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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7785-8.txt b/7785-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9db4ab --- /dev/null +++ b/7785-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1285 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. Brockwell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Leonardo da Vinci + +Author: Maurice W. Brockwell + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7785] +Posting Date: August 7, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO DA VINCI *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Plate 1--MONA LISA. Frontispiece + +In the Louvre. No. 1601. 2 ft 6 ½ ins. By 1 ft. 9 ins. (0.77 x 0.53)] + + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI + + + +By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + + + +Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour + +[Illustration] + + +"Leonardo," wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, "was a Man +so happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so +accomplished in the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so +much esteemed by the Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly +applauded by the Ages which have succeeded, and his Name and Memory +still preserved with so much Veneration by the present Age--that, if +anything could equal the Merit of the Man, it must be the Success he +met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting alone, but in Philosophy, +too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of the 'Pencil.'" + +This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work +still holds good to-day. + + + + +CONTENTS + +His Birth +His Early Training +His Early Works +First Visit to Milan +In the East +Back in Milan +The Virgin of the Rocks +The Last Supper +The Court of Milan +Leonardo Leaves Milan +Mona Lisa +Battle of Anghiari +Again in Milan +In Rome +In France +His Death +His Art +His Mind +His Maxims +His Spell +His Descendants + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Plate +I. Mona Lisa + In the Louvre +II. Annunciation + In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence +III. Virgin of the Rocks + In the National Gallery, London +IV. The Last Supper + In the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan +V. Copy of the Last Supper + In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House +VI. Head of Christ + In the Brera Gallery, Milan +VII. Portrait (presumed) of Lucrezia Crivelli + In the Louvre +VIII. Madonna, Infant Christ, and St Anne. + In the Louvre + + + + +HIS BIRTH + +Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, +was born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is +about six miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci +is still very inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the +cart of a general carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey +from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of +the main street of Vinci to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the +great artist is pointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. +Leonardo's traditional birthplace on the outskirts of the town still +exists, and serves now as the headquarters of a farmer and small wine +exporter. + +Leonardo di Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da +Vinci--for that was his full legal name--was the natural and +first-born son of Ser Piero, a country notary, who, like his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather, followed that honourable +vocation with distinction and success, and who subsequently--when +Leonardo was a youth--was appointed notary to the Signoria of +Florence. Leonardo's mother was one Caterina, who afterwards married +Accabriga di Piero del Vaccha of Vinci. + +[Illustration: Plate II.--Annunciation + +In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. 1288. 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. +(0.99 x 2.18) + +Although this panel is included in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by +Leonardo, it is in all probability by his master, Verrocchio.] + +The date of Leonardo's birth is not known with any certainty. His age +is given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather +Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded +that he was born in 1452. Leonardo's father Ser Piero, who afterwards +married four times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. +Is it unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers +in mind in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous "Last Supper" +the figures of eleven Apostles and one outcast? + +However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his "love child" who very +early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy. + + + + +HIS EARLY TRAINING + +Practically nothing is known about Leonardo's boyhood, but Vasari +informs us that Ser Piero, impressed with the remarkable character of +his son's genius, took some of his drawings to Andrea del Verrocchio, +an intimate friend, and begged him earnestly to express an opinion on +them. Verrocchio was so astonished at the power they revealed that he +advised Ser Piero to send Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo thus +entered the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469-1470. In the +workshop of that great Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and artist he +met other craftsmen, metal workers, and youthful painters, among whom +was Botticelli, at that moment of his development a jovial +_habitué_ of the Poetical Supper Club, who had not yet given any +premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic, and visionary of later +times. There also Leonardo came into contact with that unoriginal +painter Lorenzo di Credi, his junior by seven years. He also, no +doubt, met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called "that blockhead in art." +The genius and versatility of the Vincian painter was, however, in no +way dulled by intercourse with lesser artists than himself; on the +contrary he vied with each in turn, and readily outstripped 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. +Indeed there do not exist a sufficient number of finished and +absolutely authentic oil pictures from his own hand to afford +illustrations for this short chronological sketch of his life's work. +The few that do remain, however, are of so exquisite a quality--or +were until they were "comforted" by the uninspired restorer--that we +can unreservedly accept the enthusiastic records of tradition in +respect of all his works. To rightly understand the essential +characteristics of Leonardo's achievements it is necessary to +regard him as a scientist quite as much as an 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 by the study of architecture--the foundation-stone of all true +art--sculpture, mathematics, engineering and music. His versatility +was unbounded, and we are apt to regret that this many-sided genius +did not realise that it is by developing his power within certain +limits that the great master is revealed. Leonardo may be described as +the most Universal Genius of Christian times-perhaps of all time. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.-THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + +In the National Gallery. No. 1093. 6 ft. ½ in. h. by 3 ft 9 ½ in. w. +(1.83 x 1.15) + +This picture was painted in Milan about 1495 by Ambrogio da Predis +under the supervision and guidance of Leonardo da Vinci, the +essential features of the composition being borrowed from the earlier +"Vierge aux Rochers," now in the Louvre.] + + + + +HIS EARLY WORKS + +To about the year 1472 belongs the small picture of the +"Annunciation," now in the Louvre, which after being the subject of +much contention among European critics has gradually won its way to +general recognition as an early work by Leonardo himself. That it was +painted in the studio of Verrocchio was always admitted, but it was +long catalogued by the Louvre authorities under the name of Lorenzo di +Credi. It is now, however, attributed to Leonardo (No. 1602 A). Such +uncertainties as to attribution were common half a century ago when +scientific art criticism was in its infancy. + +Another painting of the "Annunciation," which is now in the Uffizi +Gallery (No. 1288) is still officially attributed to Leonardo. This +small picture, which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps +by Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo's master, is the subject of Plate +II. + +To January 1473 belongs Leonardo's earliest dated work, a pen-and-ink +drawing--"A Wide View over a Plain," now in the Uffizi. The +inscription together with the date in the top left-hand corner is +reversed, and proves a remarkable characteristic of Leonardo's +handwriting--viz., that he wrote from right to left; indeed, it has +been suggested that he did this in order to make it difficult for any +one else to read the words, which were frequently committed to paper +by the aid of peculiar abbreviations. + +Leonardo continued to work in his master's studio till about 1477. On +January 1st of the following year, 1478, he was commissioned to paint +an altar-piece for the Chapel of St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio, +and he was paid twenty-five florins on account. He, however, never +carried out the work, and after waiting five years the Signoria +transferred the commission to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who also failed to +accomplish the task, which was ultimately, some seven years later, +completed by Filippino Lippi. This panel of the "Madonna Enthroned, +St. Victor, St. John Baptist, St. Bernard, and St. Zenobius," which is +dated February 20, 1485, is now in the Uffizi. + +That Leonardo was by this time a facile draughtsman is evidenced by +his vigorous pen-and-ink sketch--now in a private collection in +Paris--of Bernardo Bandini, who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478 +stabbed Giuliano de' Medici to death in the Cathedral at Florence +during High Mass. The drawing is dated December 29, 1479, the date of +Bandini's public execution in Florence. + +In that year also, no doubt, was painted the early and, as might be +expected, unfinished "St. Jerome in the Desert," now in the Vatican, the +under-painting being in umber and _terraverte_. Its authenticity is +vouched for not only by the internal evidence of the picture itself, but +also by the similarity of treatment seen in a drawing in the Royal +Library at Windsor. Cardinal Fesch, a princely collector in Rome in the +early part of the nineteenth century, found part of the picture--the +torso--being used as a box-cover in a shop in Rome. He long afterwards +discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to +the torso. The jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX., +and added to the Vatican Collection. + +In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for +the monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was +made to him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most +probable. He, however, never completed the picture, although it gave +rise to the supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the +Magi," now in the Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is +unfinished, only the under-painting and the colouring of the figures +in green on a brown ground having been executed. The rhythm of line, +the variety of attitude, the profound feeling for landscape and an +early application of chiaroscuro effect combine to render this one of +his most characteristic productions. + +Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of +Christ" he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels +holding some vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his +remarkable genius clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo +painted being much better than the portion executed by his master. +This "Baptism of Christ," which is now in the Accademia in Florence +and is in a bad state of preservation, appears to have been a +comparatively early work by Verrocchio, and to have been painted +in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be about thirty years of age. + +To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now +in the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have +been made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del +Verrocchio, who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian +statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni, which was completed twenty years later +and still adorns the Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. + + + + +FIRST VISIT TO MILAN + + +About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, having +first written to his future patron a full statement of his various +abilities in the following terms:-- + +"Having, most illustrious lord, seen and pondered over the experiments +made by those who pass as masters in the art of inventing instruments +of war, and having satisfied myself that they in no way differ from +those in general use, I make so bold as to solicit, without prejudice +to any one, an opportunity of informing your excellency of some of my +own secrets." + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.-THE LAST SUPPER + +Refectory of St. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. About 13 feet +8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w. (4.16 x 8.09)] + +He goes on to say that he can construct light bridges which can be +transported, that he can make pontoons and scaling ladders, that he +can construct cannon and mortars unlike those commonly used, as well +as catapults and other engines of war; or if the fight should take +place at sea that he can build engines which shall be suitable alike +for defence as for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public +and private buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute +sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting, +"can do as well as any one else, no matter who he may be." In +conclusion, he offers to execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue +of Francesco Sforza "which shall bring glory and never-ending honour +to that illustrious house." + +It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from +Florence to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in +the Louvre (No. 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and +although it has no pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the +Royal Collection at Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and +considerably more authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the +National Gallery (Plate III.). + +He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of +Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it. +He may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of +Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has, +however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us +in the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is +now in the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow. + + + + +IN THE EAST + +The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy, +between 1483 and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion, based on +documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spent +those years in the service of the Sultan of Egypt, travelling in +Armenia and the East as his engineer. + + + +BACK IN MILAN + + +In 1487 he was again resident in Milan as general artificer--using +that term in its widest sense--to Ludovico. Among his various +activities at this period must be mentioned the designs he made for +the cupola of the cathedral at Milan, and the scenery he constructed +for "Il Paradiso," which was written by Bernardo Bellincioni on the +occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo with Isabella of Aragon. +About 1489-1490 he began his celebrated "Treatise on Painting" and +recommenced work on the colossal equestrian statue of Francesco +Sforza, which was doubtless the greatest of all his achievements as a +sculptor. It was, however, never cast in bronze, and was ruthlessly +destroyed by the French bowmen in April 1500, on their occupation of +Milan after the defeat of Ludovico at the battle of Novara. This is +all the more regrettable as no single authentic piece of sculpture +has come down to us from Leonardo's hand, and we can only judge of his +power in this direction from his drawings, and the enthusiastic +praise of his contemporaries. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--COPY OF THE LAST SUPPER + +In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House + +This copy is usually ascribed to Marco d'Oggiono, but some critics +claim that it is by Gianpetrino. It is the same size as the original.] + + + +THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + + +The "Virgin of the Rocks" (Plate III.), now in the National Gallery, +corresponds exactly with a painting by Leonardo which was described by +Lomazzo about 1584 as being in the Chapel of the Conception in the +Church of St. Francesco at Milan. This picture, the only _oeuvre_ +in this gallery with which Leonardo's name can be connected, was +brought to England in 1777 by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the +Marquess of Lansdowne, who subsequently exchanged it for another +picture in the Collection of the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park, +Wiltshire, from whom it was eventually purchased by the National +Gallery for £9000. Signor Emilio Motta, some fifteen years ago, +unearthed in the State Archives of Milan a letter or memorial from +Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of +Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute, which had arisen between +the petitioners and the Brotherhood of the Conception, with regard to +the valuation of certain works of art furnished for the chapel of the +Brotherhood in the church of St. Francesco. The only logical deduction +which can be drawn from documentary evidence is that the "Vierge aux +Rochers" in the Louvre is the picture, painted about 1482, which +between 1491 and 1494 gave rise to the dispute, and that, when it was +ultimately sold by the artists for the full price asked to some +unknown buyer, the National Gallery version was executed for a +smaller price mainly by Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision, and +with the help, of Leonardo to be placed in the Chapel of the +Conception. + +The differences between the earlier, the more authentic, and the more +characteristically Florentine "Vierge aux Rochers," in the Louvre, and +the "Virgin of the Rocks," in the National Gallery, are that in the +latter picture the hand of the angel, seated by the side of the Infant +Christ, is raised and pointed in the direction of the little St. John +the Baptist; that the St John has a reed cross and the three principal +figures have gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much +later. In the National Gallery version the left hand of the Madonna, +the Christ's right hand and arm, and the forehead of St. John the +Baptist are freely restored, while a strip of the foreground right +across the whole picture is ill painted and lacks accent. The head of +the angel is, however, magnificently painted, and by Leonardo; the +panel, taken as a whole, is exceedingly beautiful and full of charm +and tenderness. + + + + +THE LAST SUPPER + +Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the +"Last Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the +Dominican Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally +executed in tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to +deteriorate a very few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it +was half ruined. In 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco +including the feet of the Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one +Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure Milanese painter, received £300 for +the worthless labour he bestowed on restoring it. He seems to have +employed some astringent restorative which revived the colours +temporarily, and then left them in deeper eclipse than before. In 1770 +the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In 1796 Napoleon's cavalry, +contrary to his express orders, turned the refectory into a stable, +and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. Subsequently the +refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or another it has +been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in 1854 this +restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi completed +the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion of +experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the +devices of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of +floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been brought to light. + +Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de +théâtre_ at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray +me." Instantly the various apostles realise that there is a traitor +among their number, and show by their different gestures their +different passions, and reveal their different temperaments. On the +left of Christ is St. John who is overcome with grief and is +interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom is seated Judas +Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is quite unable +to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the money-bag +and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar. + +It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to +Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to +paint the fresco and was causing the Convent considerable +inconvenience. Leonardo had his revenge by threatening to paint the +features of the impatient Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The +incident has been quaintly told in the following lines:-- + + "Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me + Because, forsooth, I have not drawn a line + Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he + Could without trouble paint that head divine. + But think, oh Signor Duca, what should be + The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face-- + What sorrowing majesty, what noble grace, + At that dread moment when He brake the bread, + And those submissive words of pathos said: + + "'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'-- + And 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 express + The 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? + + "And Judas too, the basest face I see, + Will not contain his utter infamy; + Among the dregs and offal of mankind + Vainly I seek an utter wretch to find. + He who for thirty silver coins could sell + His Lord, must be the Devil's miracle. + Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is + To find the type of him who with a kiss + Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll do; + And if it please his reverence and you, + For Judas' face I'm willing to paint his." + + * * * * * + + "... I dare not paint + Till all is ordered and matured within, + Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint, + But when the soul commands I shall begin; + On themes like these I should not dare to dwell + With our good Prior--they to him would be + Mere nonsense; he must touch and taste and see, + And facts, he says, are never mystical." + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE HEAD OF CHRIST + +In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by +1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)] + +The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in +the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the +original painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that +sublime work "in which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect +unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in +their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and +the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a +grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for £600 by the Royal +Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone +unturned to acquire also the original studies for 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 +by Leonardo. + +Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the +Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to +Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the +Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the +Château d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre. + +The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the +Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the +principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In +spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated +seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of +the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own +death, and resignation to the will of His Father." + + + +THE COURT OF MILAN + +Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice +d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young +Duchess, who at one time owned as many as eighty-four splendid gowns, +refused to wear a certain dress of woven gold, which her husband had +given her, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of her day, continued to +wear a very similar one, which presumably had been given to her by +Ludovico. Having discarded Cecilia, who, as her tastes did not lie in +the direction of the Convent, was married in 1491 to Count Ludovico +Bergamini, the Duke in 1496 became enamoured of Lucrezia Crivelli, a +lady-in-waiting to the Duchess Beatrice. + +Leonardo, as court painter, perhaps painted a portrait, now lost, of +Lucrezia, whose features are more likely to be preserved to us in the +portrait by Ambrogio da Predis, now in the Collection of the Earl of +Roden, than in the quite unauthenticated portrait (Plate VII.), now in +the Louvre (No. 1600). + +On January 2, 1497, Beatrice spent three hours in prayer in the church +of St. Maria delle Grazie, and the same night gave birth to a +stillborn child. In a few hours she passed away, and from that moment +Ludovico was a changed man. He went daily to see her tomb, and was +quite overcome with grief. + +In April 1498, Isabella d'Este, Beatrice's elder, more beautiful, and +more graceful sister, "at the sound of whose name all the muses rise +and do reverence" wrote to Cecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking her +to lend her the portrait which Leonardo had painted of her some +fifteen years earlier, as she wished to compare it with a picture by +Giovanni Bellini. Cecilia graciously lent the picture--now presumably +lost--adding her regret that it no longer resembled her. + + + +LEONARDO LEAVES MILAN + +Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci's works in Milan towards the end +of 1499 was, probably, the superb cartoon of "The Virgin and Child +with St. Anne and St. John," now at Burlington House. Though little +known to the general public, this large drawing on _carton_, or +stiff paper, is one of the greatest of London's treasures, as it +reveals the sweeping line of Leonardo's powerful draughtsmanship. It +was in the Pompeo Leoni, Arconati, Casnedi, and Udney Collections +before passing to the Royal Academy. + +In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico's +reign. In April of that year we read of his giving a vineyard to +Leonardo; in September Ludovico had to leave Milan for the Tyrol to +raise an army, and on the 14th of the same month the city was sold by +Bernardino di Corte to the French, who occupied it from 1500 to 1512. +Ludovico may well have had in mind the figure of the traitor in the +"Last Supper" when he declared that "Since the days of Judas Iscariot +there has never been so black a traitor as Bernardino di Corte." On +October 6th Louis XII. entered the city. Before the end of the year +Leonardo, realising the necessity for his speedy departure, sent six +hundred gold florins by letter of exchange to Florence to be placed +to his credit with the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. + +In the following year, Ludovico having been defeated at Novara, +Leonardo was a homeless wanderer. He left Milan for Mantua, where he +drew a portrait in chalk of Isabella d'Este, which is now in the +Louvre. Leonardo eventually arrived in Florence about Easter 1500. +After apparently working there in 1501 on a second Cartoon, similar in +most respects to the one he had executed in Milan two years earlier, +he travelled in Umbria, visiting Orvieto, Pesaro, Rimini, and other +towns, acting as engineer and architect to Cesare Borgia, for whom he +planned a navigable canal between Cesena and Porto Cese-natico. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.-PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZIA CRIVELLI + +In the Louvre. No. 1600 [483]. 2 ft by I ft 5 ins. (0.62 x 0.44) + +This picture, although officially attributed to Leonardo, is probably +not by him, and almost certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli. +It was once known as a "Portrait of a Lady" and is still occasionally +miscalled "La Belle Féronnière."] + + + +MONA LISA + +Early in 1503 he was back again in Florence, and set to work in +earnest on the "Portrait of Mona Lisa" (Plate I.), now in the Louvre +(No. 1601). Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini was the daughter +of Antonio Gherardini. In 1495 she married Francesco di Bartolommeo de +Zenobi del Giocondo. It is from the surname of her husband that she +derives the name of "La Joconde," by which her portrait is officially +known in the Louvre. Vasari is probably inaccurate in saying that +Leonardo "loitered over it for four years, and finally left it +unfinished." He may have begun it in the spring of 1501 and, probably +owing to having taken service under Cesare Borgia in the following +year, put it on one side, ultimately completing it after working on +the "Battle of Anghiari" in 1504. Vasari's eulogy of this portrait may +with advantage be quoted: "Whoever shall desire to see how far art can +imitate nature may do so to perfection in this head, wherein every +peculiarity that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the +pencil has been faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous +brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are +those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature. +The nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be +easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has +the lips uniting the rose-tints of their colour with those of the +face, in the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does +not appear to be painted, but truly flesh and blood. He who looks +earnestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the +beating of the pulses. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while +Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping +some one constantly near her to sing or play on instruments, or to +jest and otherwise amuse her." + +Leonardo painted this picture in the full maturity of his talent, and, +although it is now little more than a monochrome owing to the free and +merciless restoration to which it has been at times subjected, it must +have created a wonderful impression on those who saw it in the early +years of the sixteenth century. It is difficult for the unpractised +eye to-day to form any idea of its original beauty. Leonardo has here +painted this worldly-minded woman--her portrait is much more famous +than she herself ever was--with a marvellous charm and suavity, a +finesse of expression never reached before and hardly ever equalled +since. Contrast the head of the Christ at Milan, Leonardo's conception +of divinity expressed in perfect humanity, with the subtle and +sphinx-like smile of this languorous creature. + +The landscape background, against which Mona Lisa is posed, recalls +the severe, rather than exuberant, landscape and the dim vistas of +mountain ranges seen in the neighbourhood of his own birthplace. The +portrait was bought during the reign of Francis I. for a sum which is +to-day equal to about £1800. Leonardo, by the way, does not seem to +have been really affected by any individual affection for any woman, +and, like Michelangelo and Raphael, never married. + +In January 4, 1504, Leonardo was one of the members of the Committee +of Artists summoned to advise the Signoria as to the most suitable +site for the erection of Michelangelo's statue of "David," which had +recently been completed. + + + + +BATTLE OF ANGHIARI + +In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate +one of the walls of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The +subject he selected was the "Battle of Anghiari." Although he +completed the cartoon, the only part of the composition which he +eventually executed in colour was an incident in the foreground +which dealt with the "Battle of the Standard." One of the many +supposed copies of a study of this mural painting now hangs on the +south-east staircase in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It depicts the +Florentines under Cardinal Ludovico Mezzarota Scarampo fighting +against the Milanese under Niccolò Piccinino, the General of Filippo +Maria Visconti, on June 29, 1440. + + + +AGAIN IN MILAN + +Leonardo was back in Milan in May 1506 in the service of the French +King, for whom he executed, apparently with the help of assistants, +"the Madonna, the Infant Christ, and Saint Anne" (Plate VIII.). The +composition of this oil-painting seems to have been built up on the +second cartoon, which he had made some eight years earlier, and which +was apparently taken to France in 1516 and ultimately lost. + + + +IN ROME + +From 1513-1515 he was in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been +elected Pope under the title of Leo X. He did not, however, work for +the Pope, although he resided in the Vatican, his time being occupied +in studying acoustics, anatomy, optics, geology, minerals, +engineering, and geometry! + + + +IN FRANCE + +At last in 1516, three years before his death, Leonardo left his +native land for France, where he received from Francis I. a princely +income. His powers, however, had already begun to fail, and he +produced very little in the country of his adoption. It is, +nevertheless, only in the Louvre that his achievements as a painter +can to-day be adequately studied. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.-MADONNA, INFANT CHRIST, AND ST. ANNE + +In the Louvre. No. 1508. 5 ft. 7 in. h. by 4 ft. 3 in. w. (1.70 x +1.29) + +Painted between 1509 and 1516 with the help of assistants.] + +On October 10, 1516, when he was resident at the Manor House of Cloux +near Amboise in Touraine with Francesco Melzi, his friend and +assistant, he showed three of his pictures to the Cardinal of Aragon, +but his right hand was now paralysed, and he could "no longer colour +with that sweetness with which he was wont, although still able to +make 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, which is probably +the only authentic portrait of him in existence. + + + +HIS DEATH + +On April 23, 1519--Easter Eve--exactly forty-five years before the +birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of +the same year he passed away. + +Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many +months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms +of his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He +was then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King +Francis I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit +him, rose and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do +him such favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings. +The spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could +attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch, +being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not +over-veracious chronicler, however, is here drawing largely upon his +imagination. Leonardo was only sixty-seven years of age, and the King +was in all probability on that date at St. Germain-en Laye! + +Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter, +engineer, and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former +Professor of Painting to the Duke of Milan." + +"May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and +assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose +like Nature cannot produce a second time." + + + +HIS ART + +Leonardo, whose birth antedates that of Michelangelo and Raphael by +twenty three and thirty-one years respectively, was thus in the +forefront of the Florentine Renaissance, his life coinciding almost +exactly with the best period of Tuscan painting. + +Leonardo was the first to investigate scientifically and to apply to +art the laws of light and shade, though the preliminary investigations +of Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded. + +He observed with strict accuracy the subtleties of chiaroscuro--light +and shade apart from colour; but, as one critic has pointed out, his +gift of chiaroscuro cost the colour-life of many a noble picture. +Leonardo was "a tonist, not a colourist," before whom the whole book +of nature lay open. + +It was not instability of character but versatility of mind which +caused him to undertake many things that having commenced he +afterwards abandoned, and the probability is that as soon as he saw +exactly how he could solve any difficulty which presented itself, he +put on one side the merely perfunctory execution of such a task. + +In the Forster collection in the Victoria and Albert museum three of +Leonardo's note-books with sketches are preserved, and it is stated +that it was his practice to carry about with him, attached to his +girdle, a little book for making sketches. They prove that he was +left-handed and wrote from right to left. + + + + +HIS MIND + +We can readily believe the statements of Benvenuto Cellini, the +sixteenth-century Goldsmith, that Francis I. "did not believe +that any other man had come into the world who had attained so great a +knowledge as Leonardo, and that not only as sculptor, painter, and +architect, for beyond that he was a profound philosopher." It was +Cellini also who contended that "Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and +Raphael are the Book of the World." + +Leonardo anticipated many eminent scientists and inventors in the +methods of investigation which they adopted to solve the many problems +with which their names are coupled. Among these may be cited +Copernicus' theory of the earth's movement, Lamarck's classification +of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the laws of friction, +the laws of combustion and respiration, the elevation of the +continents, the laws of gravitation, the undulatory theory of light +and heat, steam as a motive power in navigation, flying machines, the +invention of the camera obscura, magnetic attraction, the use of the +stone saw, the system of canalisation, breech loading cannon, the +construction of fortifications, the circulation of the blood, the +swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, the composition of explosives, the +invention of paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine! It +is, therefore, easy to see why he called "Mechanics the Paradise +of the Sciences." + +Leonardo was a SUPERMAN. + + + + +HIS MAXIMS + + + The eye is the window of the soul. + + Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. + + The natural desire 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. + + Miserable men, how often do you enslave yourselves + to gain money! + + + + +HIS SPELL + +The influence of Leonardo was strongly felt in Milan, where he spent +so many of the best years of his life and founded a School of +painting. He was a close observer of the gradation and reflex of +light, and was capable of giving to his discoveries a practical and +aesthetic form. His strong personal character and the fascination of +his genius enthralled his followers, who were satisfied to repeat his +types, to perpetuate the "grey-hound eye," and to make use of his +little devices. Among this group of painters may be mentioned +Boltraffio, who perhaps painted the "Presumed Portrait of Lucrezia +Crivelli" (Plate VII.), which is officially attributed in the Louvre +to the great master himself. + + + + +HIS DESCENDANTS + + +Signor Uzielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of +Domenico (one of Leonardo's brothers), was a few years ago a peasant +at Bottinacio near Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the +family papers, which now form part of the archives of the Accademia +dei Lincei at Rome. It was proved also that Tommaso had given his +eldest son "the glorious name of Leonardo." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/7785-8.zip b/7785-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9d80bb --- /dev/null +++ b/7785-8.zip diff --git a/7785-h.zip b/7785-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..339f679 --- /dev/null +++ b/7785-h.zip diff --git a/7785-h/7785-h.htm b/7785-h/7785-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..adf652c --- /dev/null +++ b/7785-h/7785-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1413 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + LEONARDO DA VINCI, By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. Brockwell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Leonardo da Vinci + +Author: Maurice W. Brockwell + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7785] +Last Updated: February 1, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO DA VINCI *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <a name="Mona_Lisa" id="Mona_Lisa"></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0001.jpg (282K)" src="images/Plate0001.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[Plate 1—MONA LISA. In the Louvre. No. 1601. 2 ft 6 ½ ins. + By 1 ft. 9 ins.(0.77 x 0.53)]</i> + </p> + <h1> + LEONARDO DA VINCI + </h1> + <h2> + By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + </h2> + <h3> + Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour + </h3> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="title.jpg (143K)" src="images/title.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + "Leonardo," wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, "was a Man so + happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so accomplished in + the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so much esteemed by the + Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly applauded by the Ages which have + succeeded, and his Name and Memory still preserved with so much Veneration + by the present Age—that, if anything could equal the Merit of the + Man, it must be the Success he met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting + alone, but in Philosophy, too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of + the 'Pencil.'" + </p> + <p> + This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work still + holds good to-day. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#His_Birth">His Birth</a><br /> <a + href="#His_Early_Training">His Early Training</a><br /> <a + href="#His_Early_Works">His Early Works</a><br /> <a + href="#First_Visit_to_Milan">First Visit to Milan</a><br /> <a + href="#In_the_East">In the East</a><br /> <a href="#Back_in_Milan">Back + in Milan</a><br /> <a href="#The_Virgin_of_the_Rocks">The Virgin of the + Rocks</a><br /> <a href="#The_Last_Supper">The Last Supper</a><br /> <a + href="#The_Court_of_Milan">The Court of Milan</a><br /> <a + href="#Leonardo_Leaves_Milan">Leonardo Leaves Milan</a><br /> <a + href="#Mona_Lisa">Mona Lisa</a><br /> <a href="#Battle_of_Anghiari">Battle + of Anghiari</a><br /> <a href="#Again_in_Milan">Again in Milan</a><br /> + <a href="#In_Rome">In Rome</a><br /> <a href="#In_France">In France</a><br /> + <a href="#His_Death">His Death</a><br /> <a href="#His_Art">His Art</a><br /> + <a href="#His_Mind">His Mind</a><br /> <a href="#His_Maxims">His Maxims</a><br /> + <a href="#His_Spell">His Spell</a><br /> <a href="#His_Descendants">His + Descendants</a> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> Plate<br /> I. <a href="#Mona_Lisa2">Mona Lisa</a><br /> In the + Louvre<br /> II. <a href="#Annunciation">Annunciation</a><br /> In the + Uffizi Gallery, Florence<br /> III. <a href="#Virgin_of_the_Rocks">Virgin + of the Rocks</a><br /> In the National Gallery, London<br /> IV. <a + href="#The_Last_Supper2">The Last Supper</a><br /> In the Refectory of + Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan<br /> V. <a + href="#Copy_of_the_Last_Supper">Copy of the Last Supper</a><br /> In + the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House<br /> VI. <a href="#Head_of_Christ">Head + of Christ</a><br /> In the Brera Gallery, Milan<br /> VII. <a + href="#Lucrezia">Portrait (presumed) of Lucrezia Crivelli</a><br /> In + the Louvre<br /> VIII. <a href="#St._Anne">Madonna, Infant Christ, and St + Anne</a>.<br /> In the Louvre + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="HisBirth.jpg (78K)" src="images/HisBirth.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + <a name="His_Birth" id="His_Birth">HIS BIRTH</a> + </h2> + <p> + Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, was + born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is about six + miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci is still very + inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the cart of a general + carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey from Empoli at sunrise + and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of the main street of Vinci + to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the great artist is pointed to + with much pride by the inhabitants. Leonardo's traditional birthplace on + the outskirts of the town still exists, and serves now as the headquarters + of a farmer and small wine exporter. + </p> + <p> + Leonardo di Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da Vinci—for + that was his full legal name—was the natural and first-born son of + Ser Piero, a country notary, who, like his father, grandfather, and + great-grandfather, followed that honourable vocation with distinction and + success, and who subsequently—when Leonardo was a youth—was + appointed notary to the Signoria of Florence. Leonardo's mother was one + Caterina, who afterwards married Accabriga di Piero del Vaccha of Vinci. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0002.jpg (91K)" src="images/Plate0002.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>Plate II.—Annunciation In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. 1288. + 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. (0.99 x 2.18)] Although this panel is included + in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by Leonardo, it is in all probability by + his master, Verrocchio.]</i> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The date of Leonardo's birth is not known with any certainty. His age is + given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather + Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded that he + was born in 1452. Leonardo's father Ser Piero, who afterwards married four + times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. Is it + unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers in mind + in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous "Last Supper" the figures + of eleven Apostles and one outcast? + </p> + <p> + However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his "love child" who very + early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Early_Training" id="His_Early_Training">HIS EARLY TRAINING</a> + </h2> + <p> + Practically nothing is known about Leonardo's boyhood, but Vasari informs + us that Ser Piero, impressed with the remarkable character of his son's + genius, took some of his drawings to Andrea del Verrocchio, an intimate + friend, and begged him earnestly to express an opinion on them. Verrocchio + was so astonished at the power they revealed that he advised Ser Piero to + send Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo thus entered the studio of + Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469-1470. In the workshop of that great + Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and artist he met other craftsmen, metal + workers, and youthful painters, among whom was Botticelli, at that moment + of his development a jovial _habitué_ of the Poetical Supper Club, + who had not yet given any premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic, and + visionary of later times. There also Leonardo came into contact with that + unoriginal painter Lorenzo di Credi, his junior by seven years. He also, + no doubt, met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called "that blockhead in art." + The genius and versatility of the Vincian painter was, however, in no way + dulled by intercourse with lesser artists than himself; on the contrary he + vied with each in turn, and readily outstripped his fellow pupils. In + 1472, at the age of twenty, he was admitted into the Guild of Florentine + Painters. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately very few of Leonardo's paintings have come down to us. + Indeed there do not exist a sufficient number of finished and absolutely + authentic oil pictures from his own hand to afford illustrations for this + short chronological sketch of his life's work. The few that do remain, + however, are of so exquisite a quality—or were until they were + "comforted" by the uninspired restorer—that we can unreservedly + accept the enthusiastic records of tradition in respect of all his works. + To rightly understand the essential characteristics of Leonardo's + achievements it is necessary to regard him as a scientist quite as much as + an 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 by the study of architecture—the + foundation-stone of all true art—sculpture, mathematics, engineering + and music. His versatility was unbounded, and we are apt to regret that + this many-sided genius did not realise that it is by developing his power + within certain limits that the great master is revealed. Leonardo may be + described as the most Universal Genius of Christian times-perhaps of all + time. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="Virgin_of_the_Rocks" id="Virgin_of_the_Rocks"></a> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0003.jpg (210K)" src="images/Plate0003.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[PLATE III. THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS In the National Gallery. No. 1093. + 6 ft. ½ in. h. by 3 ft 9 ½ in. w. (1.83 x 1.15)] This + picture was painted in Milan about 1495 by Ambrogio da Predis under the + supervision and guidance of Leonardo da Vinci, the essential features of + the composition being borrowed from the earlier "Vierge aux Rochers," now + in the Louvre.]</i> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Early_Works" id="His_Early_Works">HIS EARLY WORKS</a> + </h2> + <p> + <a name="Annunciation" id="Annunciation"></a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0002.jpg (91K)" src="images/Plate0002.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[Plate II.—Annunciation In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. + 1288. 