Chiromancy.
Formulary of letters [by Miniatore Bartolomeo].81
Meanwhile Ludovico Sforza’s policy was proving disastrous, and he had to flee while the French king entered Milan in October 1499. Louis XII was severe and pitiless towards his enemies, but their works of art appealed to him. On seeing Leonardo’s painting of the Last Supper he coveted it so much that he anxiously enquired from those standing around whether it might be detached from the wall and transported forthwith to France, though this would have meant the destruction of the famous refectory.
Among the French invaders was Count Louis of Ligny, who was planning an exploit on his own account in the hope of gaining possession of the estate in Naples which had been the property of his late wife, a Neapolitan princess. His agent was hoping to get financial support from Venice. That Leonardo had been asked to help and was making plans to leave Milan for Naples is revealed by the following note. He hoped on the way to visit his place of birth.
Find Ligny and tell him that you will wait for him at Rome and will go with him to Naples.* Have the donations paid, and take the book by Vitolone and the measurements of the public building. Have two covered boxes made ready for the muleteer, bed-covers will be best, there are three of which you will leave one at Vinci. Take the stoves from the Grazie. Get from Giovanni Lombardo the theatre of Verona.
Buy handkerchiefs and towels, hats and shoes, four pair of hose, a jerkin of chamois and skin to make new ones. The lathe of Alessandro. Sell what you cannot take with you. Get from Jean de Paris* the method of colouring al secco, and how to prepare tinted paper, double folded, and his box of colours. Learn to work flesh colours in tempera, learn to dissolve gum shellac. . . .82
The following note which is not in Leonardo’s hand may refer to a part of the same exploit. He was to report on the state of the fortifications of Florence after the death of Savonarola in 1498.
Memorandum for Master Leonardo to secure quickly informations on the state of Florence, videlicet, in what condition the reverend father called friar Girolamo had kept the fortresses. Item the manning and armament of each command, and in what way they are equipped, and whether they are the same now.83
The exploit of the count of Ligny came to nothing. On 14 December 1499 Leonardo sent his savings amounting to 600 florins to be deposited at Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. He then left Milan for Venice in the company of Fra Luca Pacioli. They stopped at Mantua on their way and were welcomed by the marchioness Isabella d’Esté, who sat for Leonardo for the drawing of her profile which is now at the Louvre. Though her sympathies were with her defeated brother-in-law, Ludovico, she was anxious to conciliate the victor and save her husband’s little state and she invited the count of Ligny, who was connected to her family, to Mantua.
In the first days of February 1500 Ludovico crossed the Alps and re-entered Milan. His friends rejoiced, but the struggle was not yet over. Leonardo was awaiting the outcome in Venice.
III. SECOND FLORENTINE PERIOD (1500 - 1506)
On 13 March 1500 Lorenzo da Pavia, il Gusnasco, the lutenist, wrote from Venice to Isabella d’Este that he had seen Leonardo’s portrait drawing of her and had found it so good, it could not be improved.
On the piazza of Santi Giovanni e Paolo Leonardo could see the bronze equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni which was modelled by his master Verrocchio after he had left Florence, and cast in bronze by Alessandro Leopardi in 1493.
The Venetian Senate availed itself of Leonardo’s presence to procure his advice on the defences at Friuli and on the river Isonzo. The Turks, who had defeated the Venetian fleet at Lepanto in August 1499, were now threatening the frontier. In the following draft Leonardo advocates a scheme for inundating the countryside. On the same sheet is a sketch of road and river communications with the inscription:
Bridge of Gorizia Wippach [Vippacco]
My most illustrious Lords—As I have carefully examined the conditions of the river Isonzo, and have been given to understand by the country folk that whatever route on the mainland the Turks may take in order to approach this part of Italy they must finally arrive at this river, I have therefore formed the opinion that even though it may not be possible to make such defences upon this river as would not ultimately be ruined and destroyed by its floods. . . .84
On a later date he recalls the work on a sluice at Friuli made at this time.
And let the sluice be made movable like the one I devised in Friuli, where when the floodgate was open the water which passed through hollowed out the bottom.85
At Rome
At old Tivoli, Hadrian’s Villa.
Laus deo. 1500 . . . day of March.86
If the above notes on one and the same sheet were written at the same time, it may be assumed that Leonardo went to Rome on a short visit.
On 10 April 1500 Ludovico Sforza was finally defeated and taken prisoner by the French at Novara.
Leonardo comments on the events at Milan:
The Governor of the castle made a prisoner,
Visconti carried away and his son killed,
Giovanni della Rosa deprived of his money. . . .
The Duke lost the state, his property, and his liberty and none of his enterprises have been completed.87
On 24 April 1500 Leonardo drew fifty gold florins from his deposit at Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, suggesting that he was now established there again. During his absence the Medici had been banished and Florence had become a more representative republic. He was probably living in the church complex of Santissima Annunziata, where his father was now procurator, as a guest of the Servite brothers. At this time he created a cartoon representing the Madonna and Child with St Anne (now lost) which so impressed the Florentines that it was viewed for two days by crowds of people.
On 11 August 1500 the marquess of Mantua received from his agent a plan of a small palace drawn by Leonardo for the merchant Angelo del Tovaglia.
A contemporary account of Leonardo’s activities occurs in a letter written from Florence dated 3 April 1501 by the Head of the Carmelites in Florence, Fra Pietro da Novellara, to Isabella d’Este in answer to questions she had put to him as to the possibility of persuading him to paint a subject picture for her ‘studio’, or failing this a Madonna and Child ‘devoto e dolce come è il suo naturale’. Fra Pietro writes, ‘From what I gather, the life that Leonardo leads is haphazard and extremely unpredictable, so that he only seems to live from day to day. Since he came to Florence he has done the drawing of a cartoon. He is portraying a Christ Child of about a year old who is almost slipping out of his Mother’s arms to take hold of a lamb, which he then appears to embrace. His Mother, half rising from the lap of St Anne, takes hold of the Child to separate him from the lamb (a sacrificial animal) signifying the Passion. St Anne, rising slightly from her seated position, appears to want to restrain her daughter from separating the Child from the lamb. She is perhaps intended to represent the Church, which would not have the Passion of Christ impeded. These figures are all life-sized but can fit into a small cartoon because they are all either seated or bending over and each one is positioned a little in front of each other and to the left-hand side. He is hard at work on geometry and has no time for the brush.’
On 14 April Fra Pietro wrote again after having visited Leonardo on the Wednesday of Passion Week: ‘During this Holy Week I have learned the intention of Leonardo the painter through Salaì his pupil and some other friends of his who, in order that I might obtain more information, brought him to me on Holy Wednesday. In short, his mathematical experiments have so greatly distracted him from painting that he cannot bear the brush. However, I tactfully made sure he understood Your Excellency’s wishes, seeing that he was most eagerly inclined to please Your Excellency by reason of the kindness you showed him in Mantua, I spoke to him freely about everything. The upshot was that if he could discharge himself without dishonour from his obligations to His Majesty the King of France as he hoped to do within a month at most, then he wou
ld rather serve Your Excellency than anyone else in the world. But that in any event, once he had finished a little picture that he is doing for one Robertet, a favourite of the King of France, he will immediately do the portrait and send it to Your Excellency. I leave him well entreated. The little picture he is doing is of a Madonna seated as if she were about to spin yarn. The Child has placed his foot on the basket of yarns and has grasped the yarnwinder and gazes attentively at the four spokes that are in the form of a cross. As if desirous of the cross he smiles and holds it firm, and is unwilling to yield it to his mother who seems to want to take it away from him. This is as far as I could get with him . . .’ The painting he describes is the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, two prime versions of which exist, one in the collection of the duke of Buccleuch and the other in another private collection.
