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ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO was in his time a goldsmith, sculptor, carver
in wood, painter, and musician. For, having made a name for himself
as a goldsmith, he was sent for to Rome, to work in the Pope's
chapel, and perceiving the great esteem in which the ancient statues
which had been found in Rome were held, he determined to apply
himself to sculpture, and, entirely abandoning his goldsmith's
trade, he set himself to cast some figures in bronze. These being
much praised, he took courage and began to work in marble also.
Just at that time the wife of Francesco Tornabuoni died, and the
husband, who had loved her much, desired to set up a monument
to her honour, and entrusted it to Andrea, who carved upon it
the death of the lady and three figures of Virtues, which brought
him much praise. So he returned to Florence with money, fame,
and honour, and was employed to cast in bronze the ornaments for
the tomb of Giovanni and Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, and other
works. But finding that he could not increase his fame in this
art, being also a person to whom it was not enough to excel in
one thing only, he turned his thoughts to painting, and made some
sketches for pictures. He began to work upon them in colour, but
from some cause they were left unfinished. There are many drawings
by his hand, and among them some heads of women, with the hair
arranged in that manner that Leonardo da Vinci always imitated.
The cupola of S. Maria del Fiore was now finished, and after much
consultation it was resolved to make the ball of copper, to be
placed on the top according to the directions left by Filippo
Brunellesco. The work was entrusted to Andrea, and he made it
four braccia high, and set it up, fixing it firmly so that the
cross could be put upon it securely. The work was finished and
set up with great feasting and rejoicing. It required great ingenuity
and care, for it had to be made so that it could be entered from
below, and strengthened with supports, lest the wind should do
it injury.
Andrea was never at rest, but always working at something, though
he often changed from one work to another, growing weary of the
same thing. Though he never carried out the sketches for pictures
which we mentioned before, he did paint some pictures, and among
them was one for the friars of Vallombrosa, of S. John baptizing
Christ, in which Leonardo helped him, and which was the cause
that Andrea resolved never to touch a brush again.
At this time the Venetians were desiring to pay honour to Bartolommeo
Colleoni da Bergamo, who had won them many victories; and having
heard of the fame of Andrea, they fetched him to Venice, and gave
him command to make a bronze statue of the captain, to be set
up on the Piazza of S. Giovanni and S. Paolo. He made therefore
the model of a horse, and was preparing to cast it in bronze,
when it was decided, at the wish of some of the nobles, that Vellano
da Padova should make the figure of the general, and Andrea the
horse only. As soon as Andrea heard this, he broke off the head
and the legs of his model, and, without saying a word, returned
to Florence in a rage. When the Signory heard of his departure,
thev sent a message to h'lm that he had better not darc ever to
return to Venice, or they would cut off his head, to which he
replied in writing that he would take care, for if they
cut off people's heads, it was not in their power to put them
on again, while he could restore the head to the horse that he
had broken off, or a finer one still. The reply did not displease
the Signory, and they made him return to Venice, doubling the
money for his provision. So he mended his first model, and cast
it in bronze; but he did not perfectly finish it, for being heated
in casting it, he caught a chill, of which he died in a few days.
Among his many disciples the one he loved most was Lorenzo di
Gedi. He was the son of Andrea Sciarpelloni, and was apprenticed
by his father to Master Credi the goldsmith, where before long
he became so excellent in the work that to thS great honour of
Credi he was always called not Lorenzo Sciarpelloni, but Lorenzo
di Credi. Afterwards he attached himself to Andrea Verrocchio,
having Piero Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci for his companions;
and because Leonardo's manner of painting pleased him greatly,
he learnt to imitate him. Lorenzo was so much beloved by his master
that when Andrea went to Venice he left Lorenzo in charge of all
his business and his revenues, with all his drawings and statues
and materials for work. And Lorenzo on his side was so attached
to his master that, besides attending to his affairs in Florence
with wonderful affection, he went more than once to Venice to
see him and render him account of his management. This gave Andrea
so much satisfaction that, if Lorenzo would have consented, he
would have made him his heir. When Andrea died Lorenzo went to
Venice and brought his body back to Florence, giving up to the
heirs everything that was Andrea's, except the statues and drawings
and things of art.
But the greatest of all Andrea's pupils was Leonardo da Vinci,
in whom, besides a beauty of person never sufficiently admired
and a wonderful grace in all his actions, there was such a power
of intellect that whatever he turned his mind to he made himself
master of with ease.
