Part 17
[Footnote i37: Additions to the Life in Vasari, 53. My worthy friend, Mr. Rigaud, who has more than once seen the original picture, gives this account of it: "The cutting of the wall for the sake of opening a door, was no doubt the effect of ignorance and barbarity, but it did not materially injure the painting; it only took away some of the feet under the table, entirely shaded. The true value of this picture consists in what was seen above the table. The door is only four feet wide, and cuts off only about two feet of the lower part of the picture. More damage has been done by subsequent quacks, who, within my own time, have undertaken to repair it."]
[Footnote i38: Additions to the Life in Vasari, 53.]
[Footnote i39: COPIES EXISTING IN MILAN OR ELSEWHERE.
No. 1. That in the refectory of the fathers Osservanti della Pace: it was painted on the wall in 1561, by Gio. Paolo Lomazzo.
2. Another, copied on board, as a picture in the refectory of the Chierici Regolari di S. Paolo, in their college of St. Barnabas. This is perhaps the most beautiful that can be seen, only that it is not finished lower than the knees, and is in size about one eighth of the original.
3. Another on canvas, which was first in the church of S. Fedele, by Agostino S. Agostino, for the refectory of the Jesuits: since their suppression, it exists in that of the Orfani a S. Pietro, in Gessate.
4. Another of the said Lomazzo's, painted on the wall in the monastery Maggiore, very fine, and in good preservation.
5. Another on canvas, by an uncertain artist, with only the heads and half the bodies, in the Ambrosian library.
6. Another in the Certosa di Pavia, done by Marco d'Ogionno, a scholar of Leonardo's, on the wall.
7. Another in the possession of the monks Girolamini di Castellazzo fuori di Porta Lodovica, of the hand of the same Ogionno.
8. Another copy of this Last Supper in the refectory of the fathers of St. Benedict of Mantua. It was painted by Girolamo Monsignori, a Dominican friar, who studied much the works of Leonardo, and copied them excellently.
9. Another in the refectory of the fathers Osservanti di Lugano, of the hand of Bernardino Lovino; a valuable work, and much esteemed as well for its neatness and perfect imitation of the original, as for its own integrity, and being done by a scholar of Leonardo's.
10. A beautiful drawing of this famous picture is, or was lately, in the possession of Sig. Giuseppe Casati, king at arms. Supposed to be either the original design by Leonardo himself, or a sketch by one of his best scholars, to be used in painting some copy on a wall, or on canvas. It is drawn with a pen, on paper larger than usual, with a mere outline heightened with bistre.
11. Another in the refectory of the fathers Girolamini, in the monastery of St. Laurence, in the Escorial in Spain. It was presented to King Philip II. while he was in Valencia; and by his order placed in the said room where the monks dine, and is believed to be by some able scholar of Leonardo.
12. Another in St. Germain d'Auxerre, in France; ordered by King Francis I. when he came to Milan, and found he could not remove the original. There is reason to think this the work of Bernardino Lovino.
13. Another in France, in the castle of Escovens, in the possession of the Constable Montmorency.
The original drawing for this picture is in the possession of his Britannic Majesty. See the life prefixed to Mr. Chamberlaine's publication of the Designs of Leonardo da Vinci, p. 5. An engraving from it is among those which Mr. Rogers published from drawings.]
[Footnote i40: Vasari, 34. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i41: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i42: Vasari, 36. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i43: Vasari, 37. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i44: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i45: Suppl. in Vasari, 64.]
[Footnote i46: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i47: Suppl. in Vasari, 75, 76, 77, 78.]
[Footnote i48: Vasari, 38. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i49: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i50: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i51: Vasari, 39. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i52: Vasari, 39. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i53: Vasari, 39. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i54: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i55: Supp. in Vasari, 81.]
[Footnote i56: Suppl. in Vasari, 68.]
[Footnote i57: Vasari, 42. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i58: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i59: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i60: Venturi, 37.]
[Footnote i61: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i62: Venturi, 37.]
[Footnote i63: Venturi, 38.]
[Footnote i64: Venturi, 37.]
[Footnote i65: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i66: Venturi, 38.]
[Footnote i67: Venturi, 38.]
[Footnote i68: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i69: Vasari, 44. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i70: Vasari, 44. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i71: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i72: Suppl. in Vasari, 79, 80.]
[Footnote i73: Suppl. in Vasari, 80.]
[Footnote i74: Suppl. in Vasari, 65.]