On 19 and 24 September 1501 letters by Giovanni Valla, ambassador to Ercole I d’Este, duke of Ferrara, ask the French in Milan whether they would cede the colossal horse, which Leonardo had modelled for the Sforza monument, and which was standing neglected and exposed to wind and weather in the castle square. The French governor replied that he could not give up the model without the consent of his king.
On 12 May 1502 Leonardo, now 50 years old, evaluates drawings of antique vases from Lorenzo de’ Medici’s collection.
In the summer of 1502 Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia ‘Il Valentino’, captain general of the papal armies who, with the approval of the Pope and the French king, was subduing the local despots in the Marches and Romagna to his rule. Leonardo’s role was ‘family architect and general engineer’. Made by the sea at Piombino.88
Many years later when writing a description of a deluge Leonardo recalled his observations made at this seaside place.
Waves of the sea at Piombino all of foaming water;
Of water that leaps up at the spot where the great masses strike the surfaces;
Of the winds at Piombino;
The emptying the boats of the rain water.89
During his stay at Piombino he planned the draining of its marshes.
A method of drying the marsh of Piombino.90 [With a slight sketch.]
He studied aerial perspective in a sailing-boat plying between the mainland and the mountainous island of Elba.
When I was in a place at an equal distance from the shore and the mountains, the distance from the shore looked much greater than that of the mountains.91
Passing through Siena he examined a famous bell on the tower of the Palazzo Publico, by the side of which stood a wooden statue, coated with brass plates, which struck the hours with a hammer.
Bell of Siena, the manner of its movement and the position of the attachment of its clapper.92
In June Leonardo was at Arezzo where Cesare Borgia’s condottiere was fighting. He was anxious to secure a book by Archimedes with his help.
Borges shall get for you the Archimedes from the bishop of Padua, and Vitellozzo the one from Borgo San Sepolcro.93
Had any man discovered the range of power of the cannon, in all its variety, and had given such a secret to the Romans, with what speed would they have conquered every country, and subdued every army, and what reward would have been great enough for such a service! Archimedes, although he had greatly damaged the Romans in the siege of Syracuse, did not fail to be offered very great rewards by these same Romans. And when Syracuse was taken diligent search was made for Archimedes, and when he was found dead greater lamentation was made in the Senate and among the Roman people than if they had lost all their army; and they did not fail to honour him with burial and statue, their leader being Marcus Marcellus. And after the second destruction of Syracuse the tomb of this same Archimedes was found by Cato in the ruins of a temple; and so Cato had the temple restored and the tomb he so highly honoured . . . and of this Cato is recorded to have said that he did not glory in anything so much as in having paid this honour to Archimedes.94
Meanwhile he studied the topography and made maps of the district for military purposes.
From Bonconvento to Casanova 10 miles; from Casanova to Chiusi 9 miles, from Chiusi to Perugia 12 miles; from Perugia to Santa Maria degli Angeli and then to Foligno.95
Leonardo’s method of procedure in drawing maps was first to chart the river systems and determine the locality of the towns and then around these watersheds insert the mountains. The result was very suggestive of the nature of the terrain. The following note refers to map drawing.
On the tops of the sides of the hills foreshorten the shape of the ground and its division, but give its proper shape to what is turned towards you.96
While studying the watersheds of Chiana and the upper Arno he looked for shells in order to ascertain whether these parts had been submerged by the sea in former ages.
Where the valleys have never been covered by the salt water of the sea there shells are never found; as is plainly visible in the great valley of the Arno above Gonfolina, a rock which was once united with Monte Albano in the form of a very high bank. This kept the river dammed up in such a way that before it could flow into the sea which was then at the foot of this rock, it formed two large lakes, the first of which was where we now see the flourishing city of Florence together with Prato and Pistoia. . . . In the upper part of the Val d’Arno, as far as Arezzo, a second lake was formed which discharged its waters into the above-mentioned lake. It was shut in at about where now we see Girone, and it filled all the valley above for a distance of forty miles. This valley received upon its base all the soil brought down by the turbid waters and it is still to be seen at its maximum height at the foot of Prato Magno for there the rivers have not worn it away.
