Leonardo Da Vinci - Forgotten Books

MASTERP IECESI N C O L O U R

ED IT E D BY‘

r. L EMAN HARE

LEONARDO DA VINCI1452—1519

PLATE I. MONA L ISA. Frontispiece

In the Louvre. No. 1601 . 3 ft. 6} ins. b

(0-77 $ 0-53)

n 7s

BY MA URICEW. BROCKWELLI L L U S TRA T E D W‘I TH E I G H T

RE P RODUCT I ONS IN CO LOUR

IN

SEMPITERNU

L OND ON : T . C. 8: E . C. JA CK, LTD .

NEW YORK : FREDERICK A . STOKES CO .

B ONARDO, wrote an English critic

L as far back as 1721,“was a Man

so happy in his genius, so consummatein his Profession, so accomplished in the

Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, andwithal, so much esteemed by the Age

wherein he lived, his Works so highly

applauded by the Ages which have suc

ceeded, and his Name and Memory stillpreserved with so much Veneration by thepresent Age— that, if anything could equal

the Merit of the Man, it must be the Suc

cess he met Moreover, ’tis not in

Painting alone,but in.

Philosophy, too, that

x LEONARDO DA V INCI

Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren Of the

This admirable summary of the greatFlorentine painter’s life’s work still holdsgood to - day.

CONTENTS

H is B irthH is Early TrainingH is Early WorksF irst Visit to M ilanIn the EastBack in M ilanThe Virgin of the RocksThe Last SupperThe Court of M ilanLeonardo Leaves M ilanMona L isaBattle of AnghiariAgain in Mi lan

In Rome

xii CONTENTS

In F ranceH is DeathH is ArtH is M ind

Max imsH is SpellH is Descendants

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

P lateI . Mona L isa

In the Louvre

I I. AnnunciationIn the Uflizx Gallery, F lorence

I I I. Virgin of the RocksIn the National Gallery, London

IV. The Last SupperIn the Refectory of S anta Maria. delle Graz Ie,Mnlan

V. BacchusIn the Louvre

VI. Head of ChristIn the Brera Gal lery. M i lan

VII. P ortrait (presumed) of LucreziaCrivelliIn the L ouvre

VI I I. Madonna, Infant Christ, and St. AnneIn the Louvre

H IS B IRTH

BONARDO DA VINCI, the many- sidedgenius of the Italian Renaissance,was

born,as his name implies,at the little townof Vinci, which is about six miles fromEmpoli and twenty miles west Of Florence.Vinci is still very ina

gcessible,and the only

«

I6 LEONARDO DA VINCI

means ofconveyance is the cart of a generalcarrier and postman, who sets out on hisjourney from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of themain street of Vinci to- day a modern andwhite-washed bust Of the great artist ispointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. Leonardo’s traditional birthplace onthe outskirts Of the town still exists, andserves now as the headquarters of a farmerand small wine exporter.Leonardo di Ser Piero d’

A ntonio di SerPiero di Ser Guido da Vinci— for that washis full legal name— was the natural andfirst- born son Of Ser Piero, a countrynotary,who,like his father,grandfather,andgreat- grandfather, followed that honourablevocation with distinction and success, andwho subsequently — when Leonardo was a

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LEONARDO DA VINCI 19

youth— was appointed notary to the Signoriaof Florence. ' Leonardo’s mother was one

Caterina,who afterwards married A ccabrig adi Piero del Vaccha of Vinci.The date Of Leonardo ’s birth is not

known with any certainty. H is age isgiven as five in a taxation return made in1457 by his grandfather Antonio, in whosehouse he was educated $it is therefore concluded that he was born in 1452. Leonardo’sfather Ser Piero, who afterwards marriedfour times, had eleven children by his thirdand fourth wives. Is it unreasonable to

suggest that Leonardo may have had thesenumbers in mind in 1496

- 1498 when hewas painting in his famous “ Last Supper ”

the figures of eleven Apostles and one

outcast$However,Ser Piero seems to have leg iti

20 LEONARDO DA VINCI

mised his “ love child ” who very earlyshowed promise of extraordinary talent anduntiring energy.

