Leonardo episodes 1 and 2 were made available for review.
For his first TV role since Poldark ended in 2019, Aidan Turner once again turns to period drama to star as Italian Renaissance artist, inventor, and all-around genius Leonardo da Vinci in the new eight-part Amazon Prime series, Leonardo.
Fans of Turner's portrayal of rugged (and occasionally shirtless) Ross Poldark and, indeed, connoisseurs of da Vinci may be disappointed, however, as neither will find this historical drama/mystery series quite what they were expecting.
Beginning with Leonardo's time working in the studio of renowned painter Verrocchio (Giancarlo Giannini), the series slowly follows the artist as he discovers his talent and branches out on his own. This includes the encouragement of former artists' model (and possible street worker) Caterina da Cremona (The Undoing's Matilda De Angelis), who becomes his muse and best friend.
Filmed on location in Italy before, and during, the pandemic in 2020, it's packed with stunning historical buildings, sunshine streaming on beautiful art, and pretty Mediterranean locations as Leonardo makes his way from Florence to Milan, gathering inspiration for his famous works.
Big LightSony Pictures
Woven into his story is a mystery, delivered in flash-forwards – it seems that years later, a shaggy-bearded Leonardo is arrested for Caterina's murder, and the road that led Leonardo to prison is related to inspector Stefano Giraldi (a rather awkward Freddie Highmore) in police interviews by those who knew him.
So far, so interesting – except that it never happened.
Series creators Frank Spotnitz and Steve Thompson have imagined not only the murder plot but also Caterina herself. While there are a couple of references to a 'Cremona' in da Vinci's writings, researchers have been unable to find out much else and the central character here is completely made up purely to give Leonardo someone to confide in (and possibly poison later on).
Of course, lots of historical dramas of late have played fast and loose with the truth as Leonardo does – but they tend to be a bit more obvious about it. We doubt many people watching Outlander really believe you can travel through stones to 18th century Scotland.
And the riotous series, The Great, with Elle Fanning as Russia's Empress Catherine and Nicholas Hoult as Emperor Peter, packs in the fictitious moments, but is open about it, going so far as to have a title card that declares it 'an occasionally true story.'
Sony Pictures
History buffs will no doubt fume at the fabrications in Leonardo – though at least they will be relieved to see that the filmmakers haven't created a romance for Leo and Caterina, and they will be relieved that plenty of factual elements are at least mixed in with the imagined dramatic bits.
In fact creators Spotnitz and Thompson sometimes seem a little too proud of the facts they have included, making rather obvious nods to them – such as having one admirer of Leonardo loudly noticing he is left-handed (it's a fact!), while a dinner scene has the artist asking what's in his food, as he doesn't eat meat (Leo was veggie, you see – fact!).
There are a lot more interesting true stories that are featured in the series, however, all subtly played by Turner, as his version of Leonardo loses his innocent views about art, life, and people.
His real arrest for sodomy at the age of 24, following an incident with a well-known male prostitute in Florence, is featured (charges were later dropped), and there are fleeting references to Leonardo being gay (which most art scholars agree is likely), including a couple of passionate, but pretty-PG kisses.
It's all quite tame stuff, considering we are all accustomed to period dramas packed with shagging (yes, we mean you, Outlander, Bridgerton, and The Great), but it is the right tone for this particular historical drama to take.
As with The Crown, where it would be unnerving (to say the least) to have a raunchy scene featuring Charles and Camilla under the covers, this drama doesn't insert steamy scenes to spice things up that aren't needed – fictitious murder plot aside, this is serious fare about a serious artist whose true love wasn't a man or a woman, but with art itself.
Of course, that means there are no topless scenes of Aidan Turner broodingly creating the Ginevra de' Benci artwork (da Vinci's first solo commission) while paint drips down his hairy torso. Not yet, at least.
Instead, Turner gets to leave the beefcake image behind and in doing so he delivers a thoughtful and enjoyable portrait of the famous artist – a performance that is engrossing enough that all that extra fictional stuff really wasn't needed.
Leonardo launches on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and Ireland on April 16.
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