Leonardo and the Valdarno Crags, the new hypothesis that links Castelfranco to the Mona Lisa

The most significant thesis concerns the landscape of the Mona Lisa. According to Vinceti, a specific formation of the Balze di Castelfranco Piandiscò corresponds to the left part of the background of the famous painting preserved in the Louvre. Not a simple landscape suggestion, but the hypothesis that Leonardo transfigured on the panel a place actually observed during his stay in Valdarno. For the researcher, the master from Vinci had a profound attraction for mountains, valleys and geological formations since childhood. The first sketches made in the years spent in Vinci testify to this interest, which will accompany him throughout his life. During his presence in the Valdarno, Leonardo would have directly studied the Balze – spectacular natural geological formations characterized by high vertical walls, pinnacles, spiers and deep incisions, created by erosion over thousands of years – making drawings and observations which are also found in sheets now preserved in the English royal collections. The same rocky landscape, according to Vinceti, resurfaces not only in the Mona Lisa, but also in the two versions of the Virgin of the Rocks.

But why would Leonardo have reached Castelfranco di Sopra? The reconstruction proposed by Vinceti, as Adnkronos anticipates, starts from a consolidated historical fact: between 1501 and 1504 Leonardo worked first in the service of Cesare Borgia, engaged in military reconnaissance and the design of fortifications, and then of the Republic of Florence, where he created topographical maps, hydraulic studies and urban planning projects on behalf of the standard bearer Pier Soderini. To move between Arezzo, Florence and Fiesole he usually traveled along the Cassia Vetus, the ancient Roman consular road built between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC which ran along what is now Castelfranco di Sopra. It is precisely along this itinerary that Vinceti places a possible visit of the master to the Valdarno village.

The reasons would be multiple, explains Vinceti to Adnkrons: “The first concerns Leonardo’s interest in urban planning. Castelfranco di Sopra in fact represented one of the most important examples of the Florentine New Lands, the territorial expansion project promoted by the Republic of Florence between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century. According to the reconstruction illustrated by Vinceti, the inhabited center, whose construction began in 1299, was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the important architect and sculptor of the time, author of the overall planning of the village, the walls, the entrance gate, the square and the church of San Pietro”. For Vinceti it is highly probable that Leonardo, himself an architect and engineer, knew Arnolfo’s prestige and was interested in visiting one of his most significant urban planning works.

A second element concerns the relationship with Perugino. Leonardo and Pietro Vannucci shared their formative years in Verrocchio’s workshop together with Botticelli and other protagonists of the Renaissance. From that experience was born an artistic and human bond which, according to Vinceti, remained alive even in the following years. Recalling some interpretations of the art historian Carlo Pedretti, the researcher believes it plausible that Leonardo was aware of the large Madonna enthroned with Saints Peter, Paul, Bartholomew and John the Baptist, painted by Perugino in 1493 for the church of San Pietro di Castelfranco, and that he wanted to admire it personally. The church constituted the religious and civil heart of the community. Deconsecrated in 1786 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany, it housed one of the masterpieces of the Umbrian-Tuscan Renaissance, set in a particularly rich artistic context.

In fact, the surrounding area also represented an important cultural center, underlines Vnceti. The nearby Badia di San Salvatore a Soffena, built along the Cassia Vetus, constitutes the oldest settlement in the area. Although the first document concerning it is a bull of Pope Urban II from 1090, archaeological findings from the Lombard period suggest that the monastic complex has even more ancient origins. In the fifteenth century the abbey experienced a period of great artistic splendor with the presence of works attributed to the Della Robbia, a Madonna by Filippo Lippi and by Scheggia, Masaccio’s brother. It is in this historical, artistic and landscape scenario that Vinceti places Leonardo’s possible stay in Castelfranco di Sopra: “a territory crossed by the main communication route of medieval Tuscany, rich in artistic emergencies and dominated by a unique geological landscape, capable – according to his hypothesis – of leaving an imprint in the visual memory of the master to the point of becoming part of the background of the Mona Lisa”. Another possible reason for Leonardo’s presence in Castelfranco di sopra, Vinceti still maintains, refers to an early work by Sandro Botticelli “Madonna with child and two angels” created during or just after his apprenticeship with Filippo Lippi; then he completed his artistic training at Verrocchio’s workshop where Leonardo and Perugino were located. “Leonardo was most likely aware of Botticelli’s tondo and its presence in the abbey of San Salvatore in Castelfranco di Sopra”, Vinceti hypothesizes.

The theses will be presented on Friday 24 July during the conference “Leonardo in Castelfranco Piandiscò and his Balze”, during which a national preview video dedicated to the relationship between Leonardo and the Valdarno area will also be screened. The research will also flow into a volume soon to be published by Armando Editore, in which Vinceti will delve into the documentary and historical-artistic bases of his reconstructions, intended to fuel the discussion between scholars on the link between Leonardo da Vinci and the Valdarno landscape. (by Paolo Martini)