Thoughts on Art and Life

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Introduction

After the overthrow of the Duke of Milan, his Italian wanderings began. At one time he contemplated entering the service of an Oriental prince. Instead, he entered that of Caesar Borgia as a military engineer, and the greatest painter of the age became the inspector of a despot’s strongholds. But his restless nature did not leave him at this for long. Returning to Florence, he competed with Michelangelo; yet even the service of his native city could not retain him. His fame had attracted the attention of a new patron of the arts, the prince of the state which had conquered his first master. In this, his last venture, he forsook Italy, only to die three years later at Amboise, in the castle of the French king.

The inner nature of Leonardo remained as untouched by the men he encountered as by the events which were then stirring Europe. Alone, he influenced others, while remaining a mystery to all. The most gifted of nations failed to understand the greatest of her sons. Isabella d’Este, the first lady of her time, seeking vainly to obtain some product of his brush, was told that his life was changeful and uncertain, and that he lived for the day, intent only on his art. His own thoughts reveal him in another light. “I wish to work miracles,” he wrote. And elsewhere he exclaimed, “Thou, O God, sellest us all benefits at the cost of our toil. . . . As a day well spent makes sleep