Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, on PBS

Michelangelo is often called a “Renaissance Man,” but he lived well into the Reformation. Fittingly, some of the talking heads dub his The Last Judgement a great work of Reformation art, because it is all about sinners burning you know where. Maybe even Savonarola would have approved—but probably not. Of course, Savonarola was very much a part of the Renaissance Era, if not its spirit. Indeed, the violence he unleashed fits right in with dual themes of director-producer Emma Frank’s three-part Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, which premieres tomorrow on PBS.

Poor Botticelli and Donatello might feel left out, because Frank largely focuses on Michelangelo’s professional rivalries with Da Vinci and Raphael. Clearly, Frank favors Team Michelangelo, since she incorporates dramatic monologues performed by Charles Dance, in the persona and costume of Michelangelo, adapted from the artist’s own writings. Indeed, Michelangelo had to compete against Da Vinci’s lofty reputation and Raphael’s political acumen, but he outlasted them both.

Frank and company frequently remind viewers of the dangers that came with living in the late 1400s, but that should not come as a great revelation to anyone who watched CW’s Leonardo. After all, both Da Vinci and Michelangelo secured good paying patronage work designing arms and fortifications.

Although wider in scope, The Blood and the Beauty feels a lot like Ken Burns’ Leonardo da Vinci, but with less impressive experts. Weirdly, Frank assembles a number of filmmakers and a “sex historian” (spare us, please) to compliment usual suspects like Walter Isaacson. (Burns’ film also features more distinctive music and narration, thanks to the contributions of Keth David and Caroline Shaw.)

Leonardo da Vinci, on PBS

He was like the Orson Welles of the Renaissance. Everyone knew he was brilliant, but he still had trouble finishing projects. Of course, he left behind enough to judge his genius—like the Mona Lisa. He led an eventful life, which is fortunate since he has already been the protagonist of fictional series from Starz and CW. Now the true Renaissance man becomes Ken Burns’ first non-American subject when the two-part Leonardo da Vinci (co-directed by Sasha Burns and David McMahon) premieres this Monday and Tuesday on PBS.

Yes, Leonardo was illegitimate, but the battery of historians and talking heads do a nice job explaining why that really wasn’t such a big deal at the time. Frankly, the same was true for his presumed sexuality in pre-Savonarola Florence. There is still a good deal of speculation regarding Leonardo’s life, particularly his early years, but the law firm-sounding trio of Burns, Burns, and McMahon do a nice job of covering all the periods of his life, from Vinci to Florence and then onto Milan and eventually France.

Logically, they focus and good deal on his work, particularly his sketches, codices, and scientific journals. Frankly, they make a convincing case Leonardo really was hundreds of years ahead of his time, especially with regards to his deductions regarding the structure and mechanics of the human heart.

Of course, it is also frustrating to hear about all the commissions he left incomplete or had canceled at the last minute. Arguably, they had to give “Vetruvian Man” roughly equal time as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, because that is what they had to work with.

The Inventor, the Animated Da Vinci

Everyone knows Leonardo da Vinci was Italian, but there is a good reason why so much of his art is in France. That would be King Francis I, da Vinci’s final and closest patron. That Mona Lisa probably turned out to be a solid national investment. The polymath has reached his twilight years, but there is still much he wants to learn in Jim Capobianco’s The Inventor, “co-directed” by Pierre-Luc Granjon, which opens Friday in New York.

As the film opens, the free-thinking da Vinci’s position in Italy is tenuous at best. His patron Cardinal is fading in health and influence, while Pope Leo X grows increasingly bellicose. He sounds a lot like Steven Toast, so you know he must be a blowhard. Providentially, the younger, more cultured Francis I offers a handy escape hatch.

Nevertheless, da Vinci and his apprentices still reasonably assume it is best to keep his anatomy dissections under wraps, even in France. Da Vinci remains consumed by his quest to discover the seat of the soul, but Francis wants him to whip up something big to impress his fellow monarchs. Da Vinci’s progressive architectural concept for the “ideal city” is not exactly what the King had in mind, but his sister Marguerite is convinced, perhaps more so than da Vinci intended.

The Inventor is a charming animated film that should delight fans of Will Vinton’s Adventures of Mark Twain. It takes liberties with history and science, but it embraces the spirit of da Vinci (at least as we have come to understand it). Also quite refreshingly, Capobianco’s screenplay is completely disinterested in da Vinci’s sexual exploits or speculation on his sexuality, unlike Da Vinci’s Demons and especially Leonardo.