[Footnote i75: Vasari, 45. Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i76: Venturi, 39. Suppl. in Vasari, 80.]
[Footnote i77: Venturi, p. 4.]
[Footnote i78: Sect. 1. Of the Descent of heavy Bodies, combined with the Rotation of the Earth. 2. Of the Earth divided into Particles. 3. Of the Earth and the Moon. 4. Of the Action of the Sun on the Sea. 5. Of the ancient State of the Earth. 6. Of the Flame and the Air. 7. Of Statics. 8. Of the Descent of heavy Bodies by inclined Planes. 9. Of the Water which one draws from a Canal. 10. Of Whirlpools. 11. Of Vision. 12. Of military Architecture. 13. Of some Instruments. 14. Two chymical Processes. 15. Of Method.]
[Footnote i79: See the Life prefixed to Mr. Chamberlaine's publication of the Designs of Leonardo da Vinci, p. 11.]
[Footnote i80: Fac similes of some of the pages of the original work, are also to be found in this publication.]
[Footnote i81: P. 33.]
[Footnote i82: "J. A. Mazenta died in 1635. He gave the designs for the fortifications of Livorno in Tuscany; and has written on the method of rendering the Adda navigable. Argelati Script. Mediol. vol. ii." Venturi, 33.]
[Footnote i83: "We shall see afterwards that this man was Leonardo's heir: he had carried back these writings and drawings from France to Milan." Venturi, 34.]
[Footnote i84: "This was in 1587." Venturi, p. 34.]
[Footnote i85: "J. Amb. Mazenta made himself a Barnabite in 1590." Venturi, 34.]
[Footnote i86: "The drawings and books of Vinci are come for the most part into the hands of Pompeo Leoni, who has obtained them from the son of Francisco Melzo. There are some also of these books in the possession of Guy Mazenta Lomazzo, Tempio della Pittura, in 4^o, Milano 1590, page 17." Venturi, 35.]
[Footnote i87: "It is volume C. There is printed on it in gold, _Vidi Mazenta Patritii Mediolanensis liberalitate An. 1603_." Venturi, 35.]
[Footnote i88: "He died in 1613." Venturi, 35.]
[Footnote i89: "This is volume N, in the National Library. It is in folio, of a large size, and has 392 leaves: it bears on the cover this title: _Disegni di Macchine delle Arti secreti et altre Cose di Leonardo da Vinci, raccolte da Pompeo Leoni_." Venturi, 35.]
[Footnote i90: P. 36.]
[Footnote i91: "A memorial is preserved of this liberality by an inscription." Venturi, 36.]
[Footnote i92: "This is marked at p. 1 of the same volume." Venturi, 36.]
[Footnote i93: Venturi, 36.]
[Footnote i94: "Lettere Pittoriche, vol. ii." Venturi, 36.]
[Footnote i95: P. 36. His authority is Gerli, Disegni del Vinci, Milano, 1784, fol.]
[Footnote i96: P. 42.]
[Footnote i97: It is said, that this compilation is now in the Albani library. Venturi, 42.]
[Footnote i98: The sketches to illustrate his meaning, were probably in Leonardo's original manuscripts so slight as to require that more perfect drawings should be made from them before they could be fit for publication.]
[Footnote i99: The identical manuscript of this Treatise, formerly belonging to Mons. Chardin, one of the two copies from which the edition in Italian was printed, is now the property of Mr. Edwards of Pall Mall. Judging by the chapters as there numbered, it would appear to contain more than the printed edition; but this is merely owing to the circumstance that some of those which in the manuscript stand as distinct chapters, are in the printed edition consolidated together.]
[Footnote i100: Vasari, p. 37, gives the initials N. N.]
[Footnote i101: Which Venturi, p. 6, professes his intention of publishing from the manuscript collections of Leonardo.]
[Footnote i102: Bibliotheca Smithiana, 4to. Ven. 1755. Venturi, 44.]
[Footnote i103: Libreria Nani, 4to. Ven. 1776. Venturi, 44.]
[Footnote i104: Gori Simbolæ literar. Flor. 1751, vol. viii. p. 66. Venturi, 44.]
[Footnote i105: See his Traité des Pratiques Geometrales et Perspectives, 8vo. Paris, 1665.]
[Footnote i106: P. 128.]
[Footnote i107: P. 134.]
[Footnote i108: He observed criminals when led to execution (Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. p. 182; on the authority of Lomazzo); noted down any countenance that struck him (Vasari, 29); in forming the animal for the shield, composed it of parts selected from different real animals (Vasari, p. 27); and when he wanted characteristic heads, resorted to Nature (Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. p. 181). All which methods are recommended by him in the course of the Treatise on Painting.]