H IS EARLY TRAIN ING

Practically nothing is known aboutLeonardo’s boyhood, but Vasari informs usthat Ser Piero, impressed with the re

markable character Of his son’s genius,took some of his drawings to Andrea delVerrocchio, an intimate friend, and beggedhim earnestly to express an Opinion on

them. Verrocchio was so astonished atthe power they revealed that he advisedSer Piero to send Leonardo to study underhim. Leonardo thus entered the studioof Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469—1470.

LEONARDO DA V INCI 21

In the workshop of that great Florentinesculptor, goldsmith, and artist he metother ” craftsmen,metal workers, and youthful painters, among whom was Botticelli,at that moment of his development ajovial habitué of the Poetical SupperClub, who had not yet given any premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic,and visionary of later times. There alsoLeonardo came into contact with thatunoriginal painter Lorenzo di Credi, hisjunior by seven years. He also, no doubt,met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called“ that blockhead in art.” The genius andversatility of the Vincian painter was,however, in no way dulled by intercourse withlesser artists than himself$on the contraryhe vied with each in turn, and readily out

stripped his fellow pupils. In 1472, at the


age of twenty, he was admitted into the

Guild Of Florentine Painters.Unfortunately very few of Leonardo’s

paintings have come down to us. Indeedthere do not exist a sufficient number of

finished and absolutely authentic Oil picturesfrom his Own hand to afford illustrationsfor this short chronological sketch of hislife’s work. The few that do remain,however, are Of so exquisite a quality— or wereuntil they were “ comforted ” by the uninspired restorer— that we can unreservedlyaccept the enthusiastic records of traditionin respect of all his works. TO rightlyunderstand the essential characteristics OfLeonardo’s achievements it is necessary toregard him as a scientist quite as much asan artist, as a philosopher no less than a

painter, and as a draughtsman rather than


a colourist. There is hardly a branch of

human learning to which he did not at

one time or another give his eager attention, and he was engrossed in turn bythe study of architecture— the foundationstone Of all true art— sculpture,mathematics,engineering and music. His versatility wasunbounded, and we are apt to regret thatthis many- sided genius did not realise thatit is by developing his power within certain limits that the great master is re

vealed. Leonardo may be described asthe most Universal Genius of Christiantimes— perhaps of all time.

H IS EARLY WORKS

To about the year 1472 belongs the smallpicture of the Annunc iation,” now in the


Louvre, which after being the subject of

much contention among European criticshas gradually won its way to general recognition as an early work by Leonardohimself. That it was painted in the studioofVerrocchio was always admitted,but itwas

long catalogued by the Louvre authoritiesunder the name of Lorenzo di Credi. It isnow, however, attributed to Leonardo (No.

1602 A) . Such uncertainties as to attribu

tion were common half a century ago whenscientific art criticism was in its infancy.Another painting Of the “Annunciation,

which is now in the Uffiz i Gallery (NO.

1288) is still Officially attributed to Leonardo.

This small picture, which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps byAndrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo’s master,is the subject of Plate 11. (see p.


TO January 1473 belongs Leonardo’s

earliest dated work,a pen - and - ink drawing“ A Wide View over a Plain,” now in theUffiz i. The inscription together with thedate in the top left- hand corner is reversed,and proves a remarkable characteristic of

