列奥纳多·达·芬奇之死

Ingres painted this in 1818 and it belongs to a French fashion of the time for troubadour pictures, tender little scenes from the lives of great artists of the past. It shows the old story, almost certainly a legend, that Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519 in the arms of King Francis the First of France, who had brought him to the Loire and honored him at the end of his life. Ingres stages it like a deposition, the dying painter sunk back, the young king leaning in to hold him, courtiers and a priest crowded around the bed. Vasari had told the tale in the 16th century and it was almost certainly untrue, since the king was recorded elsewhere on the day Leonardo died. But it was exactly the kind of noble anecdote that flattered French pride in claiming Leonardo. The picture was bought by the state and now hangs in the Petit Palais in Paris.