The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-04-06
SEARCH FOR BONES or
:: !. LEONARDO DA VINCl
France and Italy Unite to Find Remains of Painter Of
. immortal " Last SUI per.":


The centuries-old quest for the body
Of the giant of Renaissance, Leonardo
da Vlnci, is to start again.
The wonderful painter of the f1f-
teenth and sixteenth centuries, whose
Last Supper ranks with ,Rubens'
descent From the Cross" and Raph-
ael's |'Madonna,": as one of the three
gleat religious paintings of all time.
has left hardly a dozen paintings
whose authenticity is established, but
these are the basis of fame that
will last as long as man wields brush.
M. Houssaye of Paris is the leading
figure in the present effort to find the
bones Of Da Vinci. Once they are dis
covered, it is the purpose OF the orig
inators of the movement to convey the
remains in state to Italy, SO that Da
Vinci may rest in the soil of his own
land .~,.:,.
Leonardo spent the Closing days of
his life in France, having gone there
from Milan at the invitation of King
Francis I. The king himself acted as
escort to the mighty painter, and the
pair together, accompanied by great
suite, left Milan in 1916, in state betit-
ting their Importance.
In France the venerable Leonardo
enjoyed the hospitality of the king,
who gave him a castle near Amboise.
This rest and comfort was not to be
long of Leonardo. In the spring Of
1919 his strong constitution, under
mined by age and the notifications
he had undergone in his youth, Leon
ardo went to his deathbed.
It is because he left in his will such
minute details as to his burial that M.
Houssaye is confident that he will be
able to find the body. After providing
that he wished to be buried in all the
state and luxury he had so admired
during his life, long part. of which
had been spent either at court or in
contemplation of great pageants, Le-
onardo specified that his remains be
inferred in the Church of Florentinus,
at Ambrose.
He died on May 2, and the body was
placed in the church, according to his
directions. .
This much is assured, but after that
comes a problem. During three cen
turtles worshipers at the cult which Da
Vinci founded desired that the body
be taken back to Florence, which had
always lain closer to the painters
has rt Mo in, "a
world.
In 1868 the French government took
cogniZance Of this sentiment and or
dered an excavation, with view to
finding the body of Leonardo.
The work was entrusted to Arsene
Houssaye, who, curiousl ~ enough, is
the father of the present head of the
movement to restore Da Vinci's re-
mains to his~native SOIL
Unfortunately, in the centuries that
had elapsed since the burial of the
painter, the town of Amboise had been
the storm center of army battles,
whose fury did not even spare the
sacred edifices of worship. It had been
always believed that the body of Da
Vinci would not have been inferred III
any but handsome tomb, fer the kinS
of France was his enthusiastic wor
fshipper, and could hardly have let the
bones of the greatest figure in the
world Of art at that time rest in an
ordinary grave.
But the best records show that by
1881 all the more important tombs at
Amboise had been destroyed, and
finally, in 1906, the church was COM
pletely demolished The last tomb
stones were sold, and the Collins in
which were lying the bones Of the
dead were melted down for the sake
Of the lead, of which they were made.
Before the church was finally de-
molished. tradition says that search
was made for the body Of Da Vinci,
which some authorities believe had
been buried in the elaborate structure
of the choir.
M. Houssaye, father of the present
Investigator, drew heavily on his i'm.
agination, traced a number Of the cot.
fins to other cemeteries, opened one,
made measurements, and finally an.
nounced that the body of Da Vinci had
been discovered.