Leonardo da Vinci: The Melzi Chronicles by J. K. Kulski is the life story of the genius Leonardo da Vinci and how he survived the political intrigues and wars of his time to produce his many inventions, entertainments, and major works of art. It is about his disappointments and humiliation in Florence, the murder of his sponsor Gian Galeazzo Sforza the young duke of Milan, the effect of the French-Italian wars on his life and work, and how he was pressured to leave his beloved Italy, and to live and die in France in the service of the French king Francois I. It is a story about his friends and acolytes and his festivities, inventions, paintings, and natural philosophies as an artist, scientist, and legend; told by his friend and secretary, the aristocratic Francesco Melzi who reveals the hidden meanings behind many of his master's drawings and paintings. It challenges the art historians and debunks the falsehoods, bad memes, and those long held misconceptions about the Maestro and his works. It is a historical novel with 45 references, a bibliography, and 141 colour and black and white images.
"While I sat weeping after the king's funeral oration my head filled with thoughts and images of Leonardo. I thought of his paintings: the da Vinci-coded messages of the corrupt rule of the Duchy of Milan in his painting of the Last Supper; the symbolism and the identity of the beautiful and mysterious ladies in his paintings, his love for the Mona Lisa, the Lady and the Ermine, and La Belle Ferronniere; the solution to his coded messages in his paintings of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the young Duke of Milan, and of the brilliant mathematician, Luca Pacioli. I thought of his marvelous inventions, the festivities, his troubles and travails, his loves and his foes. He created performances, entertainments, magic, and fun like nobody else with whom I shared my life and ideas. I thought of the man with the dangerous and beautiful mind, the man who almost lost his own liberty and life to unsubstantiated accusations from the envious and jaundiced, and the unreasonable investigations into his life from the dark forces of the Florentine Officers of the Night. He dedicated his own life to inquiry, observation, the rules of science, and natural philosophy and challenged the teachings and mendacity of the church. He confronted the authority of the tyrants and yet generously provided them with his service and genius in order to survive. I thought about his life and times with the Florentines, and the Lombardians, and the disruptive wars with France, the political betrayals, the continuous changes in culture and authority, his loves and disappointments, the enormous challenges, disadvantages, and prejudices that he needed to overcome, the masterpieces he created, the interruptions to his creativity, and his duels with Fate and Fortune. I sat thinking about the life and times of Leonardo da Vinci, the wars, and the intrigues ... here was a marvelous story to tell."