Leonardo’s handwriting— viz , that he wrotefrom right to left $ indeed, it has been suggested that he did this in order to make itdifficult for any one else to read the words,which were frequently committed to paperby the aid of peculiar abbreviations.Leonardo continued to work in his

master’s studio till about 1477. On JanuaryI st Of the following year,1478,he was commis$

sioned to paint an altar- piece for the Chapelof St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio,andhe was paid twenty- five fiorins on account.He, however, never carried out the work,


and after waiting five years the Signoriatransferred the commission to DomenicoGhirlandajo, who also failed to accomplishthe task,which was ultimate ly,some sevenyears later, completed by Filippino Lippi.This panel of the Madonna Enthroned,St. Victor, St. John Baptist, St. Bernard,and St. Zenobius,” which is dated February20, 1485, is now in the Uffiz i.That Leonardo was by this time a facile

draughtsman is evidenced by his vigorous pen- and- ink sketch— now In a privatecollection in Paris— O f Bernardo Bandini,who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478stabbed Giuliano de’ Medici to death in theCathedral at Florence during High Mass.The drawing is dated December 29, 1479,

the date O f Bandini’

s public execution in


sioned to paint an altar- piece for the monksof St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was made to him. Thathe intended to carry out this contract seemsmost probable. He, however, never com

pleted the picture, although it gave riseto the supremely beautiful cartoon of the“Adoration Of the Magi,” now in the Uffiz i

(NO . As a matter Of course it isunfinished, only the under- painting and thecolouring of the figures in green on abrown ground having been executed. Therhythm Of line, the variety Of attitude, theprofound fee ling for landscape and an earlyapplication Of Chiaroscuro effect combine torender this one of his most characteristicproductions.Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio

was painting the “Baptism of Christ ” he


allowed Leonardo to paint in one of theattendant angels holding some vestments.This the pupil did so admirably that hisremarkable genius clearly revealed itself,the angel which Leonardo painted beingmuch better than the portion executed byhis master. This “ Baptism Of Christ,which is now in the Accademia in Florenceand is in a bad state of preservation,appearsto have been a comparatively early workby Verrocchio, and to have been paintedin 1480

— 1482, when Leonardo would beabout thirty years of age.To about this period belongs the superb

drawing of the “Warrior,” now in theMalcolm Collection in the British Museum.

This drawing may have been made whileLeonardo still frequented the studio of

Andrea del Verrocchio, who in 1479 was


commissioned to execute the equestrianstatue of Bartolommeo Colleoni,which wascompleted twenty years later and still adornsthe Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo inVenice.

FIRST VISIT TO M ILAN

About 1482 Leonardo entered the serviceof Ludovico Sforza, having first written tohis future patron a full statement of hisvarious abilities in the following terms

“ Having, most illustrious lord, seen andpondered over the experiments made bythose who pass as masters in the art of

inventing instruments of war, and havingsatisfied myself that they in no way differfrom those in general use, I make so boldas to solicit, without prejudice to any one,

PLATE IV.— THE LAST SUPPER

Refectory of St. Maria delle Graz ie, Milan. About 13 feet8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w . x


and never- ending honour to that illustrioushouse.”

It was about 1482, the probable date of

Leonardo’s migration from Florence toMilan, that he painted the “Vierge auxRochers, now in the Louvre (No.

It is an essentially Florentine picture, andalthough it has no pedigree earlier than1625, when it was in the Royal Collectionat Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly muchearlier and considerably more authentic thanthe “Virgin of the Rocks,” now in theNational Gallery (PlateHe certainly set to work about this time

on the projected statue Of Francesco Sforza,but probably then made very little progresswith it. He may also in that year or thenext have painted the lost portrait of CeciliaGallerani,one of the mistresses of Ludovico


Sforza. It has, however, been surmisedthat that lady’s features are preserved tous in the “ Lady with a Weasel,” byLeonardo’s pupil Boltraffio,which is now inthe Czartoryski Collection at Cracow.

IN THE EAST

The absence of any record of Leonardoin Milan,or elsewhere in Italy,between 1483and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion,based on documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spentthose years in the service of the Sultan of

Egypt, travelling in Armenia and the Eastas his engineer.


BACK IN M ILAN

In 1487 he was again resident in Milanas general artificer— using that term in itswidest sense — to Ludovico. Among hisvarious activities at this period must bementioned the designs he made for thecupola of the cathedral at Milan, and thescenery be constructed for “ II Paradiso,”

which was written by Bernardo B ellincionion the occasion of the marriage Of GianGaleazzo with Isabella of Aragon. About1489

—1490 he began his celebrated “Treatise

on Painting and recommenced work on

the colossal equestrian statue of FrancescoSforza,which was doubtless the greatest ofall his achievements as a sculptor. It was,however, never cast in bronze, and wasruthlessly destroyed by the French bowmen

PLATE V.— BACCHUS

In the LouvreIt is thought that this picture, which is not accepted by the

safest and most exacting critics as being entirely from the hand of

Leonardo da Vinci,at first represented St. John the Baptist,and wasafterwards altered into a figure of Bacchus.


was brought to England in 1777 by GavinHamilton,and sold by him to the MarquessOf Lansdowne,who subsequently exchangedit for another picture in the Collection of

the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park,Wiltshire,from whom it was eventually purchasedby the National Gallery for J£9000. SignorEmilio Motta, some fifteen years ago, unearthed in the State Archives Of Milan aletter or memorial from Giovanni Ambrogioda Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to theDuke of Milan, praying him to intervenein a dispute, which had arisen betweenthe petitioners and the Brotherhood of theConception, with regard to the valuationof certain works of art furnished for thechapel Of the Brotherhood in the church OfSt. Francesco. The only logical deductionwhich can be drawn from documentary evi

LEONARDO DA VINC I 43

dence is that the “Vierge aux Rochersin the Louvre is the picture, painted about1482, which between 1491 and 1494 gaverise to the dispute, and that, when it wasultimately sold by the artists for the fullprice asked to some unknown buyer, theNational Gallery version was executed for asmaller price mainly by Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision,and with the help,ofLeonardo to be placed in the Chapel of theConception.The differences between the earlier, the

more authentic, and the more characteristically Florentine “Vierge aux Rochers,” inthe Louvre,and the “Virgin Of the Rocks,”

in the National Gallery, are that in the

latter picture the hand Of the angel, seatedby the side of the Infant Christ, is raisedand pointed in the direction Of the little


St. John the Baptist $ that the St. Johnhas a reed cross and the three principalfigures have gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much later. In theNational Gallery version the left hand Ofthe Madonna, the Christ’s right hand andarm, and the forehead of St. John theBaptist are freely restored, while a stripof the foreground right across the wholepicture is ill painted and lacks accent. Thehead Of the angel is,however,magnificentlypainted,and by Leonardo $the panel,takenas a whole,is exceedingly beautiful and fullof charm and tenderness.

THE LAST SUPPER

Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo paintedhis chef d

’

ceuvre, the “ Last Supper,


(Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectoryof the Dominican Convent Of S. Mariadelle Grazie at Milan. It was originallyexecuted in tempera on a badly preparedstucco ground and began to deteriorate avery few years after its completion. Asearly as 1556 it was half ruined. In1652 the monks cut away a part of thefresco including the feet of the Christ tomake a doorway. In 1726 one Michelangelo Belotti,an Obscure Milanese painter,received £ 500 for the worthless labour hebestowed on restoring it. He seems tohave employed some astringent restorativewhich revived the colours temporarily

,and

then left them in deeper eclipse than before.

In 1770 the fresco was again restored byMazza. In 1796 Napoleon’s cavalry, contrary to his express orders,

“ turned the re


fectory into a stable, and pelted the headsof the figures with dirt. Subsequently therefectory was used to store hay, and atone time or another it has been flooded .

