Leonardo da Vinci, cara a cara

"Many of the manuscripts on human anatomy are in the possession of Francesco Melzi, a gentleman from Milan who was a beautiful man at the time Leonardo lived and for whom he professed great affection. Francesco cherishes and preserves these works as relics of Leonardo , together with the portrait of this artist in his happy memory". With these words Giorgio Vasari, one of the first art historians and author of the biographies of Italian artists during the Renaissance, assures that there is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci that Francesco Melzi, student, secretary and executor of the Florentine artist, kept at the the master die Therefore we have a real historical reference of said image. Which portrait was Vasari referring to? To the supposed self-portrait that is kept in the Royal Library of Turin and that is recognized worldwide as such? Or, on the contrary, to the portrait that Francesco Melzi made while his teacher was still alive? Are both portraits compatible? Do these faces coincide with the rest of Leonardo da Vinci's imagery, such as that of The Vitruvian Man in Venice or The Last Supper in Milan? Who is the man represented in the Tavola Lucana? Through these pages, prefaced by the prestigious historian Ross King, we will analyze all the theories that scholars, historians and art experts have developed around the image of the Florentine master with a single goal: to find the true face of the best-known polymath in history. the history of mankind: Leonardo da Vinci.