OF LEONARDO DA VINCI

...the betrayal conceived in the mind of Judas, with a countenance exactly resembling a villain. Thus, Leonardo clearly demonstrated how perfectly he understood the motions that the soul causes in the body Leonardo referred to these as "moti mentali," the physical expression of internal emotions., which is the most delicate part of art and, due to its difficulty, the least practiced. Such a work was worthy of immortality, but because it was painted in oil upon a damp wall, it was of short duration, and today it is entirely ruined. When Francis I King of France from 1515 to 1547 and a great patron of Leonardo. was in Milan, he desired that every possible means be attempted to carry it to France to enrich his kingdom; however, since it was painted upon a thick wall, thirty feet high and wide, the thought proved vain. It is, however, likely that he had some copies made of it, and one of these is perhaps the one seen today in the royal parish of St. Germain Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris., fixed to the wall on the left hand as one enters the church through the south-facing door. In the same refectory The dining hall of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. where Leonardo painted that Last Supper, he also painted from life Duke Ludovico and Duchess Beatrice, his wife, both kneeling with their children before them, and a Christ on the cross on the other side. For the same Duke, he also painted a Nativity of Christ on an altarpiece, which was sent to the Emperor.

Among Leonardo’s other occupations during his stay in Milan, his study of human anatomy was most important. In this, he was assisted by Marc’Antonio della Torre, who at that time lectured and wrote on this subject in Pavia. Leonardo became most perfect in this study and produced a book drawn in red chalk and hatched with a pen, which later remained in the hands of Francesco Melzi, his disciple. He also drew for Gentile Borri, who professed the art of arms (in which Leonardo himself took great delight), an entire book of men fighting on foot and on horseback, in which the rules of that science were expressed. For the glory and growth of his Milanese Academy, and for the instruction of the academicians, he wrote many things and composed several works on various subjects. These remained for a long time neglected and almost unknown with the Melzi gentlemen at their villa in Vaprio Original: "Vauero," referring to Vaprio d'Adda., and were later dissipated and dispersed here and there, as is the common fate of books.

There was a certain Lelio Gavardi d’Asola, Provost of San Zeno in Pavia and a close relative of Aldo Manuzio The famous Venetian printer., who, having been the tutor of the Melzi gentlemen and frequently visiting the said villa, took thirteen volumes from there and carried them to Florence, hoping for a great price from the Grand Duke. However, that prince died in the meantime, and Gavardi went to Pisa. There he encountered Giovanni Ambrogio Mazzenta, a Milanese gentleman who was then a student. Mazzenta made Gavardi feel a scruple: a feeling of guilt or moral doubt regarding the ill-gotten gains; Gavardi felt remorse and begged him that, upon returning to Milan, he should restore the books to the Melzi family. This he did; but in returning them, Signor Orazio Melzi, head of that family, was amazed by the punctuality of both men and made a gift of the said books to Signor Giovanni Ambrogio, which then remained in the house of the Mazzenta family. Because they made too pompous a display of them, Pompeo Leoni, sculptor to the King of Spain, made Melzi realize how valuable those books were, and promised him honors and offices if, by recovering them, he made a gift of them to King Philip. Moved by such hope, Melzi flew to Signor Guido Mazzenta, brother of Giovanni Ambrogio, and kneeling, begged him to return those...