Personal Life and Unmarried Relationships: Leonardo Da Vinci

The 14th century Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci is often regarded as a man of honor, with great appeal who is full of kindness and generosity. He is to date considered as one of the world's most famous artists, the one who gave us a legacy like the Mona Lisa to uphold.  

Leonardo Da Vinci - St John the Baptist 1513-16

We all know about this man's glorious art career and what a dynamic personality he was. But, very little of his collection speaks about his personal life. There has never been any direct connection of his personal life with his paintings or poetry. 

There is no doubt that the Renaissance man was a legendary personality, and this is what intrigues us to know about his unknown personal life. The segment below helps us dive more into Da Vinci's personal life and unmarried relationships. 

Da Vinci's Major Relationships

Biographers describe Da Vinci as a "sparkling conversationalist" who had a high standard in wit. He had such a charming personality that he left awe-struck to people around him just with his gaze. For us, it isn't hard to believe that a man like him surely must have had a relationship or two. But he never revealed his intimate relationships from his own writing. 

Leonardo was associated with two men in his life with which he maintained long-lasting relationships. The first one was Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, who he met at the age of 10 in 1490 at his household. The other one was Count Fransesco Melzi, the son of a Milanese aristocrat. He met Melzi at the age of 14 in 1506 through his father. 

Leonardo Da Vinci and Gian Giacomo 

According to biographers, Giacomo is portrayed as a beautiful youth with curly hair, just like "the little devil." In fact, he was nicknamed Salai, which means the little devil, and this name was associated with him because of his kleptomaniac habits. 

A year after Gian Giacomo started living at Leonardo's place, a lot of valuables got missing. Leonardo even made a list of his misdemeanors, which class him as a liar, thief, and a glutton.

It was no surprise that Salai used to steal things. 

But even after knowing the truth about him, Leonardo kept him close to his heart and purchased him all the luxuries. Everyone considered Salaoi as his male muse, and that's why he traveled with Leonardo Da Vinci, wore expensive clothes, and had an amazing shoe collection, which consisted of 24-pair of fancy shoes.  

The late painting, The Incarnate Angel by Leonardo, is cited as an erotic drawing referencing Salai. The extravagant painting was once a part of the British Royal Collection but was later dispersed. 

Leonardo Da Vinci and Count Francesco Melzi 

Melzi was an apprentice at Leonardo's workshop during his adolescent period. They started living under the same roof in Milan, at Leonardo's residence. Vinci kept him very close to him, and Francesco became like a son to his master. Melzi recognized Leonardo's unseen side of loneliness that was camouflaged behind the fame and legacy he has been carrying all through his life. 

He helped him a lot to achieve his artistic desires. He also influenced Leonardo's religious beliefs. Da Vinci particularly was not a "religious" man and did not believe in any religion. But, later in life, Francesco Melzi and Leonardo both developed high virtues in the catholic faith. While there has been no account of Leonardo's and Melzi's romantic relationship, the sparks of their bondings are still in rumors.  

Da Vinci's Sexuality

There are hundreds and thousands of pages written by Da Vinci, but none of it indicates anything about his romantic interests. He never got married and showed no clear interest in anyone sexually, either male or female. There is only one incident in history that concerns Leonardo's sexual life based on an acquisition of sodomy in the year 1476. 

Almost a week before Leonardo's 24th birthday, he, along with three other men, was accused of sodomy with a 17-year-old male prostitute, Jacopo Saltarelli. This incident somehow reflects that he was homosexual. Sigmund Freud analyzed Leonardo's childhood memory through his books which concluded his homosexual desires were repressed. Many of his artwork coherent to this area of interest were unfinished because homosexuality at that time wasn't something that could be easily accepted.

After two years of this sodomy incident, Vinci drew a doodle of two men facing each other. An old man faced a small boy and wrote beside it, "as though he were my…." Although the sentence was incomplete, his feelings were loud and clear through the unwritten words. Through Leonardo da Vinci artworks also, one can figure out that he focussed only on male subjects for full-length nude portraits than women. 

Leonardo's Personal Interests 

Da Vinci was a person with a multitude of things which made him unique from the rest of the world. His versatility and flexibility to learn new things were beyond par excellence. In fact, there was a huge diversity in Leonardo's interests. From being scientific about nature to know more about wars and weapons, he almost tamed every interest in the course of his life. 

Love For Music

Leonardo had been into music since his childhood. The first instrument he learned to play was the lyre. He created a lyre similar to a horse's head, made of silver which was of a sonorous and resonant tone. He even performed at Ludovico's court in front of the duke and surpassed all the other professional musicians. 

Artistic Versatility

In the 1480s, Leonardo wrote a letter to the duke of Milan explaining his vast engineering skills. He mentioned in his letters that he has an altogether expertise in crafting bridges, vehicles, weapons, and public buildings. 

He designed truly terrifying weapons apt for wars. A lot of his artwork had scientific concerns as well, like cadaver dissections and a deep sense of human anatomy. That's why his painting elevation on human figurines was so realistic. Da Vinci, in the true sense, was a perfectionist and practiced all forms of art- from humble flowers to destructive weapons. He was having a state of balance and knowledge while choosing the right time to use them both. 

The Bottom Line

The above-mentioned segment covered everything about Leonardo Da Vinci's personal life and unmarried relationships. Apart from it reflected on his personal interests other than art and literature that might a few of you already knew.