Leonardo da Vinci

Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky Dimitry

Description

This evocative account of the life of the Renaissance's greatest figure traces Leonardo's early development as an artist and court figure to his final years in exile, portraying his loves and sufferings, as well as his intellectual curiosity and tireless loyalty to his ideals. But it is the background to his famous painting La Gioconda and his relationship with the mysterious Florentine woman who modelled for it that are at the heart of the novel - here presented for the first time in an unabridged translation. The result is an engrossing and unforgettable read.An unjustly forgotten masterpiece of Russian literature that inspired one of Freud's most important essays, Leonardo da Vinci also offers an illuminating snapshot of the society of the period - beset with intrigue and religious and social tension - and a host of memorable historical figures such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Savonarola and the infamous Borgias.

Informations

• Publié par: Alma Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780714545899
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Leonardo da Vinci The Resurrection of the Gods
Dmitry Merezhkovsky
Translated by Ignat Avsey

ALMA CLASSICS




Alma Classics an imprint of
alma books ltd 3 Castle Yard Richmond Surrey TW10 6TF United Kingdom www.almaclassics.com
Leonardo da Vinci – The Resurrection of the Gods first published in Russian in 1900
This translation first published by Alma Classics Ltd in 2014
Translation © Ignat Avsey, 2014
Cover design: Jem Butcher
isbn : 978-1-84749-306-4
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher.


Contents
Introduction
book one
book two
book three
book four
book five
book six
book seven
book eight
book nine
book ten
book eleven
book twelve
book thirteen
book fourteen
book fifteen
book sixteen
book seventeen
Notes