[Footnote i109: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i110: Venturi, 35, in a note.]
[Footnote i111: Vasari, 23.]
[Footnote i112: Vasari, 24.]
[Footnote i113: Suppl. in Vasari, 67.]
[Footnote i114: Vasari, 23.]
[Footnote i115: Ibid.]
[Footnote i116: Vasari, 45.]
[Footnote i117: Additions to the life in Vasari, p. 47.]
[Footnote i118: Suppl. in Vasari, 74.]
[Footnote i119: Vasari, 24.]
[Footnote i120: Vasari, 26.]
[Footnote i121: Vasari, 29.]
[Footnote i122: Additions to the life in Vasari, 61.]
[Footnote i123: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 171.]
[Footnote i124: Vasari, 29.]
[Footnote i125: Ibid.]
[Footnote i126: Ibid.]
[Footnote i127: Venturi, 42.]
[Footnote i128: Vasari, 39. In a note in Lettere Pittoriche, vol. ii. p. 174, on the before cited letter of Mariette, it is said that Bernardino Lovino was a scholar of Leonardo, and had in his possession the carton of St. Ann, which Leonardo had made for a picture which he was to paint in the church della Nunziata, at Florence. Francis I. got possession of it, and was desirous that Leonardo should execute it when he came into France, but without effect. It is known it was not done, as this carton went to Milan. Lomazzo, lib. ii. cap. 17. Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. p. 174, in a note. A carton similar to this is now in the library of the Royal Academy, at London.]
[Footnote i129: Vasari, p. 39, in a note.]
[Footnote i130: Vasari, 41. In the suppl. to the life, Vasari, 68, the subject painted in the council-chamber at Florence is said to be the wonderful battle against Attila.]
[Footnote i131: Du Fresne. Vasari, 28.]
[Footnote i132: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i133: Additions to the Life in Vasari, 48.]
[Footnote i134: Ibid.]
[Footnote i135: Additions to the Life in Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i136: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. p. 198.]
[Footnote i137: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. p. 200.]
[Footnote i138: Additions to the Life in Vasari, 68.]
[Footnote i139: Ibid.]
[Footnote i140: Ibid.]
[Footnote i141: Ibid.]
[Footnote i142: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 198.]
[Footnote i143: Vasari, 28.]
[Footnote i144: The Datary is the Pope's officer who nominates to vacant benefices.]
[Footnote i145: Vasari, 44.]
[Footnote i146: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i147: Du Fresne. Additions in Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i148: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 196.]
[Footnote i149: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i150: Du Fresne. Additions to Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i151: Additions to Vasari, 59.]
[Footnote i152: Additions to Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i153: Additions to Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i154: Additions in Vasari, 61.]
[Footnote i155: Suppl. in Vasari, 68.]
[Footnote i156: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i157: Additions to Vasari, 59.]
[Footnote i158: Vasari, 25.]
[Footnote i159: Vasari, 28.]
[Footnote i160: Vasari, 29.]
[Footnote i161: Vasari, 30. In p. 29, it is said in a note, that there is in the Medici gallery an Adoration of the Magi, by Leonardo, unfinished, which may probably be the picture of which Vasari speaks.]
[Footnote i162: Vasari, 30.]
[Footnote i163: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 184. The real fact is known to be, that it was engraven from a drawing made by Rubens himself, who, as I am informed, had in it altered the back-ground.]
[Footnote i164: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 195.]
[Footnote i165: Vasari, 30.]
[Footnote i166: Vasari, 33.]
[Footnote i167: Venturi, 4.]
[Footnote i168: Venturi, 37.]
[Footnote i169: Suppl. in Vasari, 68.]
[Footnote i170: Vasari, 39.]
[Footnote i171: Ibid.]
[Footnote i172: Suppl. in Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i173: Vasari, 44.]
[Footnote i174: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i175: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i176: Suppl. in Vasari, 61.]
[Footnote i177: Ibid. 81.]
[Footnote i178: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i179: Du Fresne. Add. to the Life in Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i180: Suppl. in Vasari, 69.]
[Footnote i181: Du Fresne. Add. to Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i182: Du Fresne.]
[Footnote i183: Add. in Vasari, 47.]
[Footnote i184: Add. to Vasari, 48.]
[Footnote i185: Add. in Vasari, 57.]
[Footnote i186: Add. to Vasari, 58.]