Marvellous and divine, indeed, was Leonardo the son of Ser Piero
da Vinci. In erudition and letters he would have distinguished
himself, if he had not been variable and unstable. For he set
himself to learn many things, and when he had begun them gave
them up. In arithmetic, during the few months that he applied
himself to it, he made such progress that he often perplexed his
master by the doubts and difficulties that he propounded. He gave
some time to the study of music, and learnt to play on the lute,
improvising songs most divinely. But though he applied himself
to such various subjects, he never laid aside drawing and modelling
in relief, to which his fancy inclined him more than to anything
else; which Ser Piero perceiving, he took some of his drawings
one day and carried them to Andrea del Verrocchio, with whom he
was in close friendship, and prayed him to say whether he thought,
if Leonardo gave himself up to drawing, he would succeed. Andrea
was astounded at the great beginning Leonardo had made, and urged
Ser Piero to make him apply himself to it. So he arranged with
Leonardo that he was to go to Andrea's workshop, which Leonardo
did very willingly, and set himself to practice every art in which
design has a part. For he had such a marvellous mind that, besides
being a good geometrician, he worked at modelling (making while
a boy some laughing women's heads, and some heads of children
which seem to have come from a master's hand), and also made many
designs for architecture; and he was the first, while he was still
quite young, to discuss the question of making a channel for the
river Arno from Pisa to Florence. He made models of mills and
presses, and machines to be worked by water, and designs for tunnelling
through mountains, and levers and cranes for raising great weights,
so that it seemed that his brain never ceased inventing; and many
of these drawings are still scattered about. Among them was one
drawn for some of the citizens when governing Florence, to show
how it would be possible to lift up the church of S. Giovanni,
and put steps under it without throwing it down; and he supported
his scheme with such strong reasons as made it appear possible,
though as soon as he was gone every one felt in his mind how impossible
it really was.
He delighted much in horses and also in all other animals, and
often when passing by the places where they sold birds he would
take them out of their cages, and paying the price that was asked
for them, would let them fly away into the air, restoring to them
their lost liberty.
While, as we have said, he was studying art under Andrea del Verrocchio,
the latter was painting a picture of S. John baptizing ChristLeonardo
worked upon an angel who was holding the clothes, and although
he was so young, he managed it so well that Leonardo's angel was
better than Andrea's figures, which was the cause of Andrea's
never touching colours again, being angry that a boy should know
more than he.
There is a story that Ser Piero, being at his country house, was
asked by one of the country people to get a round piece of wood,
which he had cut from a figtree, painted for him in Florence,
which he very willingly undertook to do, as the man was skilled
in catching birds and fishing, and was very serviceable to Ser
Piero in these sports. So having it brought to Florence without
telling Leonardo where it came from, he asked him to paint something
upon it. Leonardo, finding it crooked and rough, straightened
it by means of fire, and gave it to a turner that it might be
made smooth and even. Then having prepared it for painting, he
began to think what he could paint upon it that would frighten
every one that saw it, having the effect of the head of Medusa.
So he brought for this purpose to his room, which no one entered
but himself, lizards, grasshoppers, serpents, butterflies, locusts,
bats, and other strange animals of the kind, and from them all
he produced a great animal so horrible and fearful that it seemed
to poison the air with its fiery breath. This he represented coming
out of some dark broken rocks, with venom issuing from its open
jaws, fire from its eyes, and smoke from its nostrils, a monstrous
and horrible thing indeed. And he suffered much in doing it, for
the smell in the room of these dead animals was very bad, though
Leonardo did not feel it from the love he bore to art. When the
work was finished, Leonardo told his father that he could send
for it when he liked. And Ser Piero going one morning to the room
for it, when he knocked at the door, Leonardo opened it, and telling
him to wait a little, turned back into the room, placed the picture
in the light, and arranged the window so as to darken the room
a little, and then brought him in to see it. Ser Piero at the
first sight started back, not perceiving that the creature that
he saw was painted, and was turning to go, when Leonardo stopped
him saying, "The work answers the purpose for which it was
made. Take it then, for that was the effect I wanted to produce."
The thing seemed marvellous to Ser Piero, and he praised greatly
Leonardo's whimsical idea. And secretly buying from a merchant
another circular piece of wood, painted with a heart pierced with
a dart, he gave it to the countryman, who remained grateful to
him as long as he lived. But Leonardo's Ser Piero sold to some
merchants in Florence for a hundred ducats, and it soon came into
the hands of the Duke of Milan, who bought it of them for three
hundred ducats.
