Leonardo da Vinci | Page 9

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.
Brockwell
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEONARDO
DA VINCI ***
This file should be named 8ldvn10.txt or 8ldvn10.zip Corrected
EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ldvn11.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ldvn10a.txt
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and the DP Team
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US unless
a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not keep eBooks in
compliance with any particular paper edition.
We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance of the
official release dates, leaving time for better editing. Please be
encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, even years after the
official publication date.
Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til midnight of
the last day of the month of any such announcement. The official
release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at Midnight, Central

Time, of the last day of the stated month. A preliminary version may
often be