On April 23, 1519--Easter Eve--exactly forty-five years before the
birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of
the same year he passed away.
Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many
months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms
of his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He
was then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King
Francis I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit
him, rose and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do
him such favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings.
The spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could
attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch,
being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not
over-veracious chronicler, however, is here drawing largely upon his
imagination. Leonardo was only sixty-seven years of age, and the King
was in all probability on that date at St. Germain-en Laye!
Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter,
engineer, and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former
Professor of Painting to the Duke of Milan."
"May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and
assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose
like Nature cannot produce a second time."