The life of Leonardo da Vinci by John William Brown
Leonardo da Vinci 's last years
To a noble presence and beautiful countenance, Da Vinci united uncommon strength both of body and mind. His eloquence was so persuasive, that Vasari says, "Con la parole sue volgeva al si e al no ogn' indurata intentione;” and his physical force was so great, that he could bend a horse-shoe as if it were lead. He was very magnificent in his attire, and rather too fond of adorning his person in early life; but these weaknesses were more than counterbalanced by the hospitality and liberality of his disposition. The founder of an Academy over which he presided for some years, he may be supposed to have left a great many literary works, which are most of them in manuscript, and preserved in different public libraries throughout Europe. Among these are a treatise on Hydraulics with designs, another on Anatomy, and another on the Anatomy of the Horse, which is noticed by Vasari, Borghini, and Lomazzo; and a treatise on Perspective and on Light and Shade.
But his best-known work is the Trattato della Pittura, of which there are several editions; an old one with etchings by Stefano della Bella, and a more recent one printed at Paris by Du Fresne in 1651, with figures by Nicolas Poussin. This was translated into English and published in London by John Senex in 1721. As an Engineer, the Canal of the Martesana, by which he conducted the waters of the Adda to the walls of Milan, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, would have been alone sufficient to establish his reputation. In this great work he obliged the impediments of Nature to give way to the efforts of genius, and he succeeded to the admiration of all Italy.
As a painter, Leonardo da Vinci may be considered the first who reconciled minute finishing with grandeur of design and harmony of expression. His was the very poetry of painting. His exquisite taste, by continually making him dissatisfied with his works, urged him on to a nearer approach to perfection than had ever been attained. For this reason his scholars were superior to those of any other master, as he exacted from them the same profound attention to nature, and laborious minuteness of style, which distinguished himself. They have all strictly followed their master's rules, and copied his manner, which they have more or less used or abused, according to their several talents. They all represent the same sort of countenances, smiling lips, and precisely defined outlines, with the same choice of moderate and well harmonized colouring, and the same study of the " chiaro scum," which some of his followers have caricatured even to obscurity.
It is to be remