?) seen in the Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry. The engineering marvel is the staircase now known as the Double Helix or DNA Staircase seen above. It allows for people to go up without seeing who is going down and vice versa. The fact that it does represent the form that we now know DNA strands to have only heightens our appreciation for the images that a great artist can pull from the ethers of imagination and the purposes they can be used for.

Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 in Amboise, the location of the Clos Lucé. His death was widely mourned. Francis I actually led a funeral procession to the Chapel of St. Florentin where da Vinci was lain to rest. He was not, however, at the artist’s bedside when da Vinci died as was represented in a dramatic painting by Ingres a few centuries later. The French Revolution destroyed the Chapel of St. Florentin, so da Vinci’s remains were transferred to the Chapel St. Hubert, which rests safely on the grounds of the Chateau d’Amboise.

Work by Leonardo da Vinci is in Public Domain.

Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.com or her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.

Leonardo said it best, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” And now Vouvray.

Simple elegance appropriate to the Valley famous as the home of the French nobility not only describes the town but also wine made from the Chenin Blanc grapes grown in that area. Vouvray is one of the most well known and respected appellations grown in the Touraine. Vouvray, the town, and the seven or eight villages around it have produced Vouvray wine since the middle ages. Vouvray comes in both sparkling and still versions. The sparkling versions can be had in brut or demi-sec (somewhat sweet). The still versions offer a bit more choice, coming in sec, which is dry and spare; tendre, which is off-dry, with fruit and floral notes; demi-sec, which is sweet and fruity; and finally moelleux, which is a sweet dessert wine. So as you can see, there is something for every taste and every occasion. One problem can be that these distinctions are not always on the bottles, so it is important that when you get exactly what you want in taste to note the name of the vintner.

The Chenin Blanc grape is grown along the banks of the Loire throughout the Touraine. Some say that Vouvray is Chenin Blanc and Chenin Blanc is Vouvray. Not quite. Vouvray is truly the product of the eponymous area, as Chenin Blanc grapes there are grown on the clay limestone soil rich in schist (shale rock with layers of minerals) that is found in that locality. The area begins on the eastern edge of Tours and runs through about seven communities and 150 vineyards along the banks of the Loire. The weather is a combination of marine and continental climates which allows the grapes to grow late into the season. Harvest time is October into mid-November, that latter date good for the making of moelleux, as it produces the grapes with the most sugar, just right for a dessert wine.

Seafood again goes well with Tendre Vouvray, but also roast pork, turkey, or veal, especially when combined with a fruit sauce. It also goes well with hard cheeses, and is a white wine that can still appeal even in winter. Its dryness and the freshness of the lemon zest often found in it go very well with Chinese food. You can experiment with some of the wines from the Loire Valley including Vouvray through Cellars Wine Club, where you can also allow 15% of your wine purchase to support a charity from a list of vetted charities. Just click on Cellars Wine Club under Of Art and Wine Pages for more information on that or go to www.cellarswineclub.com.

So if you take to looking at a book of Leonardo da Vinci’s wonderful drawings, whether of people or mechanical devices, I suggest a cool glass of Vouvray sec, for it is as light, delicate, and fresh as da Vinci’s fine draughtsmanship – a perfect paring.

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©marjorie vernelle 2019

Coming Soon: The Hazy Light of Corot and the Light Smoke of Pouilly Fumé

Corot was from Paris and painted many scenes from just north of there, yet there is something in the warmth and tonality of his colors that makes me think of one of the Loire Valley’s most revered wines, Pouilly Fumé.