In 1820 the fresco was again restored, andin 1854 this restoration was effaced. InOctober 1908 Professor Cavenag hi com

pleted the delicate task of again re storingit, and has, in the Opinion of experts, nowpreserved it from further injury. In addition,the devices Of Ludovico and his Duchessand a considerable amount of floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been broughtto light.Leonardo has succeeded In producing

the effect of the coup de the’

c'

itre at themoment when Jesus said “ One Of youshall betray me.” Instantly the variousapostles realise that there is a traitor among


the ir number, and show by the ir differentgestures their different passions, and t e

veal their different temperaments. On theleft Of Christ is St. John who is overcomewith grief and is interrogated by the im

petuous Peter, near whom is seated JudasIscariot who, while affecting the calm of

innocence, is quite unable to conceal hisinner feelings $ he instinctively clasps themoney- bag and in so doing upsets the saltcellar.It will be remembered that the Prior

of the Convent complained to LudovicoSforza, Duke of M ilan, that Leonardowas taking too long to paint the frescoand was causing the Convent considerable inconvenience. Leonardo had his re

venge by threatening to paint the featuresof the impatient Prior into the face of


Judas Iscariot. The incident has beenquaintly told in the following lines

P adre Bandelli, then, complains of meB ecause, forsooth, I have not drawn a lineUpon the Saviour’s head $perhaps, then, heCould without trouble paint that head divine .

But think, oh S ignor Duca,what should beThe pure perfection of Our Saviour’s faceWhat sorrowing ma$esty,what noble grace,At that dread moment when He brake the bread,A nd those submissive words of pathos said

By one among you I shal l be betrayed,’A nd say if ’tis an easy task to find

Even among the best that walk this Earth,The fitting type Of that divinest worth,That has its image solely in the mind.Vainly my pencil struggles to expressThe sorrowing grandeur of such holiness.In patient thought, in ever- seeking prayer,I strive to shape that glorious face within,But the soul’s mirror, dulled and dimmed by sin,Reflects not yet the perfect image there.


Can the hand do before the soul has wrought $Is not our art the servant of our thought$

A nd Judas too, the basest face I see,W ill not contain his utter infamy $Among the dregs and offal of mankindVainly I seek an utter wretch to find.

He who for thirty silver coins could sellH is Lord,must be the Devil’s miracle.P adre Bandelli thinks it easy isTo find the type of him who with a kissBetrayed his Lord. We ll,what I . can I ’llA nd if it please his reverence and you,

For Judas’ face I ’m willing to paint his.

I dare not paintTill all is ordered and matured within,Hand-work and head -work have an earthly taint,But when the soul commands I shall beginOn themes like these I should not dare to dwellW ith our good P rior— they to him would beMere nonsense $he must touch and taste and see,

A nd facts, he says, are never mystical.”


The copy Of the “ Last Supper ” (PlateV.) by Marco d

’

Og g ionO, now in the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, wasmade shortly after the original paintingwas completed. It gives but a faint echo

of that sublime work “ in which the idealand the real were blended in perfect unity.

”

This copy was long in the possession Ofthe Carthusians in their Convent at Pavia,and, on the suppression Of that Order andthe sale of the ir effects in 1793, passed intothe possession Of a grocer at Milan. Itwas subsequently purchased for £ 600 bythe Royal Academy on the advice Of SirThomas Lawrence, who left no stone umturned to acquire also the original studiesfor the heads of the Apostles. Some of

these in red and black chalk are now preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor,


where there are in all 145 drawings byLeonardo.

Several other old copies of the frescoexist, notably the one in the Louvre .

Francis I . wished to remove the wholewall Of the Refectory to Paris, but he waspersuaded that that would be impossible $the Constable de Montmorency then had acopy made for the Chapel of the Chateaud

’

E couen, whence it ultimately passed tothe Louvre.The singularly beautiful “ Head of

Christ ” (Plate now in the BreraGallery at Milan, is the original study forthe head of the principal figure in thefresco painting of the “ Last Supper.” InSpite of decay and restoration it expresses“ the most elevated seriousness togetherwith D ivine Gentleness, pain on account of


the faithlessness of His disciples,a full presentiment of His own death,and resignationto the will of His Father.