Introduction
Leonardo da Vinci – The Resurrection of the Gods , published in 1900, was originally conceived by the novelist, critic, poet and religious thinker Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) as the middle volume of the trilogy Christ and Antichrist , preceded by Julian the Apostate and followed by Peter and Alexis . All three are thematically linked though structurally independent. However, Leonardo da Vinci arguably stands head and shoulders above the other two and is an outstanding epic of the Italian Renaissance, centred around the personality, thought and manifold activities of its eponymous hero.
In most of his work, Merezhkovsky adhered to the traditional convention of depicting tsars and emperors rather than commoners as the protagonists of literary works. Thus the line-up of the greats that he chose to focus on consists of the Emperor Julian, Tsar Peter the Great, Emperors Paul I and Alexander I – Leonardo, the illegitimate son of a lowly servant girl and a well-to-do but untitled country lawyer, constitutes an exception; a man apart whose glory can be said to be not of this world. Yet the novel is also not without a sprinkling of the greats, to wit Ludovico Sforza, Pope Alexander IV and Cesare Borgia.
Merezhkovsky gravitated towards Leonardo da Vinci over a long period of time. His 1895 poem Leonardo da Vinci clearly indicated his interest in the Renaissance man, and this novel – the product of extensive historical research – fleshes out his innermost beliefs and convictions as regards the struggle between, Paganism and Christianity.
Acute appreciation of the glories of the long-lost classical past was the essence of the Renaissance movement, which was viewed with resentment by certain powerful factions of the Church. We see Leonardo branded as a heretic, a godless corrupter of souls, the Antichrist, and the very Devil himself. His personal tragedy becomes evident from the first time we meet him. He is dispassionate, cold, scholastically inquisitive; calculating in the sense of being rational – and weighed down by loneliness. His interest in science and art is all-embracing, and that somehow is an alienating factor that sets him apart from people. In Niccolò Machiavelli alone is he able to find a kindred soul and a worthy enough intellectual companion.
Leonardo is tireless in his multitudinous pursuits, but as time passes and he watches his great contemporaries, notably Michelangelo and Raphael, go from strength to strength, he begins to see himself more and more like a sad failure: La Gioconda unfinished (in his estimation); his overall body of work small; his most ambitious sculpture – The Colossus of Francesco Sforza – shot to pieces by French soldiers in target practice (Louis XII had entered Italy in 1499); The Last Supper under threat from rising damp; The Battle of Anghiari likewise doomed; his prized flying machine grounded; his anatomical research unproductive. Nor can he – and this is perhaps his greatest tragedy – find sexual and emotional release. Handsome, immensely strong and vigorous as he is, his apparent homosexuality is repressed in uncompromising conformity with the prevailing cultural, moral and religious climate of the time. He dare not dwell on it, much less analyse it, and this in a period when all types of sexual indulgence are rampant. He is privy to it in ducal palaces and indeed the Vatican itself. He remains throughout no more than an external spectator – detached, clinical, non-judgemental. He observes moral neutrality as a sacrifice on the altar of science and art, and readily panders to his patrons by indulging their most personal whims: he decorates their banqueting tables, installs elaborate eavesdropping channels, devises bespoke musical instruments, designs municipal brothels – constructing war machines at the same time as extending the frontiers of anatomy in search of cures and putting forward engineering schemes for the greater good of man and country.
The society he moves in is implacably, uncompromisingly religious – at least outwardly – but deep down there is widespread intolerance, bigotry, superstition and little genuine faith. There is hardly a moral or ethical code that is not breached: backstabbing, treachery and betrayal are the order of the day. Alchemists, pseudo-scientists and charlatans answering every description abound. There is fear and instability in the air. Terrifying, unheard-of goings-on are afoot. Ancient statues are being dug up that are so lifelike that they are taken for the works of the Fiend. In the name of the Church and salvation of the soul all “false” images and likenesses are to be smashed, burned, destroyed and the remains exorcised. The fanatic and zealot Fra Savonarola thunders forth in his sermons, and would cleanse all Christendom of what he sees as the neo-pagan infestation of Renaissance thought and its interest in classical culture. Many of the recently discovered works of art that had survived the destructive frenzy of the early Christians do not escape the pyre or the axe of the religious fanatics.
Merezhkovsky sets out to captivate and entertain the reader, but he also brings to life one of the most significant periods of European civilization. It is a novel about, rather than a biography of Leonardo da Vinci, which means that his life story and the surrounding events have been carefully sifted, dramatized and orchestrated. It is more compact, less panoramic, more acerbic than the acknowledged masterpiece of Russian historical fiction, War and Peace , with greater emphasis on dialogue. That said, Tolstoy’s influence is palpable. Merezhkovsky takes pleasure in “painting and sculpting in words” (his own description of Tolstoy’s art), not inappropriate for a novel on arguably the world’s greatest depicter of the human form. Along with Leonardo we feel the exhilaration of running our fingers across the exquisitely worked marble surface of ancient figures; we participate in lavish banquets in palaces; or we might find ourselves on a moonlit mountain top in the middle of a witches’ frenzied sabbath. Even a scholar’s discovery of traces of writing on ancient parchment – later overwritten by monastic scribes with psalms and hymns – and the painstaking preparation of canvases and wooden panels for painting is every bit as dramatic as the spectacular fall from a tower of a trusted apprentice trying out a pair of newly designed wings; or the drunken French soldiers betting on pot shots at the Colossus , while the artist himself looks on helplessly, unable to intervene.
The eventful historical background unfolds before the reader like a magnificent tapestry; there is a procession of memorable figures from minor artisans to the greatest artists the world has known to outstanding scholars and priests and notorious grandees and potentates.
With the untimely death of the one and only woman in his life who evoked anything like passion in him, the mysterious Florentine model for his La Gioconda , and the tragic suicide of his young pupil (and possibly lover), Giovanni Beltraffio, Leonardo’s own grip on life begins to slacken. Having always pursued the highest ideals without a thought of fame or material reward, ill health and old age finally catch up with him and he dies in exile in the service of his current patron, the young King Francis I of France.
But the novel does not conclude there. Leonardo’s long-term presence in art lives on in the introduction towards the very end of a humble self-taught Russian icon painter bursting with simple-hearted enthusiasm to perpetuate Leonardo’s tradition, thus giving us to understand that if Italy’s unprecedented artistic enlightenment should find resonance even in such a wild and far-flung corner of Europe, there must yet be hope and expectation for the whole of mankind.
* * *
My thanks as ever go to my very faithful and learned friends John Moloney, Antony Wood, Neil Cornwell, Peter Khoroche, Daffni Percival and Hugh Davidson, whose tireless and invigorating counsel and encouragement inspired me greatly and lent me strength to finish this project.
I would also like to thank my publisher, Alessandro Gallenzi, for his help and support throughout, as well as my editor, Christian Müller, for his resourcefulness and efficient cooperation on this project.
* * *
This translation is dedicated to Jillian.
– Ignat Avsey


Leonardo da Vinci The Resurrection of the Gods


Book One
The White She-Devil
1494
“A statue of the goddess Venus was discovered in Siena, to the great joy of the townspeople,