Latest news with #LeonardoDaVinci
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Pop Off, Michelangelo! review – the Renaissance retold with high-camp modernity
The Pope vapes, Michelangelo uses Zoom, and Leonardo da Vinci foretells the career of Marisa Tomei. This is not the Renaissance as the textbooks teach it. Dylan MarcAurele's musical comedy mashes up Medici Florence and high-camp modernity to trace two friends' journey from gay schoolmates (bit of a historical stretch, that) to the greatest artists of their age. It couldn't be trashier but in the spaces between art history and anachronism, flamboyant rudeness and lyrical wit, there's fun to be had. No point pretending Pop Off, Michelangelo! takes much interest in these Old Masters' art, nor in the era. But it's all over their queerness – atoning for which drives Michelangelo to dump his BFF and seek Sistine Chapel salvation. But can they swerve the attentions of religious firebrand Savonarola, in an age turning increasingly cynical thanks to pizza chef and aspiring philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli? It is, in short, a kitsch Renaissance cartoon; subtlety is not its selling point. 'You truly made marble your bitch,' Michelangelo's teacher tells him, while Leonardo's arrest for sodomy is apologised for as follows: 'I was so stupid. I thought Savonarola was a stripper.' But if Da Vinci-style depth of field is beyond it, Pop Off, Michelangelo! frolics enjoyably in the foreground. Careerist but concerned Max Eade and sly, soppy Aidan MacColl are an engaging Michelangelo and Leonardo, plotting their respective paths between safety and self-expression. Sashaying around in his golden cape, Michael Marouli's Pope makes for an amusingly unlikely gatekeeper of the hetero status quo. Laura Sillett gives good 'mwa ha ha' as the villainous friar, and Aoife Haakenson contributes an apropos-of-little showstopper in character as a certain movie star from the 21st century. The pop score is perfectly winning, even if Michelangelo's ballad about God and Jesus fits ill with the part of the story it's meant to tell. The show's freewheeling spirit, though, which twins twerking and 1400s Tuscany, and has a notorious puritan fanatic teased for dressing by Temu, is very easy to submit to. At Underbelly Boulevard, London, until 13 July.
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Five living descendants of Leonardo discovered
One is an amateur inventor, one is an artist, and another a keen welder. While they all share the traits of one of their most famous ancestors, the Vincis of northern Italy lived for years without knowledge of their rich family heritage. Until now. A team of Italian scholars and scientists believe they have traced back the family of Leonardo Da Vinci to 1331, just before the bubonic plague arrived in Italy. Using bone fragments from the Leonardo's family burial tomb in the Church of Santa Croce in the town of Vinci, they have now formally identified at least five heirs of the great inventor. The five men – still living in Tuscany not far from Leonardo's home town – all have DNA that matches segments of the Y chromosome from the bone. And though they may never become as famous as their genealogical forefather, they appear to share some of the investor's quirks and passions. The oldest of the five living heirs, Dalmazio Vinci, 89, has a passion for flight that began with building model aeroplanes, leading him to eventually gain a pilot's licence. He later built some of the first go-karts in Italy using lawnmower engines and would go on to invent new aeroplane propeller and ship refrigerator systems, but never ended up successfully patenting anything. Mauro Vinci, 79, is an artisan whose fine tapestry work adorned beds for a number of famous people, including Vladimir Putin. 'At the end of the day, you investigate and investigate and well, they figured it out, and it is a great satisfaction,' Mauro told Repubblica TV. Bruno Vinci, 81, who long worked as a metal mechanic, recalled that his father and aunts were convinced of the ancestral tie and for years sought to prove it in vain with ancestral manuscripts. 'I have been asked so many times – sometimes just to tease – so are you a descendent of Leonardo Da Vinci? But in the end, it turned out to be true,' said Giovanni Vinci, a retired technician who worked in a municipal engineering office. 'I wrote my first words backwards' Milko Vinci, 49, the youngest of the five, apparently shares a physical trait that can be linked to genetic continuity of the Da Vinci male line. 'I was born left-handed, and wrote my first words backwards, and since I was little I have loved to take things apart to see how they work,' Milkosaid, jokingly adding that to say 'just like Leonardo would be a big overstatement'. A team of researchers, historians, molecular biologists and forensic anthropologists have been painstakingly tracing Leonardo Da Vinci's family ancestry for years. The result is an elaborate family tree going back 21 generations and involving more than 400 individuals dating back to 1331. Leonardo died in 1519 and had no children himself, but is believed to have had 22 half-siblings. The research appears to have identified 15 direct male-line descendants of Leonardo's father. The research also suggests Leonardo's mother, Caterina, may have been a slave trafficked from Eastern Europe. Launched in 2016, the project involves a number of major public and private partners in Italy and the US and was coordinated by The Rockefeller University. The researchers had one major goal: to trace the Y chromosome, which is passed unchanged from father to son. 'Our goal in reconstructing the Da Vinci family's lineage up to the present day, while also preserving and valuing the places connected to Leonardo, is to enable scientific research on his DNA,' said Alessandro Vezzosi. 'Through the recovery of Leonardo's DNA, we hope to understand the biological roots of his extraordinary visual acuity, creativity, and possibly even aspects of his health and causes of death.' 'Even a tiny fingerprint on a page could contain cells to sequence,' says Jesse H. Ausubel of The Rockefeller University, who wrote the book's preface and directs the project. '21st-century biology is moving the boundary between the unknowable and the unknown. Soon we may gain information about Leonardo and other historical figures once believed lost forever.'
