Leonardo da Vinci | Page 3

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,