Instead, The Inventor prioritizes animation to explore da Vinci’s inventions and scientific studies. Most of the dramatic scenes are animated in a stop-motion style not unlike vintage Vinton. However, the 2D animation, inspired by the look and feel of da Vinci’s sketches are probably even more distinctive, even though they are largely devoted to da Vinci’s expressionistic reveries.

Leonardo, on CW

Da Vinci is one of the major reasons why we have the term “Renaissance man,” because he was one of the originals (and one of the most important). Yet, he hardly ever finished anything. At least that is the impression viewers get from his latest episodic series treatment. Creators Frank Spotnitz & Steve Thompson focus more on the intrigue, scandal, and ambiguous sexual orientation, which is surely why it was acquired by the CW, where it premieres tomorrow.

Leonardo Da Vinci is keenly aware of his illegitimacy and the sense of abandonment he carries all his life. Nonetheless, his middle-class notary father helped him attain an apprenticeship under Andrea del Verrochio. Not surprisingly, the student’s promise soon shows the potential to eclipse the master. Da Vinci’s work even attracts an offer of patronage from Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, whom Da Vinci rashly turns down, out of loyalty to Verrochio.

During his apprentice years, Da Vinci also forges an unusual relationship with Caterina de Cremona, a lowly servant, with ambitions many would consider well beyond her station. They do not exactly sleep together, because Spotnitz and Thompson clearly suggest that just isn’t Da Vinci’s thing. However, they still have a deeply felt, but highly tumultuous relationship. In fact, as the series opens, Da Vinci stands accused of her murder by Stefano Giraldi of the Milan constabulary. The truth will be revealed in flashbacks, prompted by his interrogations.

Admittedly, Da Vinci’s body of work is frustratingly limited compared to many of his contemporaries, but Leonardo often makes him look like a serial procrastinator. Dan Brown fans will also be annoyed Spotnitz and Thompson never show him incorporating any Fibonacci sequences into his masterworks. The new series at least halfway accurately chronicles the major events of the Da Vinci historical record, especially compared to David Goyer’s Da Vinci’s Demons. However, the way the latter portrayed Leonardo as a carousing degenerate was much more entertaining than the humorless angst of Aidan Turner (from the new Poldark) this time around.

Nonetheless, Turner generates more than enough brooding and sexual confusion to keep the melodrama chugging along. Eventually, he and Matilda De Angelis (playing de Cremona) develop some intriguing chemistry together. Of course, James D’Arcy is reliably arrogant as the villainous Ludovico. The real problem is Freddy Highmore is badly miscast as the intrepid Giraldi. The part needed someone like Tim Roth, who can play it convincingly sly and cynical, before rediscovering his idealism, thanks to Da Vinci’s art. Highmore just wasn’t up to it, but he was an executive producer, so he was a fact of life.

DOC NYC ’13: Inside the Mind of Leonardo 3D

Probably the best established fact of Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious life is his brilliance.  It is hardly surprising he has inspired quite a few speculative novels, films, and television shows from the likes of Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Roberto Benigni, and David Goyer.  His art is instantly recognizable, but there are plenty of holes in the historical record, where stuff can be safely made up.  Of course, that just won’t do for DOC NYC or the History Channel.  Scrupulously adapted from da Vinci’s notebooks, Julian Jones gives viewers an impressionistic, 3D portrait of the great Renaissance artist in Inside the Mind of Leonardo, which screened on the final night of this year’s DOC NYC.

Raised by his single servant girl mother, Leonardo had little formal education, but maybe that was just as well, sparing him the burden of a lot of false preconceptions.  Verrocchio certainly recognized his young apprentice’s talents.  However, he was not nearly as prolific a painter as one might assume (or hope).  His journals are another matter.  The extensive da Vinci notebooks offered Jones and his co-screenwriter Nick Dear a treasure trove of material.  With Oxford Professor Martin Kemp vetting for accuracy, they give viewers a good nutshell overview of the original Renaissance man’s life and abiding ambitions.