Times
21-05-2025
- Science
- Times
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius. New DNA tests could finally explain why
Five centuries after Leonardo da Vinci sketched flying machines and painted the Mona Lisa, scientists may be edging closer to revealing how his genetics contributed to his genius. The Renaissance master, the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary, left no known children when he died in France in 1519. However, for the past decade a project has been under way to try to recover a complete map of his DNA. Through painstaking research in parish records and family archives, researchers believe they have tracked down 15 male descendants of his father's line. Six of them agreed to genetic testing, which showed that they shared the same Y chromosome — a portion of DNA that is passed down from father to son virtually unchanged. Their
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Leonardo da Vinci's family tree: Historians chart the Italian polymath's descendants back to 1331 - spanning 21 generations and involving over 400 individuals
He was one of the most brilliant thinkers in history, renowned for his stunning artworks and profound scientific insights. Now, researchers provide a gripping insight into the family of Renaissance-era Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). A new book, to be published on Thursday, traces his descendants going back to 1331, just before the bubonic plague arrived in Italy. Spanning 21 generations, the elaborate family tree covers more than 400 individuals who were part of the Da Vinci family originating from the Tuscany region of Italy. The visionary artist, scientist, and inventor, who left behind thousands of pages of writings and drawings, died on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67, of a suspected stoke – but the cause of death is unconfirmed. Alessandro Vezzosi, one of the two authors, hopes the book will help inform future studies of Leonardo's genetic profile, which could reveal more about his final hours. 'Our goal in reconstructing the Da Vinci family's lineage up to the present day, while also preserving and valuing the places connected to Leonardo, is to enable scientific research on his DNA,' he said. 'Through the recovery of Leonardo's DNA, we hope to understand the biological roots of his extraordinary visual acuity, creativity, and possibly even aspects of his health and causes of death.' The new Italian-language book, 'Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA', is 'one of the most advanced historical-genetic investigations ever undertaken', according to Vezzosi and his co-author Agnese Sabato. It includes the identification of 15 direct male-line descendants related to Leonardo's, his father, Ser Piero da Vinci, and his half-brother, Domenico Benedetto. Ser Piero, his father, was a Florentine landlord and 'notary' – someone authorized to draw up legal contracts and deeds. Meanwhile, Leonardo's mother, Caterina, was a young peasant woman and possibly a slave who was trafficked from the Caucasus mountains of Eastern Europe. The researchers say it's 'increasingly plausible' that Caterina was a slave in the service of a wealthy banker by the name of Vanni di Niccolò di ser Vanni. A series of wills and donation records from 1449 onward document the relationship between Vanni and Leonardo's father Ser Piero, with whom she'd elope. Leonardo – born in the small hamlet of Anchiano west of Florence – was an illegitimate son born out of wedlock and his parents both married separately the year after his birth. Meanwhile, his paternal grandfather on his father's side, Antonio, was a farmer and a merchant who traveled between Catalan Spain and Morocco. Leonardo Da Vinci is known for his magnificent artworks such as the Mona Lisa, which hangs at the Louvre Museum in Paris (pictured) A 1457 tax return filed by Leonardo's grandfather, Antonio da Vinci, listed his family members, including Piero da Vinci's illegitimate son, 'born of him and Caterina'. But the family tree goes as far back as 1331 – the birth date of Michele da Vinci, considered to be the founder of the family. Michele, the great-great-great grandfather of Leonardo, likely picked the surname to describe where family members were born, near Vinci, a city in Tuscany. According to the researchers, Leonardo had no children himself, having been generally thought of as gay by contemporary experts. When he was aged 24, the polymath and three friends were accused of homosexual activity but fortunately for him, the case was dismissed. Despite his lack of children, Leonardo had an estimated 22 half-siblings, mostly from his father's multiple relationships, including Domenico who was about 30 years Leonardo's junior. Researchers also traced the family forward from Domenico, who was son of Ser Piero and a woman called Margherita Giulli. The authors say there is a Da Vinci family tomb in the Church of Santa Croce in Vinci near Anchiano which is currently being excavated, which may be the burial site of Leonardo's grandfather Antonio, uncle Francesco, and several other of his half-brothers – Antonio, Pandolfo, and Giovanni. Through analysis of ancient land registries, the authors also identified seven Da Vinci family homes in Vinci's village and castle, including two properties owned by Leonardo himself, inherited from