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. (0.99 x 2.18)]</i> + </p> + <p> + To about the year 1472 belongs the small picture of the "Annunciation," + now in the Louvre, which after being the subject of much contention among + European critics has gradually won its way to general recognition as an + early work by Leonardo himself. That it was painted in the studio of + Verrocchio was always admitted, but it was long catalogued by the Louvre + authorities under the name of Lorenzo di Credi. It is now, however, + attributed to Leonardo (No. 1602 A). Such uncertainties as to attribution + were common half a century ago when scientific art criticism was in its + infancy. + </p> + <p> + Another painting of the "Annunciation," which is now in the Uffizi Gallery + (No. 1288) is still officially attributed to Leonardo. This small picture, + which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps by Andrea del + Verrocchio, Leonardo's master, is the subject of Plate II. + </p> + <p> + To January 1473 belongs Leonardo's earliest dated work, a pen-and-ink + drawing—"A Wide View over a Plain," now in the Uffizi. The + inscription together with the date in the top left-hand corner is + reversed, and proves a remarkable characteristic of Leonardo's handwriting—viz., + that he wrote from right to left; indeed, it has been suggested that he + did this in order to make it difficult for any one else to read the words, + which were frequently committed to paper by the aid of peculiar + abbreviations. + </p> + <p> + Leonardo continued to work in his master's studio till about 1477. On + January 1st of the following year, 1478, he was commissioned to paint an + altar-piece for the Chapel of St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio, and he + was paid twenty-five florins on account. He, however, never carried out + the work, and after waiting five years the Signoria transferred the + commission to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who also failed to accomplish the + task, which was ultimately, some seven years later, completed by Filippino + Lippi. This panel of the "Madonna Enthroned, St. Victor, St. John Baptist, + St. Bernard, and St. Zenobius," which is dated February 20, 1485, is now + in the Uffizi. + </p> + <p> + That Leonardo was by this time a facile draughtsman is evidenced by his + vigorous pen-and-ink sketch—now in a private collection in Paris—of + Bernardo Bandini, who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478 stabbed + Giuliano de' Medici to death in the Cathedral at Florence during High + Mass. The drawing is dated December 29, 1479, the date of Bandini's public + execution in Florence. + </p> + <p> + In that year also, no doubt, was painted the early and, as might be + expected, unfinished "St. Jerome in the Desert," now in the Vatican, the + under-painting being in umber and _terraverte_. Its authenticity is + vouched for not only by the internal evidence of the picture itself, but + also by the similarity of treatment seen in a drawing in the Royal Library + at Windsor. Cardinal Fesch, a princely collector in Rome in the early part + of the nineteenth century, found part of the picture—the torso—being + used as a box-cover in a shop in Rome. He long afterwards discovered in a + shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to the torso. The + jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX., and added to the + Vatican Collection. + </p> + <p> + In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for the + monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was made to + him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most probable. He, + however, never completed the picture, although it gave rise to the + supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the Magi," now in the + Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is unfinished, only the + under-painting and the colouring of the figures in green on a brown ground + having been executed. The rhythm of line, the variety of attitude, the + profound feeling for landscape and an early application of chiaroscuro + effect combine to render this one of his most characteristic productions. + </p> + <p> + Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of Christ" + he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels holding some + vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his remarkable genius + clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo painted being much + better than the portion executed by his master. This "Baptism of Christ," + which is now in the Accademia in Florence and is in a bad state of + preservation, appears to have been a comparatively early work by + Verrocchio, and to have been painted in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be + about thirty years of age. + </p> + <p> + To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now in + the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have been + made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio, + who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian statue of + Bartolommeo Colleoni, which was completed twenty years later and still + adorns the Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="First_Visit_to_Milan" id="First_Visit_to_Milan">FIRST VISIT TO + MILAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, having first + written to his future patron a full statement of his various abilities in + the following terms:— + </p> + <p> + "Having, most illustrious lord, seen and pondered over the experiments + made by those who pass as masters in the art of inventing instruments of + war, and having satisfied myself that they in no way differ from those in + general use, I make so bold as to solicit, without prejudice to any one, + an opportunity of informing your excellency of some of my own secrets." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="The_Last_Supper" id="The_Last_Supper"></a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0004.jpg (98K)" src="images/Plate0004.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[PLATE IV.-THE LAST SUPPER Refectory of St. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. + About 13 feet 8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w. (4.16 x 8.09)]</i> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + He goes on to say that he can construct light bridges which can be + transported, that he can make pontoons and scaling ladders, that he can + construct cannon and mortars unlike those commonly used, as well as + catapults and other engines of war; or if the fight should take place at + sea that he can build engines which shall be suitable alike for defence as + for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public and private + buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute sculpture in + marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting, "can do as well as + any one else, no matter who he may be." In conclusion, he offers to + execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza "which + shall bring glory and never-ending honour to that illustrious house." + </p> + <p> + It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from Florence + to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in the Louvre (No. + 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and although it has no + pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the Royal Collection at + Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and considerably more + authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the National Gallery + (Plate III.). + </p> + <p> + He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of + Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it. He + may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of + Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has, + however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us in + the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is now in + the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="In_the_East" id="In_the_East">IN THE EAST</a> + </h2> + <p> + The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy, + between 1483 and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion, based on + documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spent those + years in the service of the Sultan of Egypt, travelling in Armenia and the + East as his engineer. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="Back_in_Milan" id="Back_in_Milan">BACK IN MILAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + In 1487 he was again resident in Milan as general artificer—using + that term in its widest sense—to Ludovico. Among his various + activities at this period must be mentioned the designs he made for the + cupola of the cathedral at Milan, and the scenery he constructed for "Il + Paradiso," which was written by Bernardo Bellincioni on the occasion of + the marriage of Gian Galeazzo with Isabella of Aragon. About 1489-1490 he + began his celebrated "Treatise on Painting" and recommenced work on the + colossal equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, which was doubtless the + greatest of all his achievements as a sculptor. It was, however, never + cast in bronze, and was ruthlessly destroyed by the French bowmen in April + 1500, on their occupation of Milan after the defeat of Ludovico at the + battle of Novara. This is all the more regrettable as no single authentic + piece of sculpture has come down to us from Leonardo's hand, and we can + only judge of his power in this direction from his drawings, and the + enthusiastic praise of his contemporaries. + </p> + <p> + This copy is usually ascribed to Marco d'Oggiono, but some critics claim + that it is by Gianpetrino. It is the same size as the original.] + </p> + <h2> + <a name="The_Virgin_of_the_Rocks" id="The_Virgin_of_the_Rocks">THE VIRGIN + OF THE ROCKS</a> + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0003.jpg (210K)" src="images/Plate0003.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The "Virgin of the Rocks" (Plate III.), now in the National Gallery, + corresponds exactly with a painting by Leonardo which was described by + Lomazzo about 1584 as being in the Chapel of the Conception in the Church + of St. Francesco at Milan. This picture, the only _oeuvre_ in this gallery + with which Leonardo's name can be connected, was brought to England in + 1777 by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the Marquess of Lansdowne, who + subsequently exchanged it for another picture in the Collection of the + Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park, Wiltshire, from whom it was eventually + purchased by the National Gallery for £9000. Signor Emilio Motta, + some fifteen years ago, unearthed in the State Archives of Milan a letter + or memorial from Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the + Duke of Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute, which had arisen + between the petitioners and the Brotherhood of the Conception, with regard + to the valuation of certain works of art furnished for the chapel of the + Brotherhood in the church of St. Francesco. The only logical deduction + which can be drawn from documentary evidence is that the "Vierge aux + Rochers" in the Louvre is the picture, painted about 1482, which between + 1491 and 1494 gave rise to the dispute, and that, when it was ultimately + sold by the artists for the full price asked to some unknown buyer, the + National Gallery version was executed for a smaller price mainly by + Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision, and with the help, of Leonardo to + be placed in the Chapel of the Conception. + </p> + <p> + The differences between the earlier, the more authentic, and the more + characteristically Florentine "Vierge aux Rochers," in the Louvre, and the + "Virgin of the Rocks," in the National Gallery, are that in the latter + picture the hand of the angel, seated by the side of the Infant Christ, is + raised and pointed in the direction of the little St. John the Baptist; + that the St John has a reed cross and the three principal figures have + gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much later. In the + National Gallery version the left hand of the Madonna, the Christ's right + hand and arm, and the forehead of St. John the Baptist are freely + restored, while a strip of the foreground right across the whole picture + is ill painted and lacks accent. The head of the angel is, however, + magnificently painted, and by Leonardo; the panel, taken as a whole, is + exceedingly beautiful and full of charm and tenderness. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="The_Last_Supper2" id="The_Last_Supper2">THE LAST SUPPER</a> + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0004.jpg (98K)" src="images/Plate0004.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the "Last + Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the Dominican + Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally executed in + tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to deteriorate a very + few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it was half ruined. In + 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco including the feet of the + Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure + Milanese painter, received £300 for the worthless labour he bestowed + on restoring it. He seems to have employed some astringent restorative + which revived the colours temporarily, and then left them in deeper + eclipse than before. In 1770 the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In + 1796 Napoleon's cavalry, contrary to his express orders, turned the + refectory into a stable, and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. + Subsequently the refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or + another it has been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in + 1854 this restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi + completed the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion + of experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the devices + of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of floral decoration + by Leonardo himself have been brought to light. + </p> + <p> + Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de théâtre_ + at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray me." Instantly the + various apostles realise that there is a traitor among their number, and + show by their different gestures their different passions, and reveal + their different temperaments. On the left of Christ is St. John who is + overcome with grief and is interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom + is seated Judas Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is + quite unable to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the + money-bag and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar. + </p> + <p> + It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to Ludovico + Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to paint the + fresco and was causing the Convent considerable inconvenience. Leonardo + had his revenge by threatening to paint the features of the impatient + Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The incident has been quaintly + told in the following lines:— + </p> + <p> + "Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me Because, forsooth, I have not + drawn a line Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he Could without + trouble paint that head divine. But think, oh Signor Duca, what should + be The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face— What sorrowing + majesty, what noble grace, At that dread moment when He brake the bread, + And those submissive words of pathos said: + </p> + <p> + "'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'— And 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 express The 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? + </p> + <p> + "And Judas too, the basest face I see, Will not contain his utter + infamy; Among the dregs and offal of mankind Vainly I seek an utter + wretch to find. He who for thirty silver coins could sell His Lord, + must be the Devil's miracle. Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is To find + the type of him who with a kiss Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll + do; And if it please his reverence and you, For Judas' face I'm + willing to paint his." + </p> + <p> + * * * * * + </p> + <p> + "... I dare not paint Till all is ordered and matured within, + Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint, But when the soul + commands I shall begin; On themes like these I should not dare to dwell + With our good Prior—they to him would be Mere nonsense; he must + touch and taste and see, And facts, he says, are never mystical." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="Head_of_Christ" id="Head_of_Christ"></a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0006.jpg (261K)" src="images/Plate0006.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[PLATE VI.—THE HEAD OF CHRIST In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. + 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by 1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)]</i> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="Copy_of_the_Last_Supper" id="Copy_of_the_Last_Supper"></a> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0005.jpg (74K)" src="images/Plate0005.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in the + Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the original + painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that sublime work "in + which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect unity." This copy was + long in the possession of the Carthusians in their Convent at Pavia, and, + on the suppression of that Order and the sale of their effects in 1793, + passed into the possession of a grocer at Milan. It was subsequently + purchased for £600 by the Royal Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas + Lawrence, who left no stone unturned to acquire also the original studies + for 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 by Leonardo. + </p> + <p> + Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the + Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to + Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the Constable + de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the Château + d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre. + </p> + <p> + The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the Brera + Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the principal + figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In spite of decay and + restoration it expresses "the most elevated seriousness together with + Divine Gentleness, pain on account of the faithlessness of His disciples, + a full presentiment of His own death, and resignation to the will of His + Father." + </p> + <h2> + <a name="The_Court_of_Milan" id="The_Court_of_Milan">THE COURT OF MILAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice + d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young + Duchess, who at one time owned as many as eighty-four splendid gowns, + refused to wear a certain dress of woven gold, which her husband had given + her, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of her day, continued to wear a very + similar one, which presumably had been given to her by Ludovico. Having + discarded Cecilia, who, as her tastes did not lie in the direction of the + Convent, was married in 1491 to Count Ludovico Bergamini, the Duke in 1496 + became enamoured of Lucrezia Crivelli, a lady-in-waiting to the Duchess + Beatrice. + </p> + <p> + Leonardo, as court painter, perhaps painted a portrait, now lost, of + Lucrezia, whose features are more likely to be preserved to us in the + portrait by Ambrogio da Predis, now in the Collection of the Earl of + Roden, than in the quite unauthenticated portrait (Plate VII.), now in the + Louvre (No. 1600). + </p> + <p> + On January 2, 1497, Beatrice spent three hours in prayer in the church of + St. Maria delle Grazie, and the same night gave birth to a stillborn + child. In a few hours she passed away, and from that moment Ludovico was a + changed man. He went daily to see her tomb, and was quite overcome with + grief. + </p> + <p> + In April 1498, Isabella d'Este, Beatrice's elder, more beautiful, and more + graceful sister, "at the sound of whose name all the muses rise and do + reverence" wrote to Cecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking her to lend + her the portrait which Leonardo had painted of her some fifteen years + earlier, as she wished to compare it with a picture by Giovanni Bellini. + Cecilia graciously lent the picture—now presumably lost—adding + her regret that it no longer resembled her. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="Leonardo_Leaves_Milan" id="Leonardo_Leaves_Milan">LEONARDO LEAVES + MILAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci's works in Milan towards the end of + 1499 was, probably, the superb cartoon of "The Virgin and Child with St. + Anne and St. John," now at Burlington House. Though little known to the + general public, this large drawing on _carton_, or stiff paper, is one of + the greatest of London's treasures, as it reveals the sweeping line of + Leonardo's powerful draughtsmanship. It was in the Pompeo Leoni, Arconati, + Casnedi, and Udney Collections before passing to the Royal Academy. + </p> + <p> + In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico's reign. + In April of that year we read of his giving a vineyard to Leonardo; in + September Ludovico had to leave Milan for the Tyrol to raise an army, and + on the 14th of the same month the city was sold by Bernardino di Corte to + the French, who occupied it from 1500 to 1512. Ludovico may well have had + in mind the figure of the traitor in the "Last Supper" when he declared + that "Since the days of Judas Iscariot there has never been so black a + traitor as Bernardino di Corte." On October 6th Louis XII. entered the + city. Before the end of the year Leonardo, realising the necessity for his + speedy departure, sent six hundred gold florins by letter of exchange to + Florence to be placed to his credit with the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. + </p> + <p> + In the following year, Ludovico having been defeated at Novara, Leonardo + was a homeless wanderer. He left Milan for Mantua, where he drew a + portrait in chalk of Isabella d'Este, which is now in the Louvre. Leonardo + eventually arrived in Florence about Easter 1500. After apparently working + there in 1501 on a second Cartoon, similar in most respects to the one he + had executed in Milan two years earlier, he travelled in Umbria, visiting + Orvieto, Pesaro, Rimini, and other towns, acting as engineer and architect + to Cesare Borgia, for whom he planned a navigable canal between Cesena and + Porto Cese-natico. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="Lucrezia" id="Lucrezia"></a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0007.jpg (205K)" src="images/Plate0007.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[PLATE VII.-PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZIA CRIVELLI In the Louvre. No. + 1600 [483]. 2 ft by I ft 5 ins. (0.62 x 0.44) This picture, although + officially attributed to Leonardo, is probably not by him, and almost + certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli. It was once known as a + "Portrait of a Lady" and is still occasionally miscalled "La Belle Féronnière."]</i> + </p> + <h2> + <a name="Mona_Lisa2" id="Mona_Lisa2">MONA LISA</a> + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0001.jpg (282K)" src="images/Plate0001.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Early in 1503 he was back again in Florence, and set to work in earnest on + the "Portrait of Mona Lisa" (Plate I.), now in the Louvre (No. 1601). Lisa + di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini was the daughter of Antonio Gherardini. + In 1495 she married Francesco di Bartolommeo de Zenobi del Giocondo. It is + from the surname of her husband that she derives the name of "La Joconde," + by which her portrait is officially known in the Louvre. Vasari is + probably inaccurate in saying that Leonardo "loitered over it for four + years, and finally left it unfinished." He may have begun it in the spring + of 1501 and, probably owing to having taken service under Cesare Borgia in + the following year, put it on one side, ultimately completing it after + working on the "Battle of Anghiari" in 1504. Vasari's eulogy of this + portrait may with advantage be quoted: "Whoever shall desire to see how + far art can imitate nature may do so to perfection in this head, wherein + every peculiarity that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the + pencil has been faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous + brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are those + pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature. The nose, + with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be easily + believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has the lips + uniting the rose-tints of their colour with those of the face, in the + utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does not appear to be + painted, but truly flesh and blood. He who looks earnestly at the pit of + the throat cannot but believe that he sees the beating of the pulses. Mona + Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while Leonardo was painting her + portrait, he took the precaution of keeping some one constantly near her + to sing or play on instruments, or to jest and otherwise amuse her." + </p> + <p> + Leonardo painted this picture in the full maturity of his talent, and, + although it is now little more than a monochrome owing to the free and + merciless restoration to which it has been at times subjected, it must + have created a wonderful impression on those who saw it in the early years + of the sixteenth century. It is difficult for the unpractised eye to-day + to form any idea of its original beauty. Leonardo has here painted this + worldly-minded woman—her portrait is much more famous than she + herself ever was—with a marvellous charm and suavity, a finesse of + expression never reached before and hardly ever equalled since. Contrast + the head of the Christ at Milan, Leonardo's conception of divinity + expressed in perfect humanity, with the subtle and sphinx-like smile of + this languorous creature. + </p> + <p> + The landscape background, against which Mona Lisa is posed, recalls the + severe, rather than exuberant, landscape and the dim vistas of mountain + ranges seen in the neighbourhood of his own birthplace. The portrait was + bought during the reign of Francis I. for a sum which is to-day equal to + about £1800. Leonardo, by the way, does not seem to have been really + affected by any individual affection for any woman, and, like Michelangelo + and Raphael, never married. + </p> + <p> + In January 4, 1504, Leonardo was one of the members of the Committee of + Artists summoned to advise the Signoria as to the most suitable site for + the erection of Michelangelo's statue of "David," which had recently been + completed. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="Battle_of_Anghiari" id="Battle_of_Anghiari">BATTLE OF ANGHIARI</a> + </h2> + <p> + In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate one + of the walls of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The subject he + selected was the "Battle of Anghiari." Although he completed the cartoon, + the only part of the composition which he eventually executed in colour + was an incident in the foreground which dealt with the "Battle of the + Standard." One of the many supposed copies of a study of this mural + painting now hangs on the south-east staircase in the Victoria and Albert + Museum. It depicts the Florentines under Cardinal Ludovico Mezzarota + Scarampo fighting against the Milanese under Niccolò Piccinino, the + General of Filippo Maria Visconti, on June 29, 1440. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="Again_in_Milan" id="Again_in_Milan">AGAIN IN MILAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + Leonardo was back in Milan in May 1506 in the service of the French King, + for whom he executed, apparently with the help of assistants, "the + Madonna, the Infant Christ, and Saint Anne" (Plate VIII.). The composition + of this oil-painting seems to have been built up on the second cartoon, + which he had made some eight years earlier, and which was apparently taken + to France in 1516 and ultimately lost. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="In_Rome" id="In_Rome">IN ROME</a> + </h2> + <p> + From 1513-1515 he was in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been elected + Pope under the title of Leo X. He did not, however, work for the Pope, + although he resided in the Vatican, his time being occupied in studying + acoustics, anatomy, optics, geology, minerals, engineering, and geometry! + </p> + <h2> + <a name="In_France" id="In_France">IN FRANCE</a> + </h2> + <p> + At last in 1516, three years before his death, Leonardo left his native + land for France, where he received from Francis I. a princely income. His + powers, however, had already begun to fail, and he produced very little in + the country of his adoption. It is, nevertheless, only in the Louvre that + his achievements as a painter can to-day be adequately studied. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> <a name="St._Anne" id="St._Anne"></a> <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="Plate0008.jpg (219K)" src="images/Plate0008.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <i>[PLATE VIII.-MADONNA, INFANT CHRIST, AND ST. ANNE In the Louvre. No. + 1508. 5 ft. 7 in. h. by 4 ft. 3 in. w. (1.70 x 1.29) Painted between 1509 + and 1516 with the help of assistants.]</i> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + On October 10, 1516, when he was resident at the Manor House of Cloux near + Amboise in Touraine with Francesco Melzi, his friend and assistant, he + showed three of his pictures to the Cardinal of Aragon, but his right hand + was now paralysed, and he could "no longer colour with that sweetness with + which he was wont, although still able to make drawings and to teach + others." + </p> + <p> + It was no doubt in these closing years of his life that he drew the + "Portrait of Himself" in red chalk, now at Turin, which is probably the + only authentic portrait of him in existence. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Death" id="His_Death">HIS DEATH</a> + </h2> + <p> + On April 23, 1519—Easter Eve—exactly forty-five years before + the birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of + the same year he passed away. + </p> + <p> + Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many + months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms of + his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He was + then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King Francis + I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit him, rose + and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do him such + favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings. The spirit + of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could attain to no + greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch, being at that time in + the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not over-veracious chronicler, + however, is here drawing largely upon his imagination. Leonardo was only + sixty-seven years of age, and the King was in all probability on that date + at St. Germain-en Laye! + </p> + <p> + Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter, engineer, + and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former Professor of + Painting to the Duke of Milan." + </p> + <p> + "May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and + assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose like + Nature cannot produce a second time." + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Art" id="His_Art">HIS ART</a> + </h2> + <p> + Leonardo, whose birth antedates that of Michelangelo and Raphael by twenty + three and thirty-one years respectively, was thus in the forefront of the + Florentine Renaissance, his life coinciding almost exactly with the best + period of Tuscan painting. + </p> + <p> + Leonardo was the first to investigate scientifically and to apply to art + the laws of light and shade, though the preliminary investigations of + Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded. + </p> + <p> + He observed with strict accuracy the subtleties of chiaroscuro—light + and shade apart from colour; but, as one critic has pointed out, his gift + of chiaroscuro cost the colour-life of many a noble picture. Leonardo was + "a tonist, not a colourist," before whom the whole book of nature lay + open. + </p> + <p> + It was not instability of character but versatility of mind which caused + him to undertake many things that having commenced he afterwards + abandoned, and the probability is that as soon as he saw exactly how he + could solve any difficulty which presented itself, he put on one side the + merely perfunctory execution of such a task. + </p> + <p> + In the Forster collection in the Victoria and Albert museum three of + Leonardo's note-books with sketches are preserved, and it is stated that + it was his practice to carry about with him, attached to his girdle, a + little book for making sketches. They prove that he was left-handed and + wrote from right to left. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Mind" id="His_Mind">HIS MIND</a> + </h2> + <p> + We can readily believe the statements of Benvenuto Cellini, the + sixteenth-century Goldsmith, that Francis I. "did not believe that any + other man had come into the world who had attained so great a knowledge as + Leonardo, and that not only as sculptor, painter, and architect, for + beyond that he was a profound philosopher." It was Cellini also who + contended that "Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael are the Book + of the World." + </p> + <p> + Leonardo anticipated many eminent scientists and inventors in the methods + of investigation which they adopted to solve the many problems with which + their names are coupled. Among these may be cited Copernicus' theory of + the earth's movement, Lamarck's classification of vertebrate and + invertebrate animals, the laws of friction, the laws of combustion and + respiration, the elevation of the continents, the laws of gravitation, the + undulatory theory of light and heat, steam as a motive power in + navigation, flying machines, the invention of the camera obscura, magnetic + attraction, the use of the stone saw, the system of canalisation, breech + loading cannon, the construction of fortifications, the circulation of the + blood, the swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, the composition of explosives, + the invention of paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine! It + is, therefore, easy to see why he called "Mechanics the Paradise of the + Sciences." + </p> + <p> + Leonardo was a SUPERMAN. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Maxims" id="His_Maxims">HIS MAXIMS</a> + </h2> + <p> + The eye is the window of the soul. + </p> + <p> + Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. + </p> + <p> + The natural desire of good men is knowledge. + </p> + <p> + A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not. + </p> + <p> + Every difficulty can be overcome by effort. + </p> + <p> + Time abides long enough for those who make use of it. + </p> + <p> + Miserable men, how often do you enslave yourselves to gain money! + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Spell" id="His_Spell">HIS SPELL</a> + </h2> + <p> + The influence of Leonardo was strongly felt in Milan, where he spent so + many of the best years of his life and founded a School of painting. He + was a close observer of the gradation and reflex of light, and was capable + of giving to his discoveries a practical and aesthetic form. His strong + personal character and the fascination of his genius enthralled his + followers, who were satisfied to repeat his types, to perpetuate the + "grey-hound eye," and to make use of his little devices. Among this group + of painters may be mentioned Boltraffio, who perhaps painted the "Presumed + Portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli" (Plate VII.), which is officially + attributed in the Louvre to the great master himself. + </p> + <h2> + <a name="His_Descendants" id="His_Descendants">HIS DESCENDANTS</a> + </h2> + <p> + Signor Uzielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of + Domenico (one of Leonardo's brothers), was a few years ago a peasant at + Bottinacio near Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the family + papers, which now form part of the archives of the Accademia dei Lincei at + Rome. It was proved also that Tommaso had given his eldest son "the + glorious name of Leonardo." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%;"> + <img alt="HisBirthth.jpg (9K)" src="images/HisBirthth.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. 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Brockwell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Leonardo da Vinci + +Author: Maurice W. Brockwell + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7785] +Posting Date: August 7, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO DA VINCI *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Plate 1--MONA LISA. Frontispiece + +In the Louvre. No. 1601. 2 ft 6 1/2 ins. By 1 ft. 9 ins. (0.77 x 0.53)] + + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI + + + +By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + + + +Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour + +[Illustration] + + +"Leonardo," wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, "was a Man +so happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so +accomplished in the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so +much esteemed by the Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly +applauded by the Ages which have succeeded, and his Name and Memory +still preserved with so much Veneration by the present Age--that, if +anything could equal the Merit of the Man, it must be the Success he +met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting alone, but in Philosophy, +too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of the 'Pencil.'" + +This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work +still holds good to-day. + + + + +CONTENTS + +His Birth +His Early Training +His Early Works +First Visit to Milan +In the East +Back in Milan +The Virgin of the Rocks +The Last Supper +The Court of Milan +Leonardo Leaves Milan +Mona Lisa +Battle of Anghiari +Again in Milan +In Rome +In France +His Death +His Art +His Mind +His Maxims +His Spell +His Descendants + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Plate +I. Mona Lisa + In the Louvre +II. Annunciation + In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence +III. Virgin of the Rocks + In the National Gallery, London +IV. The Last Supper + In the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan +V. Copy of the Last Supper + In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House +VI. Head of Christ + In the Brera Gallery, Milan +VII. Portrait (presumed) of Lucrezia Crivelli + In the Louvre +VIII. Madonna, Infant Christ, and St Anne. + In the Louvre + + + + +HIS BIRTH + +Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, +was born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is +about six miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci +is still very inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the +cart of a general carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey +from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of +the main street of Vinci to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the +great artist is pointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. +Leonardo's traditional birthplace on the outskirts of the town still +exists, and serves now as the headquarters of a farmer and small wine +exporter. + +Leonardo di Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da +Vinci--for that was his full legal name--was the natural and +first-born son of Ser Piero, a country notary, who, like his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather, followed that honourable +vocation with distinction and success, and who subsequently--when +Leonardo was a youth--was appointed notary to the Signoria of +Florence. Leonardo's mother was one Caterina, who afterwards married +Accabriga di Piero del Vaccha of Vinci. + +[Illustration: Plate II.--Annunciation + +In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. 1288. 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. +(0.99 x 2.18) + +Although this panel is included in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by +Leonardo, it is in all probability by his master, Verrocchio.] + +The date of Leonardo's birth is not known with any certainty. His age +is given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather +Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded +that he was born in 1452. Leonardo's father Ser Piero, who afterwards +married four times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. +Is it unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers +in mind in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous "Last Supper" +the figures of eleven Apostles and one outcast? + +However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his "love child" who very +early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy. + + + + +HIS EARLY TRAINING + +Practically nothing is known about Leonardo's boyhood, but Vasari +informs us that Ser Piero, impressed with the remarkable character of +his son's genius, took some of his drawings to Andrea del Verrocchio, +an intimate friend, and begged him earnestly to express an opinion on +them. Verrocchio was so astonished at the power they revealed that he +advised Ser Piero to send Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo thus +entered the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469-1470. In the +workshop of that great Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and artist he +met other craftsmen, metal workers, and youthful painters, among whom +was Botticelli, at that moment of his development a jovial +_habitue_ of the Poetical Supper Club, who had not yet given any +premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic, and visionary of later +times. There also Leonardo came into contact with that unoriginal +painter Lorenzo di Credi, his junior by seven years. He also, no +doubt, met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called "that blockhead in art." +The genius and versatility of the Vincian painter was, however, in no +way dulled by intercourse with lesser artists than himself; on the +contrary he vied with each in turn, and readily outstripped 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. +Indeed there do not exist a sufficient number of finished and +absolutely authentic oil pictures from his own hand to afford +illustrations for this short chronological sketch of his life's work. +The few that do remain, however, are of so exquisite a quality--or +were until they were "comforted" by the uninspired restorer--that we +can unreservedly accept the enthusiastic records of tradition in +respect of all his works. To rightly understand the essential +characteristics of Leonardo's achievements it is necessary to +regard him as a scientist quite as much as an 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 by the study of architecture--the foundation-stone of all true +art--sculpture, mathematics, engineering and music. His versatility +was unbounded, and we are apt to regret that this many-sided genius +did not realise that it is by developing his power within certain +limits that the great master is revealed. Leonardo may be described as +the most Universal Genius of Christian times-perhaps of all time. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.-THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + +In the National Gallery. No. 1093. 6 ft. 1/2 in. h. by 3 ft 9 1/2 in. w. +(1.83 x 1.15) + +This picture was painted in Milan about 1495 by Ambrogio da Predis +under the supervision and guidance of Leonardo da Vinci, the +essential features of the composition being borrowed from the earlier +"Vierge aux Rochers," now in the Louvre.] + + + + +HIS EARLY WORKS + +To about the year 1472 belongs the small picture of the +"Annunciation," now in the Louvre, which after being the subject of +much contention among European critics has gradually won its way to +general recognition as an early work by Leonardo himself. That it was +painted in the studio of Verrocchio was always admitted, but it was +long catalogued by the Louvre authorities under the name of Lorenzo di +Credi. It is now, however, attributed to Leonardo (No. 1602 A). Such +uncertainties as to attribution were common half a century ago when +scientific art criticism was in its infancy. + +Another painting of the "Annunciation," which is now in the Uffizi +Gallery (No. 1288) is still officially attributed to Leonardo. This +small picture, which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps +by Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo's master, is the subject of Plate +II. + +To January 1473 belongs Leonardo's earliest dated work, a pen-and-ink +drawing--"A Wide View over a Plain," now in the Uffizi. The +inscription together with the date in the top left-hand corner is +reversed, and proves a remarkable characteristic of Leonardo's +handwriting--viz., that he wrote from right to left; indeed, it has +been suggested that he did this in order to make it difficult for any +one else to read the words, which were frequently committed to paper +by the aid of peculiar abbreviations. + +Leonardo continued to work in his master's studio till about 1477. On +January 1st of the following year, 1478, he was commissioned to paint +an altar-piece for the Chapel of St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio, +and he was paid twenty-five florins on account. He, however, never +carried out the work, and after waiting five years the Signoria +transferred the commission to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who also failed to +accomplish the task, which was ultimately, some seven years later, +completed by Filippino Lippi. This panel of the "Madonna Enthroned, +St. Victor, St. John Baptist, St. Bernard, and St. Zenobius," which is +dated February 20, 1485, is now in the Uffizi. + +That Leonardo was by this time a facile draughtsman is evidenced by +his vigorous pen-and-ink sketch--now in a private collection in +Paris--of Bernardo Bandini, who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478 +stabbed Giuliano de' Medici to death in the Cathedral at Florence +during High Mass. The drawing is dated December 29, 1479, the date of +Bandini's public execution in Florence. + +In that year also, no doubt, was painted the early and, as might be +expected, unfinished "St. Jerome in the Desert," now in the Vatican, the +under-painting being in umber and _terraverte_. Its authenticity is +vouched for not only by the internal evidence of the picture itself, but +also by the similarity of treatment seen in a drawing in the Royal +Library at Windsor. Cardinal Fesch, a princely collector in Rome in the +early part of the nineteenth century, found part of the picture--the +torso--being used as a box-cover in a shop in Rome. He long afterwards +discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to +the torso. The jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX., +and added to the Vatican Collection. + +In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for +the monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was +made to him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most +probable. He, however, never completed the picture, although it gave +rise to the supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the +Magi," now in the Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is +unfinished, only the under-painting and the colouring of the figures +in green on a brown ground having been executed. The rhythm of line, +the variety of attitude, the profound feeling for landscape and an +early application of chiaroscuro effect combine to render this one of +his most characteristic productions. + +Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of +Christ" he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels +holding some vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his +remarkable genius clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo +painted being much better than the portion executed by his master. +This "Baptism of Christ," which is now in the Accademia in Florence +and is in a bad state of preservation, appears to have been a +comparatively early work by Verrocchio, and to have been painted +in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be about thirty years of age. + +To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now +in the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have +been made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del +Verrocchio, who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian +statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni, which was completed twenty years later +and still adorns the Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. + + + + +FIRST VISIT TO MILAN + + +About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, having +first written to his future patron a full statement of his various +abilities in the following terms:-- + +"Having, most illustrious lord, seen and pondered over the experiments +made by those who pass as masters in the art of inventing instruments +of war, and having satisfied myself that they in no way differ from +those in general use, I make so bold as to solicit, without prejudice +to any one, an opportunity of informing your excellency of some of my +own secrets." + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.-THE LAST SUPPER + +Refectory of St. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. About 13 feet +8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w. (4.16 x 8.09)] + +He goes on to say that he can construct light bridges which can be +transported, that he can make pontoons and scaling ladders, that he +can construct cannon and mortars unlike those commonly used, as well +as catapults and other engines of war; or if the fight should take +place at sea that he can build engines which shall be suitable alike +for defence as for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public +and private buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute +sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting, +"can do as well as any one else, no matter who he may be." In +conclusion, he offers to execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue +of Francesco Sforza "which shall bring glory and never-ending honour +to that illustrious house." + +It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from +Florence to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in +the Louvre (No. 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and +although it has no pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the +Royal Collection at Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and +considerably more authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the +National Gallery (Plate III.). + +He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of +Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it. +He may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of +Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has, +however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us +in the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is +now in the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow. + + + + +IN THE EAST + +The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy, +between 1483 and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion, based on +documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spent +those years in the service of the Sultan of Egypt, travelling in +Armenia and the East as his engineer. + + + +BACK IN MILAN + + +In 1487 he was again resident in Milan as general artificer--using +that term in its widest sense--to Ludovico. Among his various +activities at this period must be mentioned the designs he made for +the cupola of the cathedral at Milan, and the scenery he constructed +for "Il Paradiso," which was written by Bernardo Bellincioni on the +occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo with Isabella of Aragon. +About 1489-1490 he began his celebrated "Treatise on Painting" and +recommenced work on the colossal equestrian statue of Francesco +Sforza, which was doubtless the greatest of all his achievements as a +sculptor. It was, however, never cast in bronze, and was ruthlessly +destroyed by the French bowmen in April 1500, on their occupation of +Milan after the defeat of Ludovico at the battle of Novara. This is +all the more regrettable as no single authentic piece of sculpture +has come down to us from Leonardo's hand, and we can only judge of his +power in this direction from his drawings, and the enthusiastic +praise of his contemporaries. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--COPY OF THE LAST SUPPER + +In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House + +This copy is usually ascribed to Marco d'Oggiono, but some critics +claim that it is by Gianpetrino. It is the same size as the original.] + + + +THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + + +The "Virgin of the Rocks" (Plate III.), now in the National Gallery, +corresponds exactly with a painting by Leonardo which was described by +Lomazzo about 1584 as being in the Chapel of the Conception in the +Church of St. Francesco at Milan. This picture, the only _oeuvre_ +in this gallery with which Leonardo's name can be connected, was +brought to England in 1777 by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the +Marquess of Lansdowne, who subsequently exchanged it for another +picture in the Collection of the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park, +Wiltshire, from whom it was eventually purchased by the National +Gallery for L9000. Signor Emilio Motta, some fifteen years ago, +unearthed in the State Archives of Milan a letter or memorial from +Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of +Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute, which had arisen between +the petitioners and the Brotherhood of the Conception, with regard to +the valuation of certain works of art furnished for the chapel of the +Brotherhood in the church of St. Francesco. The only logical deduction +which can be drawn from documentary evidence is that the "Vierge aux +Rochers" in the Louvre is the picture, painted about 1482, which +between 1491 and 1494 gave rise to the dispute, and that, when it was +ultimately sold by the artists for the full price asked to some +unknown buyer, the National Gallery version was executed for a +smaller price mainly by Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision, and +with the help, of Leonardo to be placed in the Chapel of the +Conception. + +The differences between the earlier, the more authentic, and the more +characteristically Florentine "Vierge aux Rochers," in the Louvre, and +the "Virgin of the Rocks," in the National Gallery, are that in the +latter picture the hand of the angel, seated by the side of the Infant +Christ, is raised and pointed in the direction of the little St. John +the Baptist; that the St John has a reed cross and the three principal +figures have gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much +later. In the National Gallery version the left hand of the Madonna, +the Christ's right hand and arm, and the forehead of St. John the +Baptist are freely restored, while a strip of the foreground right +across the whole picture is ill painted and lacks accent. The head of +the angel is, however, magnificently painted, and by Leonardo; the +panel, taken as a whole, is exceedingly beautiful and full of charm +and tenderness. + + + + +THE LAST SUPPER + +Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the +"Last Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the +Dominican Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally +executed in tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to +deteriorate a very few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it +was half ruined. In 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco +including the feet of the Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one +Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure Milanese painter, received L300 for +the worthless labour he bestowed on restoring it. He seems to have +employed some astringent restorative which revived the colours +temporarily, and then left them in deeper eclipse than before. In 1770 +the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In 1796 Napoleon's cavalry, +contrary to his express orders, turned the refectory into a stable, +and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. Subsequently the +refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or another it has +been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in 1854 this +restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi completed +the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion of +experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the +devices of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of +floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been brought to light. + +Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de +theatre_ at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray +me." Instantly the various apostles realise that there is a traitor +among their number, and show by their different gestures their +different passions, and reveal their different temperaments. On the +left of Christ is St. John who is overcome with grief and is +interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom is seated Judas +Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is quite unable +to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the money-bag +and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar. + +It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to +Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to +paint the fresco and was causing the Convent considerable +inconvenience. Leonardo had his revenge by threatening to paint the +features of the impatient Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The +incident has been quaintly told in the following lines:-- + + "Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me + Because, forsooth, I have not drawn a line + Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he + Could without trouble paint that head divine. + But think, oh Signor Duca, what should be + The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face-- + What sorrowing majesty, what noble grace, + At that dread moment when He brake the bread, + And those submissive words of pathos said: + + "'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'-- + And 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 express + The 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? + + "And Judas too, the basest face I see, + Will not contain his utter infamy; + Among the dregs and offal of mankind + Vainly I seek an utter wretch to find. + He who for thirty silver coins could sell + His Lord, must be the Devil's miracle. + Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is + To find the type of him who with a kiss + Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll do; + And if it please his reverence and you, + For Judas' face I'm willing to paint his." + + * * * * * + + "... I dare not paint + Till all is ordered and matured within, + Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint, + But when the soul commands I shall begin; + On themes like these I should not dare to dwell + With our good Prior--they to him would be + Mere nonsense; he must touch and taste and see, + And facts, he says, are never mystical." + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE HEAD OF CHRIST + +In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by +1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)] + +The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in +the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the +original painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that +sublime work "in which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect +unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in +their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and +the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a +grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for L600 by the Royal +Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone +unturned to acquire also the original studies for 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 +by Leonardo. + +Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the +Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to +Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the +Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the +Chateau d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre. + +The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the +Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the +principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In +spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated +seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of +the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own +death, and resignation to the will of His Father." + + + +THE COURT OF MILAN + +Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice +d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young +Duchess, who at one time owned as many as eighty-four splendid gowns, +refused to wear a certain dress of woven gold, which her husband had +given her, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of her day, continued to +wear a very similar one, which presumably had been given to her by +Ludovico. Having discarded Cecilia, who, as her tastes did not lie in +the direction of the Convent, was married in 1491 to Count Ludovico +Bergamini, the Duke in 1496 became enamoured of Lucrezia Crivelli, a +lady-in-waiting to the Duchess Beatrice. + +Leonardo, as court painter, perhaps painted a portrait, now lost, of +Lucrezia, whose features are more likely to be preserved to us in the +portrait by Ambrogio da Predis, now in the Collection of the Earl of +Roden, than in the quite unauthenticated portrait (Plate VII.), now in +the Louvre (No. 1600). + +On January 2, 1497, Beatrice spent three hours in prayer in the church +of St. Maria delle Grazie, and the same night gave birth to a +stillborn child. In a few hours she passed away, and from that moment +Ludovico was a changed man. He went daily to see her tomb, and was +quite overcome with grief. + +In April 1498, Isabella d'Este, Beatrice's elder, more beautiful, and +more graceful sister, "at the sound of whose name all the muses rise +and do reverence" wrote to Cecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking her +to lend her the portrait which Leonardo had painted of her some +fifteen years earlier, as she wished to compare it with a picture by +Giovanni Bellini. Cecilia graciously lent the picture--now presumably +lost--adding her regret that it no longer resembled her. + + + +LEONARDO LEAVES MILAN + +Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci's works in Milan towards the end +of 1499 was, probably, the superb cartoon of "The Virgin and Child +with St. Anne and St. John," now at Burlington House. Though little +known to the general public, this large drawing on _carton_, or +stiff paper, is one of the greatest of London's treasures, as it +reveals the sweeping line of Leonardo's powerful draughtsmanship. It +was in the Pompeo Leoni, Arconati, Casnedi, and Udney Collections +before passing to the Royal Academy. + +In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico's +reign. In April of that year we read of his giving a vineyard to +Leonardo; in September Ludovico had to leave Milan for the Tyrol to +raise an army, and on the 14th of the same month the city was sold by +Bernardino di Corte to the French, who occupied it from 1500 to 1512. +Ludovico may well have had in mind the figure of the traitor in the +"Last Supper" when he declared that "Since the days of Judas Iscariot +there has never been so black a traitor as Bernardino di Corte." On +October 6th Louis XII. entered the city. Before the end of the year +Leonardo, realising the necessity for his speedy departure, sent six +hundred gold florins by letter of exchange to Florence to be placed +to his credit with the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. + +In the following year, Ludovico having been defeated at Novara, +Leonardo was a homeless wanderer. He left Milan for Mantua, where he +drew a portrait in chalk of Isabella d'Este, which is now in the +Louvre. Leonardo eventually arrived in Florence about Easter 1500. +After apparently working there in 1501 on a second Cartoon, similar in +most respects to the one he had executed in Milan two years earlier, +he travelled in Umbria, visiting Orvieto, Pesaro, Rimini, and other +towns, acting as engineer and architect to Cesare Borgia, for whom he +planned a navigable canal between Cesena and Porto Cese-natico. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.-PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZIA CRIVELLI + +In the Louvre. No. 1600 [483]. 2 ft by I ft 5 ins. (0.62 x 0.44) + +This picture, although officially attributed to Leonardo, is probably +not by him, and almost certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli. +It was once known as a "Portrait of a Lady" and is still occasionally +miscalled "La Belle Feronniere."] + + + +MONA LISA + +Early in 1503 he was back again in Florence, and set to work in +earnest on the "Portrait of Mona Lisa" (Plate I.), now in the Louvre +(No. 1601). Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini was the daughter +of Antonio Gherardini. In 1495 she married Francesco di Bartolommeo de +Zenobi del Giocondo. It is from the surname of her husband that she +derives the name of "La Joconde," by which her portrait is officially +known in the Louvre. Vasari is probably inaccurate in saying that +Leonardo "loitered over it for four years, and finally left it +unfinished." He may have begun it in the spring of 1501 and, probably +owing to having taken service under Cesare Borgia in the following +year, put it on one side, ultimately completing it after working on +the "Battle of Anghiari" in 1504. Vasari's eulogy of this portrait may +with advantage be quoted: "Whoever shall desire to see how far art can +imitate nature may do so to perfection in this head, wherein every +peculiarity that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the +pencil has been faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous +brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are +those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature. +The nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be +easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has +the lips uniting the rose-tints of their colour with those of the +face, in the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does +not appear to be painted, but truly flesh and blood. He who looks +earnestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the +beating of the pulses. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while +Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping +some one constantly near her to sing or play on instruments, or to +jest and otherwise amuse her." + +Leonardo painted this picture in the full maturity of his talent, and, +although it is now little more than a monochrome owing to the free and +merciless restoration to which it has been at times subjected, it must +have created a wonderful impression on those who saw it in the early +years of the sixteenth century. It is difficult for the unpractised +eye to-day to form any idea of its original beauty. Leonardo has here +painted this worldly-minded woman--her portrait is much more famous +than she herself ever was--with a marvellous charm and suavity, a +finesse of expression never reached before and hardly ever equalled +since. Contrast the head of the Christ at Milan, Leonardo's conception +of divinity expressed in perfect humanity, with the subtle and +sphinx-like smile of this languorous creature. + +The landscape background, against which Mona Lisa is posed, recalls +the severe, rather than exuberant, landscape and the dim vistas of +mountain ranges seen in the neighbourhood of his own birthplace. The +portrait was bought during the reign of Francis I. for a sum which is +to-day equal to about L1800. Leonardo, by the way, does not seem to +have been really affected by any individual affection for any woman, +and, like Michelangelo and Raphael, never married. + +In January 4, 1504, Leonardo was one of the members of the Committee +of Artists summoned to advise the Signoria as to the most suitable +site for the erection of Michelangelo's statue of "David," which had +recently been completed. + + + + +BATTLE OF ANGHIARI + +In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate +one of the walls of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The +subject he selected was the "Battle of Anghiari." Although he +completed the cartoon, the only part of the composition which he +eventually executed in colour was an incident in the foreground +which dealt with the "Battle of the Standard." One of the many +supposed copies of a study of this mural painting now hangs on the +south-east staircase in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It depicts the +Florentines under Cardinal Ludovico Mezzarota Scarampo fighting +against the Milanese under Niccolo Piccinino, the General of Filippo +Maria Visconti, on June 29, 1440. + + + +AGAIN IN MILAN + +Leonardo was back in Milan in May 1506 in the service of the French +King, for whom he executed, apparently with the help of assistants, +"the Madonna, the Infant Christ, and Saint Anne" (Plate VIII.). The +composition of this oil-painting seems to have been built up on the +second cartoon, which he had made some eight years earlier, and which +was apparently taken to France in 1516 and ultimately lost. + + + +IN ROME + +From 1513-1515 he was in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been +elected Pope under the title of Leo X. He did not, however, work for +the Pope, although he resided in the Vatican, his time being occupied +in studying acoustics, anatomy, optics, geology, minerals, +engineering, and geometry! + + + +IN FRANCE + +At last in 1516, three years before his death, Leonardo left his +native land for France, where he received from Francis I. a princely +income. His powers, however, had already begun to fail, and he +produced very little in the country of his adoption. It is, +nevertheless, only in the Louvre that his achievements as a painter +can to-day be adequately studied. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.-MADONNA, INFANT CHRIST, AND ST. ANNE + +In the Louvre. No. 1508. 5 ft. 7 in. h. by 4 ft. 3 in. w. (1.70 x +1.29) + +Painted between 1509 and 1516 with the help of assistants.] + +On October 10, 1516, when he was resident at the Manor House of Cloux +near Amboise in Touraine with Francesco Melzi, his friend and +assistant, he showed three of his pictures to the Cardinal of Aragon, +but his right hand was now paralysed, and he could "no longer colour +with that sweetness with which he was wont, although still able to +make 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, which is probably +the only authentic portrait of him in existence. + + + +HIS DEATH + +On April 23, 1519--Easter Eve--exactly forty-five years before the +birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of +the same year he passed away. + +Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many +months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms +of his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He +was then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King +Francis I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit +him, rose and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do +him such favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings. +The spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could +attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch, +being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not +over-veracious chronicler, however, is here drawing largely upon his +imagination. Leonardo was only sixty-seven years of age, and the King +was in all probability on that date at St. Germain-en Laye! + +Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter, +engineer, and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former +Professor of Painting to the Duke of Milan." + +"May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and +assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose +like Nature cannot produce a second time." + + + +HIS ART + +Leonardo, whose birth antedates that of Michelangelo and Raphael by +twenty three and thirty-one years respectively, was thus in the +forefront of the Florentine Renaissance, his life coinciding almost +exactly with the best period of Tuscan painting. + +Leonardo was the first to investigate scientifically and to apply to +art the laws of light and shade, though the preliminary investigations +of Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded. + +He observed with strict accuracy the subtleties of chiaroscuro--light +and shade apart from colour; but, as one critic has pointed out, his +gift of chiaroscuro cost the colour-life of many a noble picture. +Leonardo was "a tonist, not a colourist," before whom the whole book +of nature lay open. + +It was not instability of character but versatility of mind which +caused him to undertake many things that having commenced he +afterwards abandoned, and the probability is that as soon as he saw +exactly how he could solve any difficulty which presented itself, he +put on one side the merely perfunctory execution of such a task. + +In the Forster collection in the Victoria and Albert museum three of +Leonardo's note-books with sketches are preserved, and it is stated +that it was his practice to carry about with him, attached to his +girdle, a little book for making sketches. They prove that he was +left-handed and wrote from right to left. + + + + +HIS MIND + +We can readily believe the statements of Benvenuto Cellini, the +sixteenth-century Goldsmith, that Francis I. "did not believe +that any other man had come into the world who had attained so great a +knowledge as Leonardo, and that not only as sculptor, painter, and +architect, for beyond that he was a profound philosopher." It was +Cellini also who contended that "Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and +Raphael are the Book of the World." + +Leonardo anticipated many eminent scientists and inventors in the +methods of investigation which they adopted to solve the many problems +with which their names are coupled. Among these may be cited +Copernicus' theory of the earth's movement, Lamarck's classification +of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the laws of friction, +the laws of combustion and respiration, the elevation of the +continents, the laws of gravitation, the undulatory theory of light +and heat, steam as a motive power in navigation, flying machines, the +invention of the camera obscura, magnetic attraction, the use of the +stone saw, the system of canalisation, breech loading cannon, the +construction of fortifications, the circulation of the blood, the +swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, the composition of explosives, the +invention of paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine! It +is, therefore, easy to see why he called "Mechanics the Paradise +of the Sciences." + +Leonardo was a SUPERMAN. + + + + +HIS MAXIMS + + + The eye is the window of the soul. + + Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. + + The natural desire 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. + + Miserable men, how often do you enslave yourselves + to gain money! + + + + +HIS SPELL + +The influence of Leonardo was strongly felt in Milan, where he spent +so many of the best years of his life and founded a School of +painting. He was a close observer of the gradation and reflex of +light, and was capable of giving to his discoveries a practical and +aesthetic form. His strong personal character and the fascination of +his genius enthralled his followers, who were satisfied to repeat his +types, to perpetuate the "grey-hound eye," and to make use of his +little devices. Among this group of painters may be mentioned +Boltraffio, who perhaps painted the "Presumed Portrait of Lucrezia +Crivelli" (Plate VII.), which is officially attributed in the Louvre +to the great master himself. + + + + +HIS DESCENDANTS + + +Signor Uzielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of +Domenico (one of Leonardo's brothers), was a few years ago a peasant +at Bottinacio near Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the +family papers, which now form part of the archives of the Accademia +dei Lincei at Rome. It was proved also that Tommaso had given his +eldest son "the glorious name of Leonardo." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Leonardo da Vinci + +Author: Maurice W. Brockwell + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7785] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 16, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO DA VINCI *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team + + + + +[Illustration: Plate 1-MONA LISA. Frontispiece + +In the Louvre. No. 1601. 