Lovin' the Loire

Franco-Italian tug-of-war over Leonardo loans

The French and Italian culture ministers met in Rome on February 28 to take a new look at a 2017 accord under which four Italian museums agreed to lend Da Vinci works -- including the iconic Vitruvian Man drawing -- to the Louvre in October. Bilateral relations had already soured…

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Leonardo the autodidact

Unable to attend school because he was an illegitmate child, Leonardo is one of the world's most famous self-taught geniuses. He actually wore his lack of schooling as a badge of honor -- calling himself an uomo senza lettere, a man without letters. His Italian was laced with the local…

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