Leonardo was so pleased whenever he saw a strange head or beard
or hair of unusual appearance that he would follow such a person
a whole day, and so learn him by heart, that when he reached home
he could draw him as if he were present. There are many of these
heads to be seen, both of men and women, such as the head of Americo
Vespucci, which is the head of an old man most beautifully drawn
in chalk; and also of Scaramuccia, captain of the gipsies. When
Giovan Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, was dead, and Lodovico Sforza
became duke in the year 1494, Leonardo was brought to Milan to
play the lute before him, in which he greatly delighted. Leonardo
brought an instrument which he had made himself, a new and strange
thing made mostly of silver, in the form of a horse's head, that
the tube might be larger and the sound more sonorous, by which
he surpassed all the other musicians who were assembled there.
Besides, he was the best improvisatore of his time. The duke,
hearing his marvellous discourse, became enamoured of his talents
to an incredible degree, and prayed him to paint an altarpiece
of the Nativity, which he sent to the emperor.
He also painted in Milan for the friars of S. Domenic, at S. Maria
delle Grazie, a Last Supyer, a thing most beautiful and marvellous.
He gave to the heads of the apostles great majesty and beauty,
but left that of Christ imperfect, not thinking it possible to
give that celestial divinity which is required for the representation
of Christ. The work, finished after this sort, has always been
held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and by strangers
also, because Leonardo imagined, and has succeeded in expressing,
the desire that has entered the minds of the apostles to know
who is betraying their Master. So in the face of each one may
be seen love, fear, indignation, or grief at not being able to
understand the meaning of Christ; and this excites no less astonishment
than the obstinate hatred and treachery to be seen in Judas. Besides
this, every lesser part of the work shows an incredible diligence;
even in the tablecloth the weaver's work is imitated in a way
that could not be better in the thing itself.
It is said that the prior of the place was very importunate in
urging Leonardo to finish the work, it seeming strange to him
to see Leonardo standing half a day lost in thought; and he would
have liked him never to have put down his pencil, as if it were
a work like digging the garden. And this not being enough, he
com plained to the duke, and was so hot about it that he was constrained
to send for Leonardo and urge him to the work. Leonardo, knowing
the prince to be acute and intelligent, was ready to discuss the
matter with him, which he would not do with the prior. He reasoned
about art, and showed him that men of genius may be working when
they seem to be doing the least, working out inventions in their
minds, and forming those perfect ideas which afterwards they express
with their hands. He added that he still had two heads to do;
that of Christ, which he would not seek for in the world, and
which he could not hope that his imagination would be able to
conceive of such beauty and celestial grace as was fit for the
incarnate divinity. Besides this, that of Judas was wanting, which
he was considering, not thinking himself capable of imagining
a form to express the face of him who after receiving so many
benefits had a soul so evil that he was resolved to betray his
Lord and the creator of the world; but this second he was looking
for, and if he could find no better there was always the head
of this importunate and foolish prior. This moved the duke marvellously
to laughter, and he said he was a thousand times right. So the
poor prior, quite confused, left off urging him and left him alone,
and Leonardo finished Judas's head, which is a true portrait of
treachery and cruelty. But that of Christ, as we have said, he
left imperfect. The excellence of this picture, both in composition
and incomparable finish of execution, made the King of France
desire to carry it into his kingdom, and he tried every way to
find architects who could bring it safely, not considering the
expense, so much he desired to have it. But as it was painted
on the wall his Majesty could not have his will, and it with the
Milanese. refectory, and while he was working at Supper, he painted
Lodovico with his eldest son, Massimiliano, and on the other side
the Duchess Beatrice with Francesco her other son, both
afterwards Dukes of Milan. While he was employed upon this work
he proposed to the duke that he should make a bronze equestrian
statue of marvellous size to perpetuate the memory of the Duke
(Francesco Sforza). He began it, but made the model of such a
size that it could never be completed. There are some who say
that Leonardo began it so large because he did not mean to finish
it, as with many of his other things. But in truth his mind, being
so surpassingly great, was often brought to a stand because it
was too adventuresome, and the cause of his leaving so many things
imperfect was his search for excellence after excellence, and
perfection after perfection. And those who saw the clay model
that Lionarlo made, said they had never seen anything more beautiful
or more superb, and this was in existence until the French came
to Milan with Louis, King of France, when they broke it to pieces.
There was also a small model in wax, which is lost, which was
considered perfect, anl a book of the anatomy of the horse which
he made in his studies. Afterwards with greater care he gave himself
to the study of human anaton y, aided by, and in his turn aiding,
that Messer Marc Antonio della Torre who was one of the first
to shed light upon anatomy, which up to that time had been lost
in the shades of ignorance. In this he was much helped
by Leonardo, who made a book with drawings in red chalk, outlined
with a pen, of the bones and muscles which he had dissected with
his own hand. There are also some writings of Leonardo written
backwarl with the left hand, treating of painting and methods
of drawing and colouring.
In his time the King of France came to Milan, and Leonardo was
entreated to make something strange for his reception, upon which
he constructed a lion, which advanced some steps and then opened
his breast and showed it full of lilies. Having returned to Florence,
he found that the Servite monks had entrusted Filippino
with the work of painting an altarpiece; but when Filippino heard
that Leonardo had said he should have liked such a piece
of work, like the courteous man he was he left off working at
it, and the friars brought Leonardo to their convent that he might
paint it, providing both for himself and his household. For a
long time, however, he did nothing, but at last he made a cartoon
of our Lady with S. Anne and the infant Christ, which not only
astonished all artists, but when it was finished, for two days
his room was filled with men and women, young and old, going as
to a solemn festival to see Leonardo's marvels.
This cartoon afterwards went to France. But he gave up the work
for the friars, who recalled Filippino, but he was surprised by
death before he could finish it.
Leonardo undertook to paint for Francesco del Giocondo a portrait
of Mona Lisa his wife, but having spent four years upon it, left
it unfinished. This work now belongs to King Francis of France,
and whoever wishes to see how art can imitate nature may learn
from thiq head. Mona Lisa being most beautiful, he used, while
he was painting her, to have men to sing and play to her and buffoons
to amuse her, to take away that look of melancholy which is so
often seen in portraits; and in this of Leonardo's there is a
peaceful smile more divine than human. By the excellence of the
works of this most divine of artists his fame was grown so great
that all who delighted in art, and in fact the whole city, desired
to have some memorial of it. And the Gonfalonier and the chief
citizens agreed that, the Great Hall of the Council having been
rebuilt, Leonardo should be charged to paint some great work there.
Therefore, accepting the work, Leonardo began a cartoon representing
the story of Nicolo Piccinino, captain of the Duke Filippo of
Milan, in which he drew a group of cavalry fighting for a standard,
representing vividly the rage and fury both of the men and the
horses, two of which, with their fore feet entangled, are making
war no less fiercely with their teeth than those who ride them.
We cannot describe the variety of the soldiers' garments, with
their crests and other ornaments, and the masterly power he showed
in the forms of the horses, whose muscular strength and beauty
of grace he knew better than any other man. It is said that for
drawing this cartoon he erected an ingenious scaffolding that
could be raised and lowered. And desiring to paint the wall in
oil, he made a composition to cover the wall; but when he began
to paint upon it, it proved so unsuccessful that he shortly abandoned
it altogether.
There is a story that having gone to the bank for the sum which
he was accustomed to receive from the Gonfalonier Piero Soderini
every month, the cashier wanted to give him some packets of farthings,
but he refused to take them, saying, "I am no farthing painter."
As some accused him of having cheated Soderini in not finishing
the picture, there arose murmurs against him, upon which Leonardo,
by the help of his friends, collected the money and restored it
to him, but Piero would not accept it.
When Leo was made Pope, Leonardo went to Rome with Duke Giuliano
de' Medici, and knowing the Pope to be fond of philosophy, especially
alchemy, he used to make little animals of a wax paste, which
as he walked along he would fill with wind by blowing into them,
and so make them fly in the air, until the wind being exhausted,
they dropped to the ground. The vinedresser of the Belvedere having
found a very strange lizard, Leonardo made some wings of the scales
of other lizards and fastened them on its back with a mixture
of quicksilver, so that they trembled when it walked; and having
made for it eyes, horns, and a beard, he tamed it and kept it
in a box, but all his friends to whom he showed it used to run
away from fear.
It is said that when the Pope entrusted him with some work for
him he immediately began to distil oil for the varnish, upon which
Pope Leo said, "Oh, this is a man to do nothing, for he thinks
of the end before he begins his work."
There was great illfeeling between him and Michael Angelo Buonarroti,
on which account Michael Angelo left Florence. But when Leonardo
heard this, he set out and went into France, where the king, having
already some of his works, was well affectioned towards him, and
desired that he should colour his cartoon of S. Anne; but he,
according to his custom, kept him waiting a long time. At last,
having become old, he lay ill for many months, and seeing himself
near death, he set himself to study the holy Christian religion,
and though he could not stand, desired to leave his bed with thc
help of his friends and servants to receive the Holy Sacrament.
Then the king, who used often and lovingly to visit him, came
in, and he, raising himself respectfully to sit up in bed, spoke
of his sickness, and how he had offended God and man by not working
at his art as he ought. Then there came a paroxysm, a forerunner
of death, and the king raised him and lifted his head to help
him and lessen the pain, whereupon his spirit, knowing it could
have no greater honour, passed away in the king's arms in the
seventyfifth year of his age.
The loss of Leonardo was mourned out of measure by all who had
known him, for there was none who had done such honour to painting.
The splendour of his gteat beauty could calm the saddest soul,
and his words could move the most obdurate mind. His great strength
could restrain the most violent fury, and he could bend an iron
knocker or a horseshoe as if it were lead. He was liberal to his
friends, rich and poor, if they had talent and worth; and indeed
as Florence had the greatest of gifts in his birth, so she suffered
an infinite loss in his death.
I think I have said that it was in the little town of Vinci in
the Valdarno that Ser Piero the father of the great Leonardo dwelt.
To this Piero was born after Leonardo another son, Bartolommeo,
who remained at Vinci, and when he was come to years of discretion,
took to wife one of the first ladies of the town. Bartolommeo
was very desirous of having a son, and he used often to tell his
wife of the great genius of his brother Leonardo, and to pray
God to make her worthy to bring forth another Leonardo, he being
already dead. And when according to his desire a boy was born,
he desired to name it Leonardo, but by the counsel of his relations
he gave it the name of Piero after his father. At the age of three
years it was a child of beautiful countenance and curling hair,
with much grace in all its gestures and a wonderful quickness
of mind. And there came to Vinci and lodged in the house of Bartolommeo
an excellent astrologer named Giuliano del Carmine, and with him
a priest skilled in palmistry, and they, looking at the head and
hand of the child, predicted both of them alike that he would
be a great genius, and in a very short time would make great progress
in the arts, but that his life would be very short. And too
true was their prophecy!
Piero, then, as he grew was taught his letters by his father,
but without a master he set himself to draw and to make little
figures of clay, so Bartolommeo trusted that his prayer had been
heard and his brother given back to him in his son. Therefore,
taking him to Florence, he placed him first with Bandinello and
afterwards with Il Tribolo. This master being then employed on
some fountains at Castello, set Piero to work upon the figure
of a boy, and he finished this so well that Il Tribolo prophesied
he would show himself of rare skill. Taking courage by his success,
he produced other works which astonished those who saw them. At
this time few knew that he was the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci;
but when his works had made him known, it was discovered of what
family he came, and they left off calling him Piero and called
him Il Vinci. Il Vinci, therefore, having heard much of Rome,
felt a great desire to go there, not only to see the antiquities,
but also Michael Angelo's works and Michael Angelo himself, then
living in Rome. He went therefore with some of his friends, but
having seen all that he desired, returned to Florence, considering
wisely that the works there were too profound for him, and should
be seen not by beginners, but by those who have greater knowledge
of art. Nevertheless after more study he returned again to Rome,
and spent there a year making many things worthy of memory, and
for his friend Luca Martini he made a copy in wax of Michael Angelo's
Moses. While he was there Luca Martini was made by the Duke of
Florence Proveditore of Pisa. And not forgetting his friend, he
wrote to him that he had prepared a room for him and provided
a piece of marble. Vinci therefore, moved by this invitation and
the love he bore to Luca, left Rome and chose Pisa for his residence
for some time. And the duke being then intent on benefiting and
embellishing the city of Pisa, Il Vinci was employed by him.
Il Vinci's name and talents were now known and admired by all,
and being still young, it appeared likely that he would equal
any man in art, when the term prescribed by Heaven came to an
end, and his rapid course was stopped. It happened that the D~lke
sent Luca Martini to Genoa on matters of importance, and he, loving
ll Vinci and his company, and thinking it would be an amusement
to him to see Genoa, took him with him. But almost immediately
he was seized with a fever, and the distress was doubled by his
friend being obliged to leave him and return to the Duke in Florence.
He commended him to the care of Abate Nero; but Il Vinci, finding
himself growing daily worse, sent for one of his pupils from Pisa,
and with his aid was brought to Leghorn by water, and thence to
Pisa in a litter. Arriving at Pisa one evening at twentytwo o'clock,
worn out with the hardships of the road and the sea and the fever,
he could get no rest that night, and the next morning at break
of day passed away to another life, not having reached the age
of three and twenty.