THE COURT OF M ILAN

Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now

court- painter, had married Beatrice d’

E ste,

in 1491,when she was only fifteen years Ofage. The young Duchess,who at one timeowned as many as eighty- four splendidgowns, refused to wear a certain dress of

woven gold, which her husband had givenher, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of herday, continued to wear a very similar one,which presumably had been given to her byLudovico. Having discarded Cecilia, who,as her tastes did not lie in the direction of

the Convent,was married in 1491 to Count


In April 1498, Isabella d ’

E ste, Beatrice’selder, more beautiful, and more gracefulsister, “ at the sound Of whose name all themuses rise and do reverence ” wrote toCecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking herto lend her the portrait which Leonardohad painted of her some fifteen yearsearlier, as she wished to compare it witha picture by Giovanni Bellini. Ceciliagraciously lent the picture— now presum

ably lost— adding her regret that it nolonger resembled her.

LEONARDO LEAVES M ILAN

Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci’sworks in Milan towards the end of 1499

was, probably, the superb cartoon Of “TheVirgin and Child with St. Anne and St.


John, now at Burlington House. Thoughlittle known to the general public,this largedrawing on ca rton,or stiff paper, is one ofthe greatest Of London’s treasures, as itreveals the sweeping line of Leonardo’spowerful draughtsmanship. It was in thePompeo Leoni,A rconati,Casnedi,and UdneyCollections before passing to the RoyalAcademy.

In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico’s reign. In Aprilof that year we read of his giving a vineyardto Leonardo $ in September Ludovico hadto leave Milan for the Tyrol to raise anarmy, and on the 14th of the same monththe city was sold by Bernardino di Corteto the French,who occupied it from 1500 to1512. Ludovico may well have had in mindthe figure of the traitor in the Last


Supper when he declared that “ Since thedays of Judas Iscariot there has never beenso black a traitor as Bernardino di Corte.”

On October 6th Louis $ II. entered thecity. Before the end of the year Leonardo,realising the necessity for his speedy departure, sent six hundred gold florins byletter of exchange to Florence to be placedto his credit with the hospital of S. MariaNuova.In the following year, Ludovico having

been defeated at Novara, Leonardo was ahomeless wanderer. He left Milan forMantua,where he drew a portrait in chalkof Isabella d

’

E ste, which is now in theLouvre. Leonardo eventually arrived inFlorence about Easter 1500. After apparently working there in 1501 on a secondCartoon, similar in most respects to the

PLATE VII.— PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZ IACRIVELL I

In the Louvre. No. 1600 2 ft. by 1 ft. 5 ins. (o 62 x

This picture,although officially attributed to Leonardo,is probablynot by him,and almost certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli.It was once known as a

“ P ortrai t of a Lady $ and is sti ll occasionally miscalled La Belle Féronniére


name of “La Joconde, by which her portrait is Officially known in the Louvre.Vasari is probably inaccurate in saying thatLeonardo “ loitered over it for four years,and finally left it unfinished. He mayhave begun it in the spring Of 1501 and,probably owing to having taken serviceunder Cesare Borgia in the following year,put it on one side, ultimately completing itafter working on the “ Battle Of Anghiariin 1504. Vasari’s eulogy of this portraitmay with advantage be quoted : “Whoevershall desire to see how far art can imitatenature may do so to perfection in thishead, wherein every peculiarity that couldbe depicted by the utmost subtlety of thepencil has been faithfully reproduced. Theeyes have the lustrous brightness and

moisture which is seen in life, and around


them are those pale, red, and slightlylivid circles, also proper to nature. Thenose, with its beautiful and delicatelyroseate nostrils,might be easily believed tobe alive $ the mouth, admirable in its out

line, has the lips uniting the rose- tints oftheir colour with those of the face, in theutmost perfection, and the carnation of thecheek does not appear to be painted, buttruly flesh and blood. He who looksearnestly at the pit$ of the throat cannotbut believe that he sees the beating of thepulses. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while Leonardo was painting herportrait, he took the precaution Of keeping some one constantly near her to singor play on instruments, or to jest andotherwise amuse her.”

