In 1476, when Leonardo was 24 years old, it was anonymously accused that he and three other men had visited the home of a well-known male prostitute (and occasional artist’s model), Jacob Saltarelli on April 9th. This unsigned accusation was written and left in the tamburo (letter box) of the town hall, in it claimed that a tailor named Baccino, Bartolomeo di Pasquino, and Leonardo Tornabuoni visited Jacob to partake in the ”many wretched affairs and consents to please those persons who request such wickedness of him”
Charges against all five would be dropped so long as no more accusations were brought against them, since according to Florentine law the accuser had to be named (The name could be kept secret, just couldn’t be anonymous). Another anonymous letter was left in the tamburo on June 7th, but the charges were dismissed, possibly because of Tornabuoni as Lorenzo de Medici’s (the ruler of Florence) mother had been from that family. But from April to June Leonardo and the other defendants were under watchful vigilance of Florence’s Officers of the Night.
Technically, sodomy was a very serious offense – as the death penalty was authorized as punishment according to the law – though extremely rarely given. Most of the time the officials of Florence would turn a blind eye to the act and the people of the land were generally accepting of it. Due to this attitude towards homosexuality, Florence became a place that was known for it. The German word Florenzer was a slang term for Homosexual.
Accusing people of crimes they didn’t commit was a scheme used often in those days by competitors, so possibly another artist attempted to take Leonardo out of the business? It is true that Leonardo drew more men than women in his sketchbooks, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he was gay. Leo had a pronounced interest in the human anatomy and might have found the male figure more striking in that regard. His anatomical sketches showed genitalia from both sexes, but with the male organ said to exhibit more detail.
One of Leonardo’s main friends during his life was Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the infamous statesman who wrote ”The Prince” a book on immoral politics. In later years, Machiavelli wrote a letter to another friend about his own son, Ludovico, who had a male lover, asking what to do about it. The friend replied - "Since we are verging on old age, we might be severe and overly scrupulous, and we do not remember what we did as adolescents. So Ludovico has a boy with him, with whom he amuses himself, jests, takes walks, growls in his ear, goes to bed together. What then? Even in these things perhaps there is nothing bad." This letter alludes to Machiavelli experimenting with homosexuality in his younger years, although he was married from 1501 until his death.
It is known that his two closest relationships were with his pupils Salai (Little Devil) and Melzi, who were both said to be handsome. With Salai having the admired Grecian profile. Both of these students stayed with Leonardo until his death in 1519, with 10 year old Salai starting in 1490 and 14 year old Melzi from 1506. Salai is said to be the model for his last painting John the Baptist and a similar drawing from Leonardo’s workshop called The Incarnate Angel which features a phallus.
But is having possibly gay friends, handsome young male apprentices, being accused of sodomy, and drawing a few dick pics enough to say that Leonardo was homosexual?
While he has hundreds of pages of notes and journals, little is of his personal life. The most clear reference to sex is a line he wrote ”The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.” He never married, had no children, and he left no definite proof he was ever in a sexual relationship with anyone.
All of have led to many different theories and much speculation over the years by various researchers, historians, and psychologists. Sigmund Freud wrote in his 1910 essay Leonardo Da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood that Leo was a passive homosexual. He referenced Leonardo’s earliest memory of his life in which Leo was in a cradle and a bird came down and struck his mouth with its tail a few times, as a psychoanalytical interpretation of his homosexual tendencies.
A few other experts have come to this conclusion, that he tended towards being with men but he avoided acting on those urges, staying celibate. The accusations of sodomy brought against him bringing on this mindset. Other authors, such as Michael White, state that he was actively homosexual, and the accusations only made Leonardo even better at hiding his relations.
At any rate, trying to psychoanalyze him hundreds of years after his death, based on scant and questionable evidence is ineffectual at best. Many things thought to be true about Leonardo are just a best guess from secondhand knowledge and many different personal perspectives. Whether he was gay, straight, bisexual, asexual or something else, it will never be known to 100% certainty.
One thing is known for sure is that Leonardo Da Vinci disappeared for two years after the accusations, no record of his location is known until 1478.
Leonardo’s Diet
Very few historical biographies of Leonardo spoke of his diet, it just wasn’t given much thought until the modern era. In fact, a false quote is often spread to prove that he was a vegan. “I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” Leonardo never wrote or said these words, they were misattributed to him from an anthology.
But there are quotes from his Codex Atlanticus that state ”Man and the animals are merely a passage and channel for food, a tomb for other animals, a haven for the dead, giving life by the death of others, a coffer full of corruption."
Serge Bramly wrote about this quote and others of Leonardo in his 1991 book Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci that summized "Leonardo loved animals so much, it seems, that he turned vegetarian" This was based off of many little notes of Da Vinci’s that showed he lamented the abuse of animals. Although this did not stop him from dissecting their bodies and using their hairs for brushes, and their skins for vellum (a parchment made from calves) and leather items. Even to use eggs for tempura, which was a paint base of the time.
There are accounting ledgers that show the purchase of meat, eggs, cheese, honey along with cereals, fruits, mushrooms, herbs, and vegetables. But he did have a whole workshop to feed. Bramly stated "The domestic accounts to be found in Leonardo’s notebooks several times mention the purchases of meat, but this must have been for his pupils. The master dined off salad, vegetables, cereals, mushrooms, and pasta: he seems to have been particularly fond of minestrone."
One of the most common quotes is from explorer Andrea Corsali who, upon learning of the Gujarati people of India, wrote in a letter to Guiliano de Medici "Certain infidels called Guzzarati do not feed upon anything that contains blood, nor do they permit among them any injury be done to any living thing, like our Leonardo da Vinci."
The evidence is indeed strong enough to say that, most likely, Leonardo was a vegetarian, but not a vegan.
I’ll leave you with this quote on health written on a page in his Codex Atlanticus. In the original Italian it is like a poem, although Leonardo thought poems and poets far beneath artists in skill.
"If you would keep healthy, follow this regimen: do not eat unless you feel inclined, and sup lightly: chew well, and let what you take be well cooked and simple. He who takes medicine does himself harm; do not give way to anger and avoid close air; hold yourself upright when you rise from table and do not let yourself sleep at midday. Be temperate with wine, take a little frequently, but not at other than the proper meal-times, nor on an empty stomach; neither protract not delay the [visit to] the privy. When you take exercise let it be moderate. Do not remain with the belly recumbent and the head lowered, and see that you are well covered at night. Rest your head and keep your mind cheerful; shun wantonness, and pay attention to diet."
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