his uncle Francesco and contested in a long dispute with his half-brothers. Leonardo da Vinci's modern descendants Paulo di Leonardo (b 1935) Giovanni di Otello (b 1958) Bruno di Guiseppe (b 1943) Mauro di Guiseppe (b 1946) Alessandro di Bruno (b 1975) Paulo di Bruno (b 1981) Xy di Alessandro (b 2012) Xi di Alessandro (b 2012) Xi di Paulo (b 2018) Xi di Paulo (b 2020) Xy di Ilio (b 1955) Xy di Xy (no birth date) Xy di Xy (no birth date) Milko di Mario (b 1976) Further into the future, a 19th century descendant of Leonardo is Tommaso Gaspero Maria, who lived between 1820 and 1887. But the famous artist has living descendants into the modern day, including children, farmers, office workers, an upholsterer, porcelain seller and even an artist. The family is now known as Vinci – having dropped the 'da' part of the iconic surname. Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps best known for the Mona Lisa, one of the world's most famous artworks, which hangs at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Painted between 1503 and 1519, it has been traditionally considered to depict the Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo. As well as the Mona Lisa, his other works included the famous Last Supper – a depiction of Jesus Christ's last meal with his disciples before he was crucified. And da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, a drawing of a nude man in two superimposed positions, is regarded as one of the most iconic images of Western civilisation. But during his lifetime, da Vinci was likely to be more famous for his feats in the fields of civil engineering, music, architecture, sculpture and military machines. He famously designed versions of aeroplanes and helicopters, centuries before the first powered flight. And his dissections of human corpses, at a time when the practice was taboo, shed new light on muscles and the nervous system. Among his anatomical discoveries was the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain. Leonardo da Vinci obsessed over movement and anatomy - as seen in the drawing of the vitruvian man. Researchers suggest he could see the world in 'freeze frame' The new book suggests that Leonardo may have intuited concepts we now call 'epigenetic' – changes that impact gene activity without changing the DNA sequence. In his writings on heredity, the great polymath reflects on the influence of diet, blood, and parental behavior on offspring – observations still relevant today. 'Leonardo questioned the origins of human life not only biologically,' said Agnese Sabato, one of the book authors. 'In his studies on generation, conception becomes a complex act where nature, emotion, and fate intertwine anticipating themes now central to the genetics-epigenetics debate.' The book is due to be presented Thursday at the at the Vinci Theater, Via Pierino Da Vinci, and the research will also be the subject of an upcoming documentary. Leonardo da Vinci: The man behind the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, more commonly Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was one of the greatest individuals of the last millennium. The polymath was a driving force behind the Renaissance and dabbled in invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been attributed with the development of the parachute, helicopter and tank. He was born in what is modern-day Italy in 1452 and died at the age of 67 in France. After being born out of wedlock the visionary he worked in Milan, Rome, Bologna and Venice. His most recognisable works include the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man.
South China Morning Post
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Can Hong Kong museum-goers put away the phones and see the art?
Richard Serra once said in an interview with Charlie Rose, 'Art is purposely useless'. What the artist known for his colossal sculptures meant was that, unlike architecture, art can escape from all constraints and restrictions and be free. Advertisement Well, Serra would eat his words if he had a chance to see what museum visitors are like these days. At the recent 'Picasso for Asia – A Conversation ' exhibition at M+ , most people were either busy taking photos of the art or taking selfies with the art behind them. I wondered how many people would put away their mobile phones to enjoy the show, or have the heart to learn a little more background on the works. More often than not, I found myself getting in the way of the selfie-takers when reading the labels for the artworks. All of a sudden, art has a lot of purpose. It now serves as the ideal backdrop for social media vanity as the selfie-takers scream: 'I was there!' 'I saw a real Picasso!' But I am guilty as charged; I had a family photo taken in front of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper several weeks ago. Having read about the painting for years, including in Dan Brown's Da Vinci's Code , I was mesmerised when I saw the masterpiece in person. I could not resist sharing the joy with others back home as I stepped out of the dining room of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Advertisement Throughout the years, I have been to museums and galleries in London, Amsterdam and Milan. Occasionally, there were a few selfies-takers, but I rarely got in anyone's way. Not everybody was snap-happy.