Leonardo painted this picture in the full


maturity Of his talent, and, although it isi

now little more than a monochrome owingto the free and merciless restoration towhich it has been at times subjected, itmust have created a wonderful impressionon those who saw it in the early years ofthe sixteenth century. It is diffi cult fOr theunpractised eye to- day to form any ideaOf its original beauty. Leonardo has herepainted this worldly-minded woman — herportrait is much more famous than sheherself ever was— with a marvellous charmand suavity, a finesse of expression neverreached before and hardly ever equalledsince. Contrast the head of the Christ atMilan,Leonardo

’s conception of divinity expressed ia perfect humanity,with the subtleand sphinx- like smile of this languorouscreature.


The landscape background,against whichMona Lisa is posed, recalls the severe,rather than exuberant, landscape and thedim vistas of mountain ranges seen in theneighbourhood Of his own birthplace. Theportrait was bought during the reign of

Francis I . for a sum which is to - day equalto about £ 1800. Leonardo, by the way,does not seem to have been really affectedby any individual affection for any woman,and, like Michelangelo and Raphael, nevermarried.In January 4, 1504,Leonardo was one Of

the members of the Committee of Artistssummoned to advise the Signoria as tothe most suitable site for the erection of

Michelangelo’s statue of “ David,” whichhad recently been completed.


BATTLE OF ANGH IARI

In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate one of thewalls of the Council Hall of the PalazzoVecchio. The subject he selected was theBattle of Anghiari Although he com

pleted the cartoon,the only part of the composition which he eventually executed incolour was an incident in the foregroundwhich dealt with the “ Battle of theStandard.” One of the many supposedcopies of a study of this mural paintingnow hangs on the south- east staircasein the Victoria and Albert Museum. Itdepicts the Florentines under CardinalLudovico Mez zarota S carampo fightingagainst the Milanese under N iccolo Picci


nino,the General of Filipp’o Maria Visconti,

on June 29, 1440.

AGAIN IN M ILAN

Leonardo was back in Milan in May1506 in the service Of the French K ing, forwhom he executed, apparently with thehelp of assistants, “ the Madonna, theInfant Christ,and Saint Anne (PlateThe composition of this Oil- painting seemsto have been built up on the secondcartoon, which he had made some eightyears earlier, and which was apparentlytaken to France in 1516 and ultimatelylost.

N ROME

From 1513— 1515 he was In Rome,whereGiovanni de ’ Medici had been elected P Ope


under the title of Leo $ . He did not,however, work for the Pope, although heresided in the Vatican, his time beingoccupied in studying acoustics, anatomy,optics, geology, minerals, engineering, andgeometry $

IN FRANCE

At last in 1516, three years before hisdeath, Leonardo left his native land for

France,where he received from Francis I . aprincely income. His powers,however,hadalready begun to fai l,and he produced verylittle in the country of his adoption. It is,nevertheless, only in the Louvre that hisachievements as a painter can to- day beadequately studied.

On October 10,1516,when hewas resident


at the Manor House of Cloux near Amboisein Touraine with Francesco Me lzi,his friendand assistant,he showed three Of his picturesto the Cardinal of Aragon, “but his righthand was now paralysed,and he could “ nolonger colour with that sweetness withwhich he was wont, although still able tomake drawings and to teach others.”

It was no doubt in these closing years

of his life that he drew the “ Portrait of

Himself” in red chalk,now at Turin,whichis probably the only authentic portrait of

him in existence.

H IS DEATH

On April 23, 1519— Easter Eve— exactly

forty- five years before the birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will,

72 LEONARDO DA V INCI

and on May 2 Of the same year he passedaway.

