Merci M. Grossetête and merci Amboise Mairie for a stimulating, life enhancing afternoon. The celebrated French artist Olivier Grossetête famous for his huge, ephemeral, transient cardboard and gaffer tape installations was in town. His works are not for elitist galleries they are for the people who live in the places where they are made.

8 May, La Fête de la Victoire, a national holiday in France, marks the anniversary of the day Charles de Gaulle announced the end of World War II on 8 May 1945. Weeks after Hitler committed suicide, Germany unconditionally surrendered. A German delegation arrived at the HQ of British Field Marshal Montgomery near Hamburg in Germany on 4 May.

The law abiding folk of Amboise were allowed to look through their windows but ordered not to lean out. Hundreds of gendarmes, those we met and spoke to seemed almost apologetic, made quite sure no-one could enter the exclusion zone. People who live in the restricted area had to show ID and proof of address before they could even pop out for a baguette. No walkabout, no photographs allowed for the family album. Quel dommage. There was no atmosphere in this usually so lively, buzzy, happy go lucky town. So sad. Such a disappointment. Leonardo died on May 2 but was not buried until August. His funeral was not in St. Hubert’s but in the original Saint Florentin inside the walls of the Château. In 1863, during an archaeological dig, a skeleton and fragments of a tomb with carved letters – EO -AR – DUS –VINC- was discovered. A bust of Leonardo now marks the spot. Leonardo’s remains were re-interred in St. Hubert’s.

Not being able to enter the town as we live a few steps outside the exclusion zone, we were unable to take a photo of this momentous day. So here is a photo of Maisie for you, The Photograph France Cat.

Thursday 2 May 2019, President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy, will pay their respects at Leonardo’s grave in Amboise to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. The unprecedented diplomatic visit is a great honour.

If the Pope had been kind to Leonardo, Italy might own his Mona Lisa but he insulted this gentle, sensitive, proud, man. If the Pope had acknowledged his worth, Leonardo would never have left his native land to die in a foreign country. Three Kings of France, Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francois I revered Leonardo. France deserves the most famous painting in the world.

Leonardo would be surprised to know he is called Renaissance Man and for a very good reason. He had never heard of the Renaissance. The French word meaning re-birth was not heard until 1855. When Jules Michelet wrote a history of France he talked about the French Renaissance.

How did Leonardo spend the last three years of his life in Amboise? What the famous painter did not do was paint. A slight stroke left his good hand, his painting left hand, mildly paralysed. The consensus is that the strange, disturbing painting of an androgynous Saint John the Baptist, who looks like Mona Lisa’s evil love child, with his finger pointing in the air was his last. He is thought to have finished it just before he left Italy for Amboise. Instead, he taught. Leonardo had always had students, one, Melzi, his right hand man, was so devoted to him he stayed until The Master died.

Nobles vied with each other to be invited to the royal court in Amboise. With no room for them in the Château, they built their own to be near, which is why there are so many in this area. The aristocracy spent fortunes and waited months on end to meet François, yet here was Leonardo, a man of low birth with daily access to the King.