Leonardo da Vinci | Page 4

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.