Clos Lucé

The Château du Clos Lucé (French pronunciation: [ʃato dy klo lyse]; or simply Clos Lucé), formerly called Manoir du Cloux, is a large château located in the center of Amboise, in the department of Indre-et-Loire, in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It is located in the natural Val de Loire (formerly called Touraine) region. Built by Hugues d'Amboise in 1471, the palace has known several famous owners such as the French king Charles VIII and Leonardo da Vinci. Clos Lucé is 500 metres from the royal Château d'Amboise, to which it is connected by an underground passageway.

King Charles VIII bought the home from Étienne Le Loup in 1490 and during this time it became known as the ‘summer house’, housing French royalty. After a few decades Francis I gave it to Leonardo da Vinci when he invited him to live in France in 1516. The ageing polymath lived his last years in this house until his death on 2 May 1519.

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci, an 1818 oil painting by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, depicts Leonardo da Vinci on his deathbed at Clos Lucé on May 2, 1519 with Francis I of France holding his head. Another version of the painting created c. 1851 is held by the Smith College Museum of Art.

Thanks to its famous owners, this house today ranks as an ‘historic monument’ and therefore is protected from demolition or reconstruction. After 1855 it became a well-known museum about Leonardo da Vinci's life, work and memory, which was put together and directed by The Saint-Bris family, the current owners of the property.