[Footnote i187: Add. to Vasari, 59.]
[Footnote i188: Ibid.]
[Footnote i189: Ibid. This is the picture lately exhibited in Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, and is said to have been purchased by the Earl of Warwick.]
[Footnote i190: Add. to Vasari, 59.]
[Footnote i191: Ibid.]
[Footnote i192: Ibid.]
[Footnote i193: Ibid.]
[Footnote i194: Ibid. 60.]
[Footnote i195: Ibid.]
[Footnote i196: Ibid.]
[Footnote i197: Ibid.]
[Footnote i198: Ibid.]
[Footnote i199: Lett. Pitt. vol. ii. 197.]
[Footnote i200: Add. in Vasari, 60.]
[Footnote i201: Add. in Vasari, 61.]
[Footnote i202: Ibid.]
[Footnote i203: Ibid.]
[Footnote i204: Ibid.]
[Footnote i205: Supp. in Vasari, 67.]
[Footnote i206: Ibid. 68.]
[Footnote i207: Supp. in Vasari, 75.]
[Footnote i208: Ibid.]
[Footnote i209: Supp. in Vasari, 80.]
[Footnote i210: Supp. in Vasari, 81.]
[Footnote 1: This passage has been by some persons much misunderstood, and supposed to require, that the student should be a deep proficient in perspective, before he commences the study of painting; but it is a knowledge of the leading principles only of perspective that the author here means, and without such a knowledge, which is easily to be acquired, the student will inevitably fall into errors, as gross as those humorously pointed out by Hogarth, in his Frontispiece to Kirby's Perspective.]
[Footnote 2: See Chap. 351.]
[Footnote 3: Not to be found in this work.]
[Footnote 4: From this, and many other similar passages, it is evident, that the author intended at some future time to arrange his manuscript collections, and to publish them as separate treatises. That he did not do so is well known; but it is also a fact, that, in selecting from the whole mass of his collections the chapters of which the present work consists, great care appears in general to have been taken to extract also those to which there was any reference from any of the chapters intended for this work, or which from their subject were necessarily connected with them. Accordingly, the reader will find, in the notes to this translation, that all such chapters in any other part of the present work are uniformly pointed out, as have any relation to the respective passages in the text. This, which has never before been done, though indispensably necessary, will be found of singular use, and it was thought proper here, once for all, to notice it.
In the present instance the chapters, referring to the subject in the text, are Chap. xvi. xvii. xviii. xix. xx. xxvi.; and though these do not afford complete information, yet it is to be remembered, that drawing from relievos is subject to the very same rules as drawing from Nature; and that, therefore, what is elsewhere said on that subject is also equally applicable to this.]
[Footnote 5: The meaning of this is, that the last touches of light, such as the shining parts (which are always narrow), must be given sparingly. In short, that the drawing must be kept in broad masses as much as possible.]
[Footnote 6: This is not an absolute rule, but it is a very good one for drawing of portraits.]
[Footnote 7: See Chap. ci.]
[Footnote 8: See the preceding chapter.]
[Footnote 9: See the two preceding chapters.]
[Footnote 10: Man being the highest of the animal creation, ought to be the chief object of study.]
[Footnote 11: An intended Treatise, as it seems, on Anatomy, which however never was published; but there are several chapters in the present work on the subject of Anatomy, most of which will be found under the present head of Anatomy; and of such as could not be placed there, because they also related to some other branch, the following is a list by which they may be found: Chapters vi. vii. x. xi. xxxiv. xxxv. xxxvi. xxxvii. xxxviii. xxxix. xl. xli. xlii. xliii. xliv. xlv. xlvi. xlviii. xlix. l. li. lii. cxxix.]
[Footnote 12: See chap. lxxxvii.]
[Footnote 13: It does not appear that this intention was ever carried into execution; but there are many chapters in this work on the subject of motion, where all that is necessary for a painter in this branch will be found.]
[Footnote 14: Anatomists have divided this muscle into four or five sections; but painters, following the ancient sculptors, shew only the three principal ones; and, in fact, we find that a greater number of them (as may often be observed in nature) gives a disagreeable meagreness to the subject. Beautiful nature does not shew more than three, though there may be more hid under the skin.]
[Footnote 15: A treatise on weights, like many others, intended by this author, but never published.]
[Footnote 16: See the next chapter.]
[Footnote 17: It is believed that this treatise, like many others promised by the author, was never written; and to save the necessity of frequently repeating this fact, the reader is here informed, once for all, that in the life of the author prefixed to this edition, will be found an account of the works promised or projected by him, and how far his intentions have been carried into effect.]
[Footnote 18: See chap. lxiv.]
[Footnote 19: See in this work from chap. lx. to lxxxi.]
[Footnote 20: See chapters lxi. lxiv.]
[Footnote 21: See chapters civ. cliv.]
[Footnote 22: The author here means to compare the different quickness of the motion of the head and the heel, when employed in the same action of jumping; and he states the proportion of the former to be three times that of the latter. The reason he gives for this is in substance, that as the head has but one motion to make, while in fact the lower part of the figure has three successive operations to perform at the places he mentions, three times the velocity, or, in other words, three times the degree of effort, is necessary in the head, the prime mover, to give the power of influencing the other parts; and the rule deducible from this axiom is, that where two different parts of the body concur in the same action, and one of them has to perform one motion only, while the other is to have several, the proportion of velocity or effort in the former must be regulated by the number of operations necessary in the latter.]
[Footnote 23: It is explained in this work, or at least there is something respecting it in the preceding chapter, and in chap. cli.]
[Footnote 24: The eyeball moving up and down to look at the hand, describes a part of a circle, from every point of which it sees it in an infinite variety of aspects. The hand also is moveable _ad infinitum_ (for it can go round the whole circle--see chap. lxxxvii.), and consequently shew itself in an infinite variety of aspects, which it is impossible for any memory to retain.]
[Footnote 25: See chap. xx. clv.]
[Footnote 26: About thirteen yards of our measure, the Florentine braccia, or cubit, by which the author measures, being 1 foot 10 inches 7-8ths English measure.]
[Footnote 27: See chap. cxxi. and cccv.]
[Footnote 28: It is supposed that the figures are to appear of the natural size, and not bigger. In that case, the measure of the first, to be of the exact dimension, should have its feet resting upon the bottom line; but as you remove it from that, it should diminish.
No allusion is here intended to the distance at which a picture is to be placed from the eye.]
[Footnote 29: The author does not mean here to say, that one historical picture cannot be hung over another. It certainly may, because, in viewing each, the spectator is at liberty (especially if they are subjects independent of each other) to shift his place so as to stand at the true point of sight for viewing every one of them; but in covering a wall with a succession of subjects from the same history, the author considers the whole as, in fact, but one picture, divided into compartments, and to be seen at one view, and which cannot therefore admit more than one point of sight. In the former case, the pictures are in fact so many distinct subjects unconnected with each other.]
[Footnote 30: See chap. cccxlviii.
This chapter is obscure, and may probably be made clear by merely stating it in other words. Leonardo objects to the use of both eyes, because, in viewing in that manner the objects here mentioned, two balls, one behind the other, the second is seen, which would not be the case, if the angle of the visual rays were not too big for the first object. Whoever is at all acquainted with optics, need not be told, that the visual rays commence in a single point in the centre, or nearly the centre of each eye, and continue diverging. But, in using both eyes, the visual rays proceed not from one and the same centre, but from a different centre in each eye, and intersecting each other, as they do a little before passing the first object, they become together broader than the extent of the first object, and consequently give a view of part of the second. On the contrary, in using but one eye, the visual rays proceed but from one centre; and as, therefore, there cannot be any intersection, the visual rays, when they reach the first object, are not broader than the first object, and the second is completely hidden. Properly speaking, therefore, in using both eyes we introduce more than one point of sight, which renders the perspective false in the painting; but in using one eye only, there can be, as there ought, but one point of sight. There is, however, this difference between viewing real objects and those represented in painting, that in looking at the former, whether we use one or both eyes, the objects, by being actually detached from the back ground, admit the visual rays to strike on them, so as to form a correct perspective, from whatever point they are viewed, and the eye accordingly forms a perspective of its own; but in viewing the latter, there is no possibility of varying the perspective; and, unless the picture is seen precisely under the same angle as it was painted under, the perspective in all other views must be false. This is observable in the perspective views painted for scenes at the playhouse. If the beholder is seated in the central line of the house, whether in the boxes or pit, the perspective is correct; but, in proportion as he is placed at a greater or less distance to the right or left of that line, the perspective appears to him more or less faulty. And hence arises the necessity of using but one eye in viewing a painting, in order thereby to reduce it to one point of sight.]
[Footnote 31: Chap. xcvi. and civ.]
[Footnote 32: See the Life of the Author prefixed, and chap. xx. and ci. of the present work.]