2 ft 6 1 ins. By 1 ft. 9 ins. (0.77 x 0.53)] + + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI + + + +By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + + + +Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour + +[Illustration] + + +"Leonardo," wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, "was a Man +so happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so +accomplished in the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so +much esteemed by the Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly +applauded by the Ages which have succeeded, and his Name and Memory +still preserved with so much Veneration by the present Age--that, if +anything could equal the Merit of the Man, it must be the Success he +met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting alone, but in Philosophy, +too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of the 'Pencil.'" + +This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work +still holds good to-day. + + + + +CONTENTS + +His Birth +His Early Training +His Early Works +First Visit to Milan +In the East +Back in Milan +The Virgin of the Rocks +The Last Supper +The Court of Milan +Leonardo Leaves Milan +Mona Lisa +Battle of Anghiari +Again in Milan +In Rome +In France +His Death +His Art +His Mind +His Maxims +His Spell +His Descendants + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Plate +I. Mona Lisa + In the Louvre +II. Annunciation + In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence +III. Virgin of the Rocks + In the National Gallery, London +IV. The Last Supper + In the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan +V. Copy of the Last Supper + In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House +VI. Head of Christ + In the Brera Gallery, Milan +VII. Portrait (presumed) of Lucrezia Crivelli + In the Louvre +VIII. Madonna, Infant Christ, and St Anne. + In the Louvre + + + + +HIS BIRTH + +Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, +was born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is +about six miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci +is still very inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the +cart of a general carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey +from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of +the main street of Vinci to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the +great artist is pointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. +Leonardo's traditional birthplace on the outskirts of the town still +exists, and serves now as the headquarters of a farmer and small wine +exporter. + +Leonardo di Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da +Vinci--for that was his full legal name--was the natural and +first-born son of Ser Piero, a country notary, who, like his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather, followed that honourable +vocation with distinction and success, and who subsequently--when +Leonardo was a youth--was appointed notary to the Signoria of +Florence. Leonardo's mother was one Caterina, who afterwards married +Accabriga di Piero del Vaccha of Vinci. + +[Illustration: Plate II.--Annunciation + +In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. 1288. 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. +(0.99 x 2.18) + +Although this panel is included in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by +Leonardo, it is in all probability by his master, Verrocchio.] + +The date of Leonardo's birth is not known with any certainty. His age +is given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather +Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded +that he was born in 1452. Leonardo's father Ser Piero, who afterwards +married four times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. +Is it unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers +in mind in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous "Last Supper" +the figures of eleven Apostles and one outcast? + +However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his "love child" who very +early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy. + + + + +HIS EARLY TRAINING + +Practically nothing is known about Leonardo's boyhood, but Vasari +informs us that Ser Piero, impressed with the remarkable character of +his son's genius, took some of his drawings to Andrea del Verrocchio, +an intimate friend, and begged him earnestly to express an opinion on +them. Verrocchio was so astonished at the power they revealed that he +advised Ser Piero to send Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo thus +entered the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469-1470. In the +workshop of that great Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and artist he +met other craftsmen, metal workers, and youthful painters, among whom +was Botticelli, at that moment of his development a jovial +_habitue_ of the Poetical Supper Club, who had not yet given any +premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic, and visionary of later +times. There also Leonardo came into contact with that unoriginal +painter Lorenzo di Credi, his junior by seven years. He also, no +doubt, met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called "that blockhead in art." +The genius and versatility of the Vincian painter was, however, in no +way dulled by intercourse with lesser artists than himself; on the +contrary he vied with each in turn, and readily outstripped 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. +Indeed there do not exist a sufficient number of finished and +absolutely authentic oil pictures from his own hand to afford +illustrations for this short chronological sketch of his life's work. +The few that do remain, however, are of so exquisite a quality--or +were until they were "comforted" by the uninspired restorer--that we +can unreservedly accept the enthusiastic records of tradition in +respect of all his works. To rightly understand the essential +characteristics of Leonardo's achievements it is necessary to +regard him as a scientist quite as much as an 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 by the study of architecture--the foundation-stone of all true +art--sculpture, mathematics, engineering and music. His versatility +was unbounded, and we are apt to regret that this many-sided genius +did not realise that it is by developing his power within certain +limits that the great master is revealed. Leonardo may be described as +the most Universal Genius of Christian times-perhaps of all time. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.-THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + +In the National Gallery. No. 1093. 6 ft. 1 in. h. by 3 ft 9 1 in. w. +(1.83 x 1.15) + +This picture was painted in Milan about 1495 by Ambrogio da Predis +under the supervision and guidance of Leonardo da Vinci, the +essential features of the composition being borrowed from the earlier +"Vierge aux Rochers," now in the Louvre.] + + + + +HIS EARLY WORKS + +To about the year 1472 belongs the small picture of the +"Annunciation," now in the Louvre, which after being the subject of +much contention among European critics has gradually won its way to +general recognition as an early work by Leonardo himself. That it was +painted in the studio of Verrocchio was always admitted, but it was +long catalogued by the Louvre authorities under the name of Lorenzo di +Credi. It is now, however, attributed to Leonardo (No. 1602 A). Such +uncertainties as to attribution were common half a century ago when +scientific art criticism was in its infancy. + +Another painting of the "Annunciation," which is now in the Uffizi +Gallery (No. 1288) is still officially attributed to Leonardo. This +small picture, which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps +by Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo's master, is the subject of Plate +II. + +To January 1473 belongs Leonardo's earliest dated work, a pen-and-ink +drawing--"A Wide View over a Plain," now in the Uffizi. The +inscription together with the date in the top left-hand corner is +reversed, and proves a remarkable characteristic of Leonardo's +handwriting--viz., that he wrote from right to left; indeed, it has +been suggested that he did this in order to make it difficult for any +one else to read the words, which were frequently committed to paper +by the aid of peculiar abbreviations. + +Leonardo continued to work in his master's studio till about 1477. On +January 1st of the following year, 1478, he was commissioned to paint +an altar-piece for the Chapel of St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio, +and he was paid twenty-five florins on account. He, however, never +carried out the work, and after waiting five years the Signoria +transferred the commission to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who also failed to +accomplish the task, which was ultimately, some seven years later, +completed by Filippino Lippi. This panel of the "Madonna Enthroned, +St. Victor, St. John Baptist, St. Bernard, and St. Zenobius," which is +dated February 20, 1485, is now in the Uffizi. + +That Leonardo was by this time a facile draughtsman is evidenced by +his vigorous pen-and-ink sketch--now in a private collection in +Paris--of Bernardo Bandini, who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478 +stabbed Giuliano de' Medici to death in the Cathedral at Florence +during High Mass. The drawing is dated December 29, 1479, the date of +Bandini's public execution in Florence. + +In that year also, no doubt, was painted the early and, as might be +expected, unfinished "St. Jerome in the Desert," now in the Vatican, the +under-painting being in umber and _terraverte_. Its authenticity is +vouched for not only by the internal evidence of the picture itself, but +also by the similarity of treatment seen in a drawing in the Royal +Library at Windsor. Cardinal Fesch, a princely collector in Rome in the +early part of the nineteenth century, found part of the picture--the +torso--being used as a box-cover in a shop in Rome. He long afterwards +discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to +the torso. The jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX., +and added to the Vatican Collection. + +In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for +the monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was +made to him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most +probable. He, however, never completed the picture, although it gave +rise to the supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the +Magi," now in the Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is +unfinished, only the under-painting and the colouring of the figures +in green on a brown ground having been executed. The rhythm of line, +the variety of attitude, the profound feeling for landscape and an +early application of chiaroscuro effect combine to render this one of +his most characteristic productions. + +Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of +Christ" he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels +holding some vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his +remarkable genius clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo +painted being much better than the portion executed by his master. +This "Baptism of Christ," which is now in the Accademia in Florence +and is in a bad state of preservation, appears to have been a +comparatively early work by Verrocchio, and to have been painted +in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be about thirty years of age. + +To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now +in the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have +been made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del +Verrocchio, who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian +statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni, which was completed twenty years later +and still adorns the Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. + + + + +FIRST VISIT TO MILAN + + +About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, having +first written to his future patron a full statement of his various +abilities in the following terms:-- + +"Having, most illustrious lord, seen and pondered over the experiments +made by those who pass as masters in the art of inventing instruments +of war, and having satisfied myself that they in no way differ from +those in general use, I make so bold as to solicit, without prejudice +to any one, an opportunity of informing your excellency of some of my +own secrets." + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.-THE LAST SUPPER + +Refectory of St. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. About 13 feet +8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w. (4.16 x 8.09)] + +He goes on to say that he can construct light bridges which can be +transported, that he can make pontoons and scaling ladders, that he +can construct cannon and mortars unlike those commonly used, as well +as catapults and other engines of war; or if the fight should take +place at sea that he can build engines which shall be suitable alike +for defence as for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public +and private buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute +sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting, +"can do as well as any one else, no matter who he may be." In +conclusion, he offers to execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue +of Francesco Sforza "which shall bring glory and never-ending honour +to that illustrious house." + +It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from +Florence to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in +the Louvre (No. 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and +although it has no pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the +Royal Collection at Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and +considerably more authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the +National Gallery (Plate III.). + +He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of +Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it. +He may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of +Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has, +however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us +in the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is +now in the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow. + + + + +IN THE EAST + +The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy, +between 1483 and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion, based on +documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spent +those years in the service of the Sultan of Egypt, travelling in +Armenia and the East as his engineer. + + + +BACK IN MILAN + + +In 1487 he was again resident in Milan as general artificer--using +that term in its widest sense--to Ludovico. Among his various +activities at this period must be mentioned the designs he made for +the cupola of the cathedral at Milan, and the scenery he constructed +for "Il Paradiso," which was written by Bernardo Bellincioni on the +occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo with Isabella of Aragon. +About 1489-1490 he began his celebrated "Treatise on Painting" and +recommenced work on the colossal equestrian statue of Francesco +Sforza, which was doubtless the greatest of all his achievements as a +sculptor. It was, however, never cast in bronze, and was ruthlessly +destroyed by the French bowmen in April 1500, on their occupation of +Milan after the defeat of Ludovico at the battle of Novara. This is +all the more regrettable as no single authentic piece of sculpture +has come down to us from Leonardo's hand, and we can only judge of his +power in this direction from his drawings, and the enthusiastic +praise of his contemporaries. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--COPY OF THE LAST SUPPER + +In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House + +This copy is usually ascribed to Marco d'Oggiono, but some critics +claim that it is by Gianpetrino. It is the same size as the original.] + + + +THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + + +The "Virgin of the Rocks" (Plate III.), now in the National Gallery, +corresponds exactly with a painting by Leonardo which was described by +Lomazzo about 1584 as being in the Chapel of the Conception in the +Church of St. Francesco at Milan. This picture, the only _oeuvre_ +in this gallery with which Leonardo's name can be connected, was +brought to England in 1777 by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the +Marquess of Lansdowne, who subsequently exchanged it for another +picture in the Collection of the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park, +Wiltshire, from whom it was eventually purchased by the National +Gallery for L9000. Signor Emilio Motta, some fifteen years ago, +unearthed in the State Archives of Milan a letter or memorial from +Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of +Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute, which had arisen between +the petitioners and the Brotherhood of the Conception, with regard to +the valuation of certain works of art furnished for the chapel of the +Brotherhood in the church of St. Francesco. The only logical deduction +which can be drawn from documentary evidence is that the "Vierge aux +Rochers" in the Louvre is the picture, painted about 1482, which +between 1491 and 1494 gave rise to the dispute, and that, when it was +ultimately sold by the artists for the full price asked to some +unknown buyer, the National Gallery version was executed for a +smaller price mainly by Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision, and +with the help, of Leonardo to be placed in the Chapel of the +Conception. + +The differences between the earlier, the more authentic, and the more +characteristically Florentine "Vierge aux Rochers," in the Louvre, and +the "Virgin of the Rocks," in the National Gallery, are that in the +latter picture the hand of the angel, seated by the side of the Infant +Christ, is raised and pointed in the direction of the little St. John +the Baptist; that the St John has a reed cross and the three principal +figures have gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much +later. In the National Gallery version the left hand of the Madonna, +the Christ's right hand and arm, and the forehead of St. John the +Baptist are freely restored, while a strip of the foreground right +across the whole picture is ill painted and lacks accent. The head of +the angel is, however, magnificently painted, and by Leonardo; the +panel, taken as a whole, is exceedingly beautiful and full of charm +and tenderness. + + + + +THE LAST SUPPER + +Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the +"Last Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the +Dominican Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally +executed in tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to +deteriorate a very few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it +was half ruined. In 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco +including the feet of the Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one +Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure Milanese painter, received L300 for +the worthless labour he bestowed on restoring it. He seems to have +employed some astringent restorative which revived the colours +temporarily, and then left them in deeper eclipse than before. In 1770 +the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In 1796 Napoleon's cavalry, +contrary to his express orders, turned the refectory into a stable, +and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. Subsequently the +refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or another it has +been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in 1854 this +restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi completed +the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion of +experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the +devices of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of +floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been brought to light. + +Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de +theatre_ at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray +me." Instantly the various apostles realise that there is a traitor +among their number, and show by their different gestures their +different passions, and reveal their different temperaments. On the +left of Christ is St. John who is overcome with grief and is +interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom is seated Judas +Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is quite unable +to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the money-bag +and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar. + +It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to +Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to +paint the fresco and was causing the Convent considerable +inconvenience. Leonardo had his revenge by threatening to paint the +features of the impatient Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The +incident has been quaintly told in the following lines:-- + + "Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me + Because, forsooth, I have not drawn a line + Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he + Could without trouble paint that head divine. + But think, oh Signor Duca, what should be + The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face-- + What sorrowing majesty, what noble grace, + At that dread moment when He brake the bread, + And those submissive words of pathos said: + + "'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'-- + And 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 express + The 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? + + "And Judas too, the basest face I see, + Will not contain his utter infamy; + Among the dregs and offal of mankind + Vainly I seek an utter wretch to find. + He who for thirty silver coins could sell + His Lord, must be the Devil's miracle. + Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is + To find the type of him who with a kiss + Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll do; + And if it please his reverence and you, + For Judas' face I'm willing to paint his." + + * * * * * + + "... I dare not paint + Till all is ordered and matured within, + Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint, + But when the soul commands I shall begin; + On themes like these I should not dare to dwell + With our good Prior--they to him would be + Mere nonsense; he must touch and taste and see, + And facts, he says, are never mystical." + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE HEAD OF CHRIST + +In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by +1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)] + +The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in +the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the +original painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that +sublime work "in which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect +unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in +their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and +the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a +grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for L600 by the Royal +Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone +unturned to acquire also the original studies for 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 +by Leonardo. + +Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the +Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to +Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the +Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the +Chateau d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre. + +The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the +Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the +principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In +spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated +seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of +the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own +death, and resignation to the will of His Father." + + + +THE COURT OF MILAN + +Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice +d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young +Duchess, who at one time owned as many as eighty-four splendid gowns, +refused to wear a certain dress of woven gold, which her husband had +given her, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of her day, continued to +wear a very similar one, which presumably had been given to her by +Ludovico. Having discarded Cecilia, who, as her tastes did not lie in +the direction of the Convent, was married in 1491 to Count Ludovico +Bergamini, the Duke in 1496 became enamoured of Lucrezia Crivelli, a +lady-in-waiting to the Duchess Beatrice. + +Leonardo, as court painter, perhaps painted a portrait, now lost, of +Lucrezia, whose features are more likely to be preserved to us in the +portrait by Ambrogio da Predis, now in the Collection of the Earl of +Roden, than in the quite unauthenticated portrait (Plate VII.), now in +the Louvre (No. 1600). + +On January 2, 1497, Beatrice spent three hours in prayer in the church +of St. Maria delle Grazie, and the same night gave birth to a +stillborn child. In a few hours she passed away, and from that moment +Ludovico was a changed man. He went daily to see her tomb, and was +quite overcome with grief. + +In April 1498, Isabella d'Este, Beatrice's elder, more beautiful, and +more graceful sister, "at the sound of whose name all the muses rise +and do reverence" wrote to Cecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking her +to lend her the portrait which Leonardo had painted of her some +fifteen years earlier, as she wished to compare it with a picture by +Giovanni Bellini. Cecilia graciously lent the picture--now presumably +lost--adding her regret that it no longer resembled her. + + + +LEONARDO LEAVES MILAN + +Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci's works in Milan towards the end +of 1499 was, probably, the superb cartoon of "The Virgin and Child +with St. Anne and St. John," now at Burlington House. Though little +known to the general public, this large drawing on _carton_, or +stiff paper, is one of the greatest of London's treasures, as it +reveals the sweeping line of Leonardo's powerful draughtsmanship. It +was in the Pompeo Leoni, Arconati, Casnedi, and Udney Collections +before passing to the Royal Academy. + +In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico's +reign. In April of that year we read of his giving a vineyard to +Leonardo; in September Ludovico had to leave Milan for the Tyrol to +raise an army, and on the 14th of the same month the city was sold by +Bernardino di Corte to the French, who occupied it from 1500 to 1512. +Ludovico may well have had in mind the figure of the traitor in the +"Last Supper" when he declared that "Since the days of Judas Iscariot +there has never been so black a traitor as Bernardino di Corte." On +October 6th Louis XII. entered the city. Before the end of the year +Leonardo, realising the necessity for his speedy departure, sent six +hundred gold florins by letter of exchange to Florence to be placed +to his credit with the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. + +In the following year, Ludovico having been defeated at Novara, +Leonardo was a homeless wanderer. He left Milan for Mantua, where he +drew a portrait in chalk of Isabella d'Este, which is now in the +Louvre. Leonardo eventually arrived in Florence about Easter 1500. +After apparently working there in 1501 on a second Cartoon, similar in +most respects to the one he had executed in Milan two years earlier, +he travelled in Umbria, visiting Orvieto, Pesaro, Rimini, and other +towns, acting as engineer and architect to Cesare Borgia, for whom he +planned a navigable canal between Cesena and Porto Cese-natico. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.-PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZIA CRIVELLI + +In the Louvre. No. 1600 [483]. 2 ft by I ft 5 ins. (0.62 x 0.44) + +This picture, although officially attributed to Leonardo, is probably +not by him, and almost certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli. +It was once known as a "Portrait of a Lady" and is still occasionally +miscalled "La Belle Feronniere."] + + + +MONA LISA + +Early in 1503 he was back again in Florence, and set to work in +earnest on the "Portrait of Mona Lisa" (Plate I.), now in the Louvre +(No. 1601). Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini was the daughter +of Antonio Gherardini. In 1495 she married Francesco di Bartolommeo de +Zenobi del Giocondo. It is from the surname of her husband that she +derives the name of "La Joconde," by which her portrait is officially +known in the Louvre. Vasari is probably inaccurate in saying that +Leonardo "loitered over it for four years, and finally left it +unfinished." He may have begun it in the spring of 1501 and, probably +owing to having taken service under Cesare Borgia in the following +year, put it on one side, ultimately completing it after working on +the "Battle of Anghiari" in 1504. Vasari's eulogy of this portrait may +with advantage be quoted: "Whoever shall desire to see how far art can +imitate nature may do so to perfection in this head, wherein every +peculiarity that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the +pencil has been faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous +brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are +those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature. +The nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be +easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has +the lips uniting the rose-tints of their colour with those of the +face, in the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does +not appear to be painted, but truly flesh and blood. He who looks +earnestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the +beating of the pulses. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while +Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping +some one constantly near her to sing or play on instruments, or to +jest and otherwise amuse her." + +Leonardo painted this picture in the full maturity of his talent, and, +although it is now little more than a monochrome owing to the free and +merciless restoration to which it has been at times subjected, it must +have created a wonderful impression on those who saw it in the early +years of the sixteenth century. It is difficult for the unpractised +eye to-day to form any idea of its original beauty. Leonardo has here +painted this worldly-minded woman--her portrait is much more famous +than she herself ever was--with a marvellous charm and suavity, a +finesse of expression never reached before and hardly ever equalled +since. Contrast the head of the Christ at Milan, Leonardo's conception +of divinity expressed in perfect humanity, with the subtle and +sphinx-like smile of this languorous creature. + +The landscape background, against which Mona Lisa is posed, recalls +the severe, rather than exuberant, landscape and the dim vistas of +mountain ranges seen in the neighbourhood of his own birthplace. The +portrait was bought during the reign of Francis I. for a sum which is +to-day equal to about L1800. Leonardo, by the way, does not seem to +have been really affected by any individual affection for any woman, +and, like Michelangelo and Raphael, never married. + +In January 4, 1504, Leonardo was one of the members of the Committee +of Artists summoned to advise the Signoria as to the most suitable +site for the erection of Michelangelo's statue of "David," which had +recently been completed. + + + + +BATTLE OF ANGHIARI + +In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate +one of the walls of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The +subject he selected was the "Battle of Anghiari." Although he +completed the cartoon, the only part of the composition which he +eventually executed in colour was an incident in the foreground +which dealt with the "Battle of the Standard." One of the many +supposed copies of a study of this mural painting now hangs on the +south-east staircase in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It depicts the +Florentines under Cardinal Ludovico Mezzarota Scarampo fighting +against the Milanese under Niccolo Piccinino, the General of Filippo +Maria Visconti, on June 29, 1440. + + + +AGAIN IN MILAN + +Leonardo was back in Milan in May 1506 in the service of the French +King, for whom he executed, apparently with the help of assistants, +"the Madonna, the Infant Christ, and Saint Anne" (Plate VIII.). The +composition of this oil-painting seems to have been built up on the +second cartoon, which he had made some eight years earlier, and which +was apparently taken to France in 1516 and ultimately lost. + + + +IN ROME + +From 1513-1515 he was in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been +elected Pope under the title of Leo X. He did not, however, work for +the Pope, although he resided in the Vatican, his time being occupied +in studying acoustics, anatomy, optics, geology, minerals, +engineering, and geometry! + + + +IN FRANCE + +At last in 1516, three years before his death, Leonardo left his +native land for France, where he received from Francis I. a princely +income. His powers, however, had already begun to fail, and he +produced very little in the country of his adoption. It is, +nevertheless, only in the Louvre that his achievements as a painter +can to-day be adequately studied. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.-MADONNA, INFANT CHRIST, AND ST. ANNE + +In the Louvre. No. 1508. 5 ft. 7 in. h. by 4 ft. 3 in. w. (1.70 x +1.29) + +Painted between 1509 and 1516 with the help of assistants.] + +On October 10, 1516, when he was resident at the Manor House of Cloux +near Amboise in Touraine with Francesco Melzi, his friend and +assistant, he showed three of his pictures to the Cardinal of Aragon, +but his right hand was now paralysed, and he could "no longer colour +with that sweetness with which he was wont, although still able to +make 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, which is probably +the only authentic portrait of him in existence. + + + +HIS DEATH + +On April 23, 1519--Easter Eve--exactly forty-five years before the +birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of +the same year he passed away. + +Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many +months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms +of his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He +was then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King +Francis I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit +him, rose and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do +him such favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings. +The spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could +attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch, +being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not +over-veracious chronicler, however, is here drawing largely upon his +imagination. Leonardo was only sixty-seven years of age, and the King +was in all probability on that date at St. Germain-en Laye! + +Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter, +engineer, and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former +Professor of Painting to the Duke of Milan." + +"May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and +assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose +like Nature cannot produce a second time." + + + +HIS ART + +Leonardo, whose birth antedates that of Michelangelo and Raphael by +twenty three and thirty-one years respectively, was thus in the +forefront of the Florentine Renaissance, his life coinciding almost +exactly with the best period of Tuscan painting. + +Leonardo was the first to investigate scientifically and to apply to +art the laws of light and shade, though the preliminary investigations +of Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded. + +He observed with strict accuracy the subtleties of chiaroscuro--light +and shade apart from colour; but, as one critic has pointed out, his +gift of chiaroscuro cost the colour-life of many a noble picture. +Leonardo was "a tonist, not a colourist," before whom the whole book +of nature lay open. + +It was not instability of character but versatility of mind which +caused him to undertake many things that having commenced he +afterwards abandoned, and the probability is that as soon as he saw +exactly how he could solve any difficulty which presented itself, he +put on one side the merely perfunctory execution of such a task. + +In the Forster collection in the Victoria and Albert museum three of +Leonardo's note-books with sketches are preserved, and it is stated +that it was his practice to carry about with him, attached to his +girdle, a little book for making sketches. They prove that he was +left-handed and wrote from right to left. + + + + +HIS MIND + +We can readily believe the statements of Benvenuto Cellini, the +sixteenth-century Goldsmith, that Francis I. "did not believe +that any other man had come into the world who had attained so great a +knowledge as Leonardo, and that not only as sculptor, painter, and +architect, for beyond that he was a profound philosopher." It was +Cellini also who contended that "Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and +Raphael are the Book of the World." + +Leonardo anticipated many eminent scientists and inventors in the +methods of investigation which they adopted to solve the many problems +with which their names are coupled. Among these may be cited +Copernicus' theory of the earth's movement, Lamarck's classification +of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the laws of friction, +the laws of combustion and respiration, the elevation of the +continents, the laws of gravitation, the undulatory theory of light +and heat, steam as a motive power in navigation, flying machines, the +invention of the camera obscura, magnetic attraction, the use of the +stone saw, the system of canalisation, breech loading cannon, the +construction of fortifications, the circulation of the blood, the +swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, the composition of explosives, the +invention of paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine! It +is, therefore, easy to see why he called "Mechanics the Paradise +of the Sciences." + +Leonardo was a SUPERMAN. + + + + +HIS MAXIMS + + + The eye is the window of the soul. + + Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. + + The natural desire 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. + + Miserable men, how often do you enslave yourselves + to gain money! + + + + +HIS SPELL + +The influence of Leonardo was strongly felt in Milan, where he spent +so many of the best years of his life and founded a School of +painting. He was a close observer of the gradation and reflex of +light, and was capable of giving to his discoveries a practical and +aesthetic form. His strong personal character and the fascination of +his genius enthralled his followers, who were satisfied to repeat his +types, to perpetuate the "grey-hound eye," and to make use of his +little devices. Among this group of painters may be mentioned +Boltraffio, who perhaps painted the "Presumed Portrait of Lucrezia +Crivelli" (Plate VII.), which is officially attributed in the Louvre +to the great master himself. + + + + +HIS DESCENDANTS + + +Signor Uzielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of +Domenico (one of Leonardo's brothers), was a few years ago a peasant +at Bottinacio near Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the +family papers, which now form part of the archives of the Accademia +dei Lincei at Rome. It was proved also that Tommaso had given his +eldest son "the glorious name of Leonardo." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Leonardo da Vinci + +Author: Maurice W. Brockwell + +Release Date: March, 2005 [EBook #7785] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 16, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO DA VINCI *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team + + + + +[Illustration: Plate 1—MONA LISA. Frontispiece + +In the Louvre. No. 1601. 2 ft 6 ½ ins. By 1 ft. 9 ins. (0.77 x 0.53)] + + + +LEONARDO DA VINCI + + + +By MAURICE W. BROCKWELL + + + +Illustrated With Eight Reproductions in Colour + +[Illustration] + + +"Leonardo," wrote an English critic as far back as 1721, "was a Man +so happy in his genius, so consummate in his Profession, so +accomplished in the Arts, so knowing in the Sciences, and withal, so +much esteemed by the Age wherein he lived, his Works so highly +applauded by the Ages which have succeeded, and his Name and Memory +still preserved with so much Veneration by the present Age--that, if +anything could equal the Merit of the Man, it must be the Success he +met with. Moreover, 'tis not in Painting alone, but in Philosophy, +too, that Leonardo surpassed all his Brethren of the 'Pencil.'" + +This admirable summary of the great Florentine painter's life's work +still holds good to-day. + + + + +CONTENTS + +His Birth +His Early Training +His Early Works +First Visit to Milan +In the East +Back in Milan +The Virgin of the Rocks +The Last Supper +The Court of Milan +Leonardo Leaves Milan +Mona Lisa +Battle of Anghiari +Again in Milan +In Rome +In France +His Death +His Art +His Mind +His Maxims +His Spell +His Descendants + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +Plate +I. Mona Lisa + In the Louvre +II. Annunciation + In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence +III. Virgin of the Rocks + In the National Gallery, London +IV. The Last Supper + In the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan +V. Copy of the Last Supper + In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House +VI. Head of Christ + In the Brera Gallery, Milan +VII. Portrait (presumed) of Lucrezia Crivelli + In the Louvre +VIII. Madonna, Infant Christ, and St Anne. + In the Louvre + + + + +HIS BIRTH + +Leonardo Da Vinci, the many-sided genius of the Italian Renaissance, +was born, as his name implies, at the little town of Vinci, which is +about six miles from Empoli and twenty miles west of Florence. Vinci +is still very inaccessible, and the only means of conveyance is the +cart of a general carrier and postman, who sets out on his journey +from Empoli at sunrise and sunset. Outside a house in the middle of +the main street of Vinci to-day a modern and white-washed bust of the +great artist is pointed to with much pride by the inhabitants. +Leonardo's traditional birthplace on the outskirts of the town still +exists, and serves now as the headquarters of a farmer and small wine +exporter. + +Leonardo di Ser Piero d'Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da +Vinci--for that was his full legal name--was the natural and +first-born son of Ser Piero, a country notary, who, like his father, +grandfather, and great-grandfather, followed that honourable +vocation with distinction and success, and who subsequently--when +Leonardo was a youth--was appointed notary to the Signoria of +Florence. Leonardo's mother was one Caterina, who afterwards married +Accabriga di Piero del Vaccha of Vinci. + +[Illustration: Plate II.--Annunciation + +In the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. No. 1288. 3 ft 3 ins. By 6 ft 11 ins. +(0.99 x 2.18) + +Although this panel is included in the Uffizi Catalogue as being by +Leonardo, it is in all probability by his master, Verrocchio.] + +The date of Leonardo's birth is not known with any certainty. His age +is given as five in a taxation return made in 1457 by his grandfather +Antonio, in whose house he was educated; it is therefore concluded +that he was born in 1452. Leonardo's father Ser Piero, who afterwards +married four times, had eleven children by his third and fourth wives. +Is it unreasonable to suggest that Leonardo may have had these numbers +in mind in 1496-1498 when he was painting in his famous "Last Supper" +the figures of eleven Apostles and one outcast? + +However, Ser Piero seems to have legitimised his "love child" who very +early showed promise of extraordinary talent and untiring energy. + + + + +HIS EARLY TRAINING + +Practically nothing is known about Leonardo's boyhood, but Vasari +informs us that Ser Piero, impressed with the remarkable character of +his son's genius, took some of his drawings to Andrea del Verrocchio, +an intimate friend, and begged him earnestly to express an opinion on +them. Verrocchio was so astonished at the power they revealed that he +advised Ser Piero to send Leonardo to study under him. Leonardo thus +entered the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio about 1469-1470. In the +workshop of that great Florentine sculptor, goldsmith, and artist he +met other craftsmen, metal workers, and youthful painters, among whom +was Botticelli, at that moment of his development a jovial +_habitué_ of the Poetical Supper Club, who had not yet given any +premonitions of becoming the poet, mystic, and visionary of later +times. There also Leonardo came into contact with that unoriginal +painter Lorenzo di Credi, his junior by seven years. He also, no +doubt, met Perugino, whom Michelangelo called "that blockhead in art." +The genius and versatility of the Vincian painter was, however, in no +way dulled by intercourse with lesser artists than himself; on the +contrary he vied with each in turn, and readily outstripped 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. +Indeed there do not exist a sufficient number of finished and +absolutely authentic oil pictures from his own hand to afford +illustrations for this short chronological sketch of his life's work. +The few that do remain, however, are of so exquisite a quality--or +were until they were "comforted" by the uninspired restorer--that we +can unreservedly accept the enthusiastic records of tradition in +respect of all his works. To rightly understand the essential +characteristics of Leonardo's achievements it is necessary to +regard him as a scientist quite as much as an 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 by the study of architecture--the foundation-stone of all true +art--sculpture, mathematics, engineering and music. His versatility +was unbounded, and we are apt to regret that this many-sided genius +did not realise that it is by developing his power within certain +limits that the great master is revealed. Leonardo may be described as +the most Universal Genius of Christian times-perhaps of all time. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.-THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + +In the National Gallery. No. 1093. 6 ft. ½ in. h. by 3 ft 9 ½ in. w. +(1.83 x 1.15) + +This picture was painted in Milan about 1495 by Ambrogio da Predis +under the supervision and guidance of Leonardo da Vinci, the +essential features of the composition being borrowed from the earlier +"Vierge aux Rochers," now in the Louvre.] + + + + +HIS EARLY WORKS + +To about the year 1472 belongs the small picture of the +"Annunciation," now in the Louvre, which after being the subject of +much contention among European critics has gradually won its way to +general recognition as an early work by Leonardo himself. That it was +painted in the studio of Verrocchio was always admitted, but it was +long catalogued by the Louvre authorities under the name of Lorenzo di +Credi. It is now, however, attributed to Leonardo (No. 1602 A). Such +uncertainties as to attribution were common half a century ago when +scientific art criticism was in its infancy. + +Another painting of the "Annunciation," which is now in the Uffizi +Gallery (No. 1288) is still officially attributed to Leonardo. This +small picture, which has been considerably repainted, and is perhaps +by Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo's master, is the subject of Plate +II. + +To January 1473 belongs Leonardo's earliest dated work, a pen-and-ink +drawing--"A Wide View over a Plain," now in the Uffizi. The +inscription together with the date in the top left-hand corner is +reversed, and proves a remarkable characteristic of Leonardo's +handwriting--viz., that he wrote from right to left; indeed, it has +been suggested that he did this in order to make it difficult for any +one else to read the words, which were frequently committed to paper +by the aid of peculiar abbreviations. + +Leonardo continued to work in his master's studio till about 1477. On +January 1st of the following year, 1478, he was commissioned to paint +an altar-piece for the Chapel of St. Bernardo in the Palazzo Vecchio, +and he was paid twenty-five florins on account. He, however, never +carried out the work, and after waiting five years the Signoria +transferred the commission to Domenico Ghirlandajo, who also failed to +accomplish the task, which was ultimately, some seven years later, +completed by Filippino Lippi. This panel of the "Madonna Enthroned, +St. Victor, St. John Baptist, St. Bernard, and St. Zenobius," which is +dated February 20, 1485, is now in the Uffizi. + +That Leonardo was by this time a facile draughtsman is evidenced by +his vigorous pen-and-ink sketch--now in a private collection in +Paris--of Bernardo Bandini, who in the Pazzi Conspiracy of April 1478 +stabbed Giuliano de' Medici to death in the Cathedral at Florence +during High Mass. The drawing is dated December 29, 1479, the date of +Bandini's public execution in Florence. + +In that year also, no doubt, was painted the early and, as might be +expected, unfinished "St. Jerome in the Desert," now in the Vatican, the +under-painting being in umber and _terraverte_. Its authenticity is +vouched for not only by the internal evidence of the picture itself, but +also by the similarity of treatment seen in a drawing in the Royal +Library at Windsor. Cardinal Fesch, a princely collector in Rome in the +early part of the nineteenth century, found part of the picture--the +torso--being used as a box-cover in a shop in Rome. He long afterwards +discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to +the torso. The jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX., +and added to the Vatican Collection. + +In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for +the monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was +made to him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most +probable. He, however, never completed the picture, although it gave +rise to the supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the +Magi," now in the Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is +unfinished, only the under-painting and the colouring of the figures +in green on a brown ground having been executed. The rhythm of line, +the variety of attitude, the profound feeling for landscape and an +early application of chiaroscuro effect combine to render this one of +his most characteristic productions. + +Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of +Christ" he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels +holding some vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his +remarkable genius clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo +painted being much better than the portion executed by his master. +This "Baptism of Christ," which is now in the Accademia in Florence +and is in a bad state of preservation, appears to have been a +comparatively early work by Verrocchio, and to have been painted +in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be about thirty years of age. + +To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now +in the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have +been made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del +Verrocchio, who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian +statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni, which was completed twenty years later +and still adorns the Campo di San Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. + + + + +FIRST VISIT TO MILAN + + +About 1482 Leonardo entered the service of Ludovico Sforza, having +first written to his future patron a full statement of his various +abilities in the following terms:-- + +"Having, most illustrious lord, seen and pondered over the experiments +made by those who pass as masters in the art of inventing instruments +of war, and having satisfied myself that they in no way differ from +those in general use, I make so bold as to solicit, without prejudice +to any one, an opportunity of informing your excellency of some of my +own secrets." + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.-THE LAST SUPPER + +Refectory of St. Maria delle Grazie, Milan. About 13 feet +8 ins. h. by 26 ft. 7 ins. w. (4.16 x 8.09)] + +He goes on to say that he can construct light bridges which can be +transported, that he can make pontoons and scaling ladders, that he +can construct cannon and mortars unlike those commonly used, as well +as catapults and other engines of war; or if the fight should take +place at sea that he can build engines which shall be suitable alike +for defence as for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public +and private buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute +sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting, +"can do as well as any one else, no matter who he may be." In +conclusion, he offers to execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue +of Francesco Sforza "which shall bring glory and never-ending honour +to that illustrious house." + +It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from +Florence to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in +the Louvre (No. 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and +although it has no pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the +Royal Collection at Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and +considerably more authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the +National Gallery (Plate III.). + +He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of +Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it. +He may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of +Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has, +however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us +in the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is +now in the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow. + + + + +IN THE EAST + +The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy, +between 1483 and 1487 has led critics to the conclusion, based on +documentary evidence of a somewhat complicated nature, that he spent +those years in the service of the Sultan of Egypt, travelling in +Armenia and the East as his engineer. + + + +BACK IN MILAN + + +In 1487 he was again resident in Milan as general artificer--using +that term in its widest sense--to Ludovico. Among his various +activities at this period must be mentioned the designs he made for +the cupola of the cathedral at Milan, and the scenery he constructed +for "Il Paradiso," which was written by Bernardo Bellincioni on the +occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo with Isabella of Aragon. +About 1489-1490 he began his celebrated "Treatise on Painting" and +recommenced work on the colossal equestrian statue of Francesco +Sforza, which was doubtless the greatest of all his achievements as a +sculptor. It was, however, never cast in bronze, and was ruthlessly +destroyed by the French bowmen in April 1500, on their occupation of +Milan after the defeat of Ludovico at the battle of Novara. This is +all the more regrettable as no single authentic piece of sculpture +has come down to us from Leonardo's hand, and we can only judge of his +power in this direction from his drawings, and the enthusiastic +praise of his contemporaries. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--COPY OF THE LAST SUPPER + +In the Diploma Gallery, Burlington House + +This copy is usually ascribed to Marco d'Oggiono, but some critics +claim that it is by Gianpetrino. It is the same size as the original.] + + + +THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS + + +The "Virgin of the Rocks" (Plate III.), now in the National Gallery, +corresponds exactly with a painting by Leonardo which was described by +Lomazzo about 1584 as being in the Chapel of the Conception in the +Church of St. Francesco at Milan. This picture, the only _oeuvre_ +in this gallery with which Leonardo's name can be connected, was +brought to England in 1777 by Gavin Hamilton, and sold by him to the +Marquess of Lansdowne, who subsequently exchanged it for another +picture in the Collection of the Earl of Suffolk at Charlton Park, +Wiltshire, from whom it was eventually purchased by the National +Gallery for £9000. Signor Emilio Motta, some fifteen years ago, +unearthed in the State Archives of Milan a letter or memorial from +Giovanni Ambrogio da Predis and Leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of +Milan, praying him to intervene in a dispute, which had arisen between +the petitioners and the Brotherhood of the Conception, with regard to +the valuation of certain works of art furnished for the chapel of the +Brotherhood in the church of St. Francesco. The only logical deduction +which can be drawn from documentary evidence is that the "Vierge aux +Rochers" in the Louvre is the picture, painted about 1482, which +between 1491 and 1494 gave rise to the dispute, and that, when it was +ultimately sold by the artists for the full price asked to some +unknown buyer, the National Gallery version was executed for a +smaller price mainly by Ambrogio da Predisunder the supervision, and +with the help, of Leonardo to be placed in the Chapel of the +Conception. + +The differences between the earlier, the more authentic, and the more +characteristically Florentine "Vierge aux Rochers," in the Louvre, and +the "Virgin of the Rocks," in the National Gallery, are that in the +latter picture the hand of the angel, seated by the side of the Infant +Christ, is raised and pointed in the direction of the little St. John +the Baptist; that the St John has a reed cross and the three principal +figures have gilt nimbi, which were, however, evidently added much +later. In the National Gallery version the left hand of the Madonna, +the Christ's right hand and arm, and the forehead of St. John the +Baptist are freely restored, while a strip of the foreground right +across the whole picture is ill painted and lacks accent. The head of +the angel is, however, magnificently painted, and by Leonardo; the +panel, taken as a whole, is exceedingly beautiful and full of charm +and tenderness. + + + + +THE LAST SUPPER + +Between 1496 and 1498 Leonardo painted his _chef d'oeuvre_, the +"Last Supper," (Plate IV.) for the end wall of the Refectory of the +Dominican Convent of S. Maria delle Grazie at Milan. It was originally +executed in tempera on a badly prepared stucco ground and began to +deteriorate a very few years after its completion. As early as 1556 it +was half ruined. In 1652 the monks cut away a part of the fresco +including the feet of the Christ to make a doorway. In 1726 one +Michelangelo Belotti, an obscure Milanese painter, received £300 for +the worthless labour he bestowed on restoring it. He seems to have +employed some astringent restorative which revived the colours +temporarily, and then left them in deeper eclipse than before. In 1770 +the fresco was again restored by Mazza. In 1796 Napoleon's cavalry, +contrary to his express orders, turned the refectory into a stable, +and pelted the heads of the figures with dirt. Subsequently the +refectory was used to store hay, and at one time or another it has +been flooded. In 1820 the fresco was again restored, and in 1854 this +restoration was effaced. In October 1908 Professor Cavenaghi completed +the delicate task of again restoring it, and has, in the opinion of +experts, now preserved it from further injury. In addition, the +devices of Ludovico and his Duchess and a considerable amount of +floral decoration by Leonardo himself have been brought to light. + +Leonardo has succeeded in producing the effect of the _coup de +théâtre_ at the moment when Jesus said "One of you shall betray +me." Instantly the various apostles realise that there is a traitor +among their number, and show by their different gestures their +different passions, and reveal their different temperaments. On the +left of Christ is St. John who is overcome with grief and is +interrogated by the impetuous Peter, near whom is seated Judas +Iscariot who, while affecting the calm of innocence, is quite unable +to conceal his inner feelings; he instinctively clasps the money-bag +and in so doing upsets the salt-cellar. + +It will be remembered that the Prior of the Convent complained to +Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that Leonardo was taking too long to +paint the fresco and was causing the Convent considerable +inconvenience. Leonardo had his revenge by threatening to paint the +features of the impatient Prior into the face of Judas Iscariot. The +incident has been quaintly told in the following lines:-- + + "Padre Bandelli, then, complains of me + Because, forsooth, I have not drawn a line + Upon the Saviour's head; perhaps, then, he + Could without trouble paint that head divine. + But think, oh Signor Duca, what should be + The pure perfection of Our Saviour's face-- + What sorrowing majesty, what noble grace, + At that dread moment when He brake the bread, + And those submissive words of pathos said: + + "'By one among you I shall be betrayed,'-- + And 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 express + The 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? + + "And Judas too, the basest face I see, + Will not contain his utter infamy; + Among the dregs and offal of mankind + Vainly I seek an utter wretch to find. + He who for thirty silver coins could sell + His Lord, must be the Devil's miracle. + Padre Bandelli thinks it easy is + To find the type of him who with a kiss + Betrayed his Lord. Well, what I can I'll do; + And if it please his reverence and you, + For Judas' face I'm willing to paint his." + + * * * * * + + "... I dare not paint + Till all is ordered and matured within, + Hand-work and head-work have an earthly taint, + But when the soul commands I shall begin; + On themes like these I should not dare to dwell + With our good Prior--they to him would be + Mere nonsense; he must touch and taste and see, + And facts, he says, are never mystical." + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE HEAD OF CHRIST + +In the Brera Gallery, Milan. No. 280. 1 ft. 0-1/2 ins. by +1 ft. 4 ins. (0.32 x 0.40)] + +The copy of the "Last Supper" (Plate V.) by Marco d'Oggiono, now in +the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House, was made shortly after the +original painting was completed. It gives but a faint echo of that +sublime work "in which the ideal and the real were blended in perfect +unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in +their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and +the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a +grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for £600 by the Royal +Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone +unturned to acquire also the original studies for 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 +by Leonardo. + +Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the +Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to +Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the +Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the +Château d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre. + +The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the +Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the +principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In +spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated +seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of +the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own +death, and resignation to the will of His Father." + + + +THE COURT OF MILAN + +Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice +d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young +Duchess, who at one time owned as many as eighty-four splendid gowns, +refused to wear a certain dress of woven gold, which her husband had +given her, if Cecilia Gallerani, the Sappho of her day, continued to +wear a very similar one, which presumably had been given to her by +Ludovico. Having discarded Cecilia, who, as her tastes did not lie in +the direction of the Convent, was married in 1491 to Count Ludovico +Bergamini, the Duke in 1496 became enamoured of Lucrezia Crivelli, a +lady-in-waiting to the Duchess Beatrice. + +Leonardo, as court painter, perhaps painted a portrait, now lost, of +Lucrezia, whose features are more likely to be preserved to us in the +portrait by Ambrogio da Predis, now in the Collection of the Earl of +Roden, than in the quite unauthenticated portrait (Plate VII.), now in +the Louvre (No. 1600). + +On January 2, 1497, Beatrice spent three hours in prayer in the church +of St. Maria delle Grazie, and the same night gave birth to a +stillborn child. In a few hours she passed away, and from that moment +Ludovico was a changed man. He went daily to see her tomb, and was +quite overcome with grief. + +In April 1498, Isabella d'Este, Beatrice's elder, more beautiful, and +more graceful sister, "at the sound of whose name all the muses rise +and do reverence" wrote to Cecilia Gallerani, or Bergamini, asking her +to lend her the portrait which Leonardo had painted of her some +fifteen years earlier, as she wished to compare it with a picture by +Giovanni Bellini. Cecilia graciously lent the picture--now presumably +lost--adding her regret that it no longer resembled her. + + + +LEONARDO LEAVES MILAN + +Among the last of Leonardo da Vinci's works in Milan towards the end +of 1499 was, probably, the superb cartoon of "The Virgin and Child +with St. Anne and St. John," now at Burlington House. Though little +known to the general public, this large drawing on _carton_, or +stiff paper, is one of the greatest of London's treasures, as it +reveals the sweeping line of Leonardo's powerful draughtsmanship. It +was in the Pompeo Leoni, Arconati, Casnedi, and Udney Collections +before passing to the Royal Academy. + +In 1499 the stormy times in Milan foreboded the end of Ludovico's +reign. In April of that year we read of his giving a vineyard to +Leonardo; in September Ludovico had to leave Milan for the Tyrol to +raise an army, and on the 14th of the same month the city was sold by +Bernardino di Corte to the French, who occupied it from 1500 to 1512. +Ludovico may well have had in mind the figure of the traitor in the +"Last Supper" when he declared that "Since the days of Judas Iscariot +there has never been so black a traitor as Bernardino di Corte." On +October 6th Louis XII. entered the city. Before the end of the year +Leonardo, realising the necessity for his speedy departure, sent six +hundred gold florins by letter of exchange to Florence to be placed +to his credit with the hospital of S. Maria Nuova. + +In the following year, Ludovico having been defeated at Novara, +Leonardo was a homeless wanderer. He left Milan for Mantua, where he +drew a portrait in chalk of Isabella d'Este, which is now in the +Louvre. Leonardo eventually arrived in Florence about Easter 1500. +After apparently working there in 1501 on a second Cartoon, similar in +most respects to the one he had executed in Milan two years earlier, +he travelled in Umbria, visiting Orvieto, Pesaro, Rimini, and other +towns, acting as engineer and architect to Cesare Borgia, for whom he +planned a navigable canal between Cesena and Porto Cese-natico. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.-PORTRAIT (PRESUMED) OF LUCREZIA CRIVELLI + +In the Louvre. No. 1600 [483]. 2 ft by I ft 5 ins. (0.62 x 0.44) + +This picture, although officially attributed to Leonardo, is probably +not by him, and almost certainly does not represent Lucrezia Crivelli. +It was once known as a "Portrait of a Lady" and is still occasionally +miscalled "La Belle Féronnière."] + + + +MONA LISA + +Early in 1503 he was back again in Florence, and set to work in +earnest on the "Portrait of Mona Lisa" (Plate I.), now in the Louvre +(No. 1601). Lisa di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini was the daughter +of Antonio Gherardini. In 1495 she married Francesco di Bartolommeo de +Zenobi del Giocondo. It is from the surname of her husband that she +derives the name of "La Joconde," by which her portrait is officially +known in the Louvre. Vasari is probably inaccurate in saying that +Leonardo "loitered over it for four years, and finally left it +unfinished." He may have begun it in the spring of 1501 and, probably +owing to having taken service under Cesare Borgia in the following +year, put it on one side, ultimately completing it after working on +the "Battle of Anghiari" in 1504. Vasari's eulogy of this portrait may +with advantage be quoted: "Whoever shall desire to see how far art can +imitate nature may do so to perfection in this head, wherein every +peculiarity that could be depicted by the utmost subtlety of the +pencil has been faithfully reproduced. The eyes have the lustrous +brightness and moisture which is seen in life, and around them are +those pale, red, and slightly livid circles, also proper to nature. +The nose, with its beautiful and delicately roseate nostrils, might be +easily believed to be alive; the mouth, admirable in its outline, has +the lips uniting the rose-tints of their colour with those of the +face, in the utmost perfection, and the carnation of the cheek does +not appear to be painted, but truly flesh and blood. He who looks +earnestly at the pit of the throat cannot but believe that he sees the +beating of the pulses. Mona Lisa was exceedingly beautiful, and while +Leonardo was painting her portrait, he took the precaution of keeping +some one constantly near her to sing or play on instruments, or to +jest and otherwise amuse her." + +Leonardo painted this picture in the full maturity of his talent, and, +although it is now little more than a monochrome owing to the free and +merciless restoration to which it has been at times subjected, it must +have created a wonderful impression on those who saw it in the early +years of the sixteenth century. It is difficult for the unpractised +eye to-day to form any idea of its original beauty. Leonardo has here +painted this worldly-minded woman--her portrait is much more famous +than she herself ever was--with a marvellous charm and suavity, a +finesse of expression never reached before and hardly ever equalled +since. Contrast the head of the Christ at Milan, Leonardo's conception +of divinity expressed in perfect humanity, with the subtle and +sphinx-like smile of this languorous creature. + +The landscape background, against which Mona Lisa is posed, recalls +the severe, rather than exuberant, landscape and the dim vistas of +mountain ranges seen in the neighbourhood of his own birthplace. The +portrait was bought during the reign of Francis I. for a sum which is +to-day equal to about £1800. Leonardo, by the way, does not seem to +have been really affected by any individual affection for any woman, +and, like Michelangelo and Raphael, never married. + +In January 4, 1504, Leonardo was one of the members of the Committee +of Artists summoned to advise the Signoria as to the most suitable +site for the erection of Michelangelo's statue of "David," which had +recently been completed. + + + + +BATTLE OF ANGHIARI + +In the following May he was commissioned by the Signoria to decorate +one of the walls of the Council Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The +subject he selected was the "Battle of Anghiari." Although he +completed the cartoon, the only part of the composition which he +eventually executed in colour was an incident in the foreground +which dealt with the "Battle of the Standard." One of the many +supposed copies of a study of this mural painting now hangs on the +south-east staircase in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It depicts the +Florentines under Cardinal Ludovico Mezzarota Scarampo fighting +against the Milanese under Niccolò Piccinino, the General of Filippo +Maria Visconti, on June 29, 1440. + + + +AGAIN IN MILAN + +Leonardo was back in Milan in May 1506 in the service of the French +King, for whom he executed, apparently with the help of assistants, +"the Madonna, the Infant Christ, and Saint Anne" (Plate VIII.). The +composition of this oil-painting seems to have been built up on the +second cartoon, which he had made some eight years earlier, and which +was apparently taken to France in 1516 and ultimately lost. + + + +IN ROME + +From 1513-1515 he was in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been +elected Pope under the title of Leo X. He did not, however, work for +the Pope, although he resided in the Vatican, his time being occupied +in studying acoustics, anatomy, optics, geology, minerals, +engineering, and geometry! + + + +IN FRANCE + +At last in 1516, three years before his death, Leonardo left his +native land for France, where he received from Francis I. a princely +income. His powers, however, had already begun to fail, and he +produced very little in the country of his adoption. It is, +nevertheless, only in the Louvre that his achievements as a painter +can to-day be adequately studied. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.-MADONNA, INFANT CHRIST, AND ST. ANNE + +In the Louvre. No. 1508. 5 ft. 7 in. h. by 4 ft. 3 in. w. (1.70 x +1.29) + +Painted between 1509 and 1516 with the help of assistants.] + +On October 10, 1516, when he was resident at the Manor House of Cloux +near Amboise in Touraine with Francesco Melzi, his friend and +assistant, he showed three of his pictures to the Cardinal of Aragon, +but his right hand was now paralysed, and he could "no longer colour +with that sweetness with which he was wont, although still able to +make 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, which is probably +the only authentic portrait of him in existence. + + + +HIS DEATH + +On April 23, 1519--Easter Eve--exactly forty-five years before the +birth of Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci made his will, and on May 2 of +the same year he passed away. + +Vasari informs us that Leonardo, "having become old, lay sick for many +months, and finding himself near death and being sustained in the arms +of his servants and friends, devoutly received the Holy Sacrament. He +was then seized with a paroxysm, the forerunner of death, when King +Francis I., who was accustomed frequently and affectionately to visit +him, rose and supported his head to give him such assistance and to do +him such favour as he could in the hope of alleviating his sufferings. +The spirit of Leonardo, which was most divine, conscious that he could +attain to no greater honour, departed in the arms of the monarch, +being at that time in the seventy-fifth year of his age." The not +over-veracious chronicler, however, is here drawing largely upon his +imagination. Leonardo was only sixty-seven years of age, and the King +was in all probability on that date at St. Germain-en Laye! + +Thus died "Mr. Lionard de Vincy, the noble Milanese, painter, +engineer, and architect to the King, State Mechanician" and "former +Professor of Painting to the Duke of Milan." + +"May God Almighty grant him His eternal peace," wrote his friend and +assistant Francesco Melzi. "Every one laments the loss of a man whose +like Nature cannot produce a second time." + + + +HIS ART + +Leonardo, whose birth antedates that of Michelangelo and Raphael by +twenty three and thirty-one years respectively, was thus in the +forefront of the Florentine Renaissance, his life coinciding almost +exactly with the best period of Tuscan painting. + +Leonardo was the first to investigate scientifically and to apply to +art the laws of light and shade, though the preliminary investigations +of Piero della Francesca deserve to be recorded. + +He observed with strict accuracy the subtleties of chiaroscuro--light +and shade apart from colour; but, as one critic has pointed out, his +gift of chiaroscuro cost the colour-life of many a noble picture. +Leonardo was "a tonist, not a colourist," before whom the whole book +of nature lay open. + +It was not instability of character but versatility of mind which +caused him to undertake many things that having commenced he +afterwards abandoned, and the probability is that as soon as he saw +exactly how he could solve any difficulty which presented itself, he +put on one side the merely perfunctory execution of such a task. + +In the Forster collection in the Victoria and Albert museum three of +Leonardo's note-books with sketches are preserved, and it is stated +that it was his practice to carry about with him, attached to his +girdle, a little book for making sketches. They prove that he was +left-handed and wrote from right to left. + + + + +HIS MIND + +We can readily believe the statements of Benvenuto Cellini, the +sixteenth-century Goldsmith, that Francis I. "did not believe +that any other man had come into the world who had attained so great a +knowledge as Leonardo, and that not only as sculptor, painter, and +architect, for beyond that he was a profound philosopher." It was +Cellini also who contended that "Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and +Raphael are the Book of the World." + +Leonardo anticipated many eminent scientists and inventors in the +methods of investigation which they adopted to solve the many problems +with which their names are coupled. Among these may be cited +Copernicus' theory of the earth's movement, Lamarck's classification +of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the laws of friction, +the laws of combustion and respiration, the elevation of the +continents, the laws of gravitation, the undulatory theory of light +and heat, steam as a motive power in navigation, flying machines, the +invention of the camera obscura, magnetic attraction, the use of the +stone saw, the system of canalisation, breech loading cannon, the +construction of fortifications, the circulation of the blood, the +swimming belt, the wheelbarrow, the composition of explosives, the +invention of paddle wheels, the smoke stack, the mincing machine! It +is, therefore, easy to see why he called "Mechanics the Paradise +of the Sciences." + +Leonardo was a SUPERMAN. + + + + +HIS MAXIMS + + + The eye is the window of the soul. + + Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. + + The natural desire 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. + + Miserable men, how often do you enslave yourselves + to gain money! + + + + +HIS SPELL + +The influence of Leonardo was strongly felt in Milan, where he spent +so many of the best years of his life and founded a School of +painting. He was a close observer of the gradation and reflex of +light, and was capable of giving to his discoveries a practical and +aesthetic form. His strong personal character and the fascination of +his genius enthralled his followers, who were satisfied to repeat his +types, to perpetuate the "grey-hound eye," and to make use of his +little devices. Among this group of painters may be mentioned +Boltraffio, who perhaps painted the "Presumed Portrait of Lucrezia +Crivelli" (Plate VII.), which is officially attributed in the Louvre +to the great master himself. + + + + +HIS DESCENDANTS + + +Signor Uzielli has shown that one Tommaso da Vinci, a descendant of +Domenico (one of Leonardo's brothers), was a few years ago a peasant +at Bottinacio near Montespertoli, and had then in his possession the +family papers, which now form part of the archives of the Accademia +dei Lincei at Rome. It was proved also that Tommaso had given his +eldest son "the glorious name of Leonardo." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Leonardo da Vinci, by Maurice W. 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