Vasari informs us that Leonardo, having

become Old, lay sick for many months,andfinding himse lf near death and being sustained in the arms Of his servants andfriends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He was then se ized with a paroxysm,the forerunner Of death,when K ing Francis I .,who was accustomed frequently and affec

tionately to visit him, rose and supportedhis head to give him such ass istance and todo him such favour as he could in the hopeOf alleviating his sufferings. The spirit of

Leonardo,which was most divine,consciousthat he could attain to no greater honour,departed in the arms of the monarch,beingat that time in the seventy- fifth year Of hisage. The not over- veracious chronicler,


however, is here drawing largely upon hisimagination. Leonardo was only sixty- sevenyears of age, and the K ing was in allprobability on that date at St. Germain- en

Laye $Thus died “Mr. Lionard de Vincy,

the noble Milanese, painter, engineer, andarchitect to the King, State Mechanicianand “ former Professor of Painting to theDuke of Milan.

”

“ May God Almighty grant him H iseternal peace,” wrote his friend and assistantFrancesco Melzi. Every one laments theloss of a man whose like Nature cannotproduce a second time.

H IS ART

Leonardo, whose birth antedates thatof Michelangelo and Raphael by twenty


three and thirty- one years respectively,wasthus in the forefront of the FlorentineRenaissance, his life coinciding almostexactly with the best period of Tuscanpainting.

Leonardo was the first to investigatescientifically and to apply to art the lawsof light and shade, though the preliminaryinvestigations Of Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded.He Observed with strict accuracy the

subtleties of Chiaroscuro— light and shadeapart from colour $ but, as one critichas pointed out, his gift of Chiaroscurocost the colour- life of many a noble picture.Leonardo was “ a tonist, not a colourist,

”

before whom the whole book of nature layOpen.

It was not instability of character but


H IS M IND

We can readily believe the statements ofBenvenuto Cellini, the sixteenth - centuryGoldsmith, that Francis 1. “ did not believethat any other man had come into the worldwho had attained so great a knowledge asLeonardo, and that not only as sculptor,painter, and architect, for beyond that hewas a profound philosopher.” It wasCellini also who contended that “ Leonardoda Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael arethe Book of the World.

”

Leonardo anticipated many eminentscientists and inventors in the methods ofinvestigation which they adopted to solvethe many problems with which their namesare coupled. Among these may be citedCopernicus’ theory of the earth’s movement,


Lamarck’s classification Of vertebrate andinvertebrate animals, the laws Of friction,the laws of combustion and respiration, theelevation of the continents, the laws of

gravitation, the undulatory theory of lightand heat, steam as a motive power innavigation,flying machines,the invention of

the camera Obscura,magnetic attraction,theuse of the stone saw,the system Of canalisation,breech loading cannon,the constructionof fortifications, the circulation of the blood,the swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, thecomposition of explosives, the invention of

paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine $ It is, therefore, easy to seewhy he called “Mechanics the Paradiseof the Sciences.Leonardo was a SUPERMAN.


H IS MA$ IMS

The eye is the window of the soul.Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.

The natural des ire of good men is knowledge.A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art

dies not .

Every difficulty can be overcome by effort.Time abides long enough for those who make use

of it.M iserable men,how often do you enslave yourselves

to gain money$

H IS SPELL

The influence of Leonardo was stronglyfelt in Milan, where he spent so manyof the best years of his life and foundeda School of painting. He was a close Oh

server of the gradation and reflex of light,


and was capable Of giving to his discoveriesa practical and aesthetic form . His strongpersonal character and the fascination of hisgenius enthralled his followers, who weresatisfied to repeat his types, to perpetuatethe “ grey- hound eye,” and to make use ofhis little devices. Among this group of

painters may be mentioned Boltraffio, whoperhaps painted the “ Presumed Portraitof Lucrezia Crivelli ” (Plate which isoffi cially attributed in the Louvre to thegreat master himself.

H IS DESCENDANTS

Signor Uz ielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of Domenico

(one of Leonardo ’s brothers), was a fewyears ago a peasant at Bottinacio near


Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the family papers, which now formpart of the archives Of the Accademia deiLince i at Rome. It was proved also thatTommaso had given his eldest son “ theglorious name of Leonardo.”

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