Château du Clos Lucé

EXHIBITION
LEONARDO DA VINCI, ENGINEER
The Elie Azoulay Collection

Finding inspiration in the books he read, the research carried out by the engineers of Siena and a tradition of science and technology dating back to the Middle Ages and antiquity, Leonardo found a way of systematising knowledge and innovating through the power of his own inventiveness. The fifty models built from Leonardo da Vinci’s designs illustrate his different engineering talents in aeronautics, industrial machinery, marine engineering, measuring instruments, mechanisms, civil engineering, architecture and military engineering. The collection has been built of solid beech, with some parts turned out of hornbeam.

 "I was simply curious to see facsimiles of Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts, and like all those who start to look through them I became fascinated by his prodigious imagination and the extraordinary inventiveness of this versatile visionary. I was keen to turn all his various sketches, jottings, designs and annotations into models. I wanted this collection of dozens of models to be kept at the Château du Clos Lucé, the last residence of Leonardo da Vinci, because it is the most appropriate place for them." Elie Azoulay 

EXHIBITION "Leonardo da Vinci and France"
The Château du Clos Lucé presents a new exhibition: "Léonard de Vinci et la France" , exploring ten years of the fascinating relationship between three kings of France and the Tuscan Master. The exceptional link that Leonardo da Vinci had with France, maintained by Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francis I, is one of the fundamental aspects of the Renaissance which took shape in the Loire Valley.

EXHIBITION
5 - 29 May
THE WORLD OF CREATION - 6th year
 From the hands of masters

They are the possessors of a unique talent and know-how. Telling of their art is enough to bring back a world that comes from somewhere in between history and a fairytale. Gilder, lithographer, shoemaker, gold thread embroiderer, inlayer, fan maker and heraldic engraver: trades of legend that gleam like the gems on a jewel box. The disciplines of these Master Artists are however very real and resolutely contemporary. Awarded every year since 1994 by the French Ministry of Culture, they embody a professionalism of excellence that combines creative design, innovation and the passing on of skills. For the fifth year, the Château du Clos Lucé will host 24 of these master craftsmen and women, including the new Master Artists designated in 2010. Some will be accompanied by their pupils and will be demonstrating their trade to the public in a follow up to the Artistic Professions Open Days being held in France from 1 to 3 April.
"Here you shall be free to think, dream and work," Francis I promised Leonardo da Vinci when he arrived at the Château du Clos Lucé. Five hundred years later, this same place is providing the same welcome to the spiritual children of the Italian master, an icon of artistic perfection.

NEW : SPECIAL VISITOR EVENT
12, 13 and 14 August
’In the footsteps of Leonardo’

The story of a child prodigy
In the still night air, a voice rings out. A torch waves in the darkness. One by one, paintings emerge from the obscurity: Mona Lisa, La Belle Ferronnière, Lady with an Ermine, Saint Anne, the Virgin and Child, Saint John the Baptist, a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci... Suddenly, the most famous Italian at the French court bursts out of the frame. "Yes, it was me calling you," he says to a child playing with a ball, before inviting the children and adults to follow him through the grounds of the Château du Clos Lucé, in the company of 26 actors and 100 extras.
Forming 20 tableaux, the show that takes place in different points around the Château du Clos Lucé, created by the ’Autour de Leonardo’ association, has the feel of a journey through space and time. Entirely appropriate, given that the genius artist himself never stayed in one place for long. From his native Tuscany to his sojourn in Amboise, from Verrocchio’s studio to the Medici court, Leonardo da Vinci leads us through his life in the company of his illustrious contemporaries Botticelli, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Machiavelli and Francis I. A specialist creator of historical shows, Monique Potel-Deriez has followed to the letter a piece of advice once given by Leonardo himself: "Strive to create works that attract onlookers and cause them, in their great admiration and pleasure, to stop and stare." She has certainly achieved that.

MUSIC
28, 29 and 30 September
7th European Festival of Renaissance Music

"Music before all else" (Verlaine)

There is none more staunchly European than Renaissance music, who grew up in Italy, England, France and Flanders. Her one regret was to have been so often overshadowed by her Baroque little sister. Her finer points include the abundant flourish of instruments she created, with names that to modern ears sound exotic: the viola de gamba and lute, the bombard and crumhorn, the cornett, the sackbut and more besides… For the last six years the European Festival of Renaissance Music has been held over three days at the Château du Clos Lucé in a natural tribute to the talent for music and performance that was yet another string to Leonardo da Vinci’s bow.