Across this land may be seen the deep cuts of the rivers which have passed there in their descent from the great mountain of Prato Magno; in which cuts there are no traces of any shells or of marine soil This lake was joined to that of Perugia.97
Pigeon House at Urbino. 30 July 150298
Passing through Urbino Leonardo saw the magnificent Renaissance castle built for Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino. It had been a renowned centre of art and literature. Now young Guidobaldo, Federico’s son and heir, had fled from his home.
The fortress of Urbino.99
The following note in the same notebook was probably suggested by the pillage of the palace whose treasures Cesare Borgia had sent to Cesena.
Of mules which have on them rich burdens of silver and gold. Much treasure and great riches will be laid upon four-footed beasts which will convey them to divers places.100
In ascending the staircase of the pillaged palace Leonardo made a hasty sketch of the columned arches on one of the landings.
Another sketch illustrates the unsatisfactory effect of a plinth which is narrower than the wall.
Steps of Urbino.
The plinth must be as broad as the thickness of the wall against which the plinth is built.101
First day of August 1502. At Pesaro, the Library.87
There is harmony in the different falls of water as you saw at the fountain of Rimini on 8th day of August 1502.102
The shepherds in the Romagna at the foot of the Apennines make peculiar large cavities in the mountains in the form of a horn, and on one side they fasten a horn. This little horn becomes one and the same with the said cavity and thus they produce a very loud sound by blowing into it.103
In Romagna, the realm of all the dullards, they use carts with four equal wheels, or they have two low in front and two high ones behind and this is a great restraint on movement because more weight is resting upon the front wheels than upon those behind, as I have shown.
. . . And these first wheels move less easily than the large ones, so that to increase the weight in front is to diminish the power of movement and so to double the difficulty.
[With a drawing.]
Here the larger wheel has three times the leverage of the small wheel; consequently the small one finds three times as much resistance and to add a hundred poun
ds [necessitates adding] two hundred more to the small [wheel].104
[With drawing of castle.]
St Mary’s Day, the middle of August at Cesena 1502.105
[With a sketch of two bunches of grapes hanging on a hook.]
Thus grapes are carried at Cesena.106
A visit to Cesare Borgia by a delegation from the sultan Baiazeth possibly revived Leonardo’s interest in the East. The sultan was planning the construction of a bridge between Pera and Constantinople to replace a wooden structure resting on heavy barges that had been thrown across the Golden Horn.
Leonardo drew a plan for the bridge in his notebook.
Bridge from Pera to Constantinople.
40 ells wide, 70 ells above water, and 600 ells long, 400 ells being above the water and 200 resting on land. In this way it provides its own supports.107
On 18 August 1502 Cesare Borgia while conferring at Pavia with the French king appointed Leonardo his chief engineer. He was to supervise the fortresses in the conquered provinces and was given power to requisition whatever was needed.
[With a drawing.]
At Porto Cesenatico on the 6th of September 1502 at the 15th hour. How the bastions should project beyond the walls of towns to defend the outer slopes, so that they may not be struck by artillery.107
On returning to Romagna Cesare Borgia found himself isolated at Imola, his captains conspiring against him, and Urbino in revolt. Leonardo’s plan of Imola, with indications of the distances to places in the neighbourhood, dates from about this time. Florence supported the cause of Cesare and sent Niccolò Machiavelli with offers of help. Both he and Leonardo were now able to observe the course of events which culminated in Cesare murdering his disaffected captains as they met him in order to be reconciled, on 12 December 1502. Among the victims was Vitellozzo Vitegli (see p. 320). The campaign was over and Cesare left for Rome in February 1503.
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