From 1516 to 1519, Leonardo da Vinci resided in Amboise in the Clos Lucé at the request of King Francis I of France. In 1519, Leonardo's health began to deteriorate, and he sent a letter to his old friend Niccolò Machiavelli asking him and Ezio Auditore da Firenze to visit him. Leonardo's two friends arrived there in late April 1519, where they spent a week with Leonardo until he eventually died on 2 May.