Literary and Philosophical Fragments

In 1502, while serving as a military engineer for Cesare Borgia The ambitious and often ruthless son of Pope Alexander VI; he employed Leonardo to design fortifications and maps., he felt that the constraints of practical work were stripping away his broad theoretical visions: he then withdrew to Florence. In 1501, he had received urgent requests from Isabella d’Este The Marchioness of Mantua and a preeminent patron of the Renaissance., through the General of the Carmelites, Pietro da Nuvolaria, "so that he might make a small painting of the Madonna, devout and sweet, as is his natural style." Da Vinci had promised warmly, and then, lost in scientific investigations, had done nothing about it. "As far as I can tell," the friar had replied to the noble Marchioness of Mantua, "Leonardo’s life is so varied and highly unsettled that he seems to live from day to day. Since arriving in Florence, he has only produced a sketch of a cartoon original: "schizo d'uno cartone." A cartoon is a full-scale preparatory drawing for a painting., in which he depicts a Christ child about one year old. He has done nothing else, except that two of his assistants are painting portraits, and he occasionally lends a hand to one of them. HE IS DEVOTING HIMSELF INTENSELY TO GEOMETRY, AND IS EXTREMELY IMPATIENT WITH THE BRUSH." Now, on May 13, 1504, after a futile wait, Isabella returned to the pursuit, asking him by letter