Forgoing familiar imagery, like Vitruvian Man, Jones and the animation team render da Vinci’s muscular sketches of birds in flight and humans in motion in evocative 3D, while Peter Capaldi performs extracts from the various codexes in the manner of a one-man stage play.  Periodically, Jones also indulges in slow panning shots of modern day Florence and Milan, presumably to anchor the film in its specific locales.  Unfortunately, these often feel like travelogue interludes that get a little snoozy at times.

On the plus side of the ledger, Capaldi is perfectly cast as da Vinci.  He has always been a reliably intelligent presence, but here he vividly projects both the polymath’s arrogance and his melancholy world-weariness.  When watching him in Inside, it is easy to see why he was selected to be the next Doctor Who.  Once he has finished his run as the timelord, he should be able to take a da Vinci show on the road, much like Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain.

Eschewing jerkins, Capaldi’s modern dress actually heightens the film’s intimacy.  (He rather looks like he might be in his Doctor Who wardrobe, complete with a stylish scarf, but not the full Tom Baker, mind you).  Inside works quite well when it really does go inside—either into da Vinci’s chambers or into the pages of his notebooks.  When it goes outside, soaking up Tuscan landscapes and bustling Florentine street scenes, it waters down its atmosphere and character.  Still, it is an interesting docu-hybrid and an unconventional (but sometimes effective) use of 3D.  Recommended for art and history buffs, Inside the Mind of Leonardo is destined to have a limited theatrical release and an eventual airdate on the History Channel, following its premiere at DOC NYC 2013.

Da Vinci’s Demons: Leonardo Decodes an Ancient Mystery

Could Leonardo Da Vinci have been a member of a Persian mystery cult?  The Sons of Mithras certainly seem to know him, even if he does not recognize them.  The Vatican is also keenly aware of the Maestro, but he wants no part of the Church.  However, it is not Da Vinci’s artistry that interests the Pope’s men.  They believe he will lead them to the Book of Leaves, a mysterious volume of Faustian knowledge that serves as the MacGuffin of Da Vinci’s Demons (promo here), a new speculative historical series debuting this Friday on Starz.

Created and co-written by executive producer David S. Goyer (co-writer of the Dark Knight trilogy), Da Vinci’s Demons could be called a Da Vinci Code for Da Vinci.  Throughout the series, he will be solving puzzles that are part of a larger ancient mystery.  He must also navigate contemporary intrigues (circa 1476).  Although hardly obsequious to the Medici family, Da Vinci is a proud Florentine, because the Republic is such an exemplar of Renaissance ideals.  Of course, the Pope hates the city-state for exactly the same reason. 

Seeing opportunity in crisis, Da Vinci offers his services to the Magnifico as a war engineer.  Naturally, he makes all sorts of enemies in the process. He also accepts a commission to paint the portrait of Lorenzo’s mistress, Lucrezia Donati.  She was already cheating on her husband with de Medici, whom she also starts to cheat on with Da Vinci.  Indeed, there will be a fair amount of sneaking in and out of bedchambers and outright scandal in Demons.

There are light fantastical elements in Demons, but it is closer in tone to shows like Rome and Spartacus, with a protagonist who could be the spiritual cousin of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes.  We even see the world from a similar stop-time perspective through his eyes.  Tom Riley takes a bit of getting used to as Da Vinci, but he grows on viewers (at least over the course of the first four episodes).  He nicely captures that Sherlockian charismatic arrogance, which is quite entertaining when done right.

Demons also benefits from two attractive yet steely women characters to counterbalance its murderous cardinals and randy artists.  Laura Haddock’s Donati brings a sultry noir vibe to the series, while Lara Pulver (Irene Adler in BBC’s Sherlock) is an intriguing master of realpolitik as Clarice Orsini, Mrs. de Medici. Despite his resemblance to Adrien Brody, Blake Ritson also makes a first class heavy as the Pope’s enforcer, Count Girolamo Riario.

Frankly, Da Vinci’s Demons seems to have about as low an opinion of the Church as Reelz’s World Without End, but at least the nefarious clerics enjoy their villainy.  In contrast, the Ken Follett’s evil Brother Godwyn always looks slightly nauseous.  Indeed, a little moustache-twisting and teeth-gnashing is always enjoyable.  Combined with a Dan Brown-esque mystical backstory and some almost steampunky set pieces, Da Vinci’s Demons brings a lot to the table.  It is an entertaining series that picks up steam, becoming more addictive as it progresses.  Recommended for fans of Rome and The Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci’s Demons premieres this Friday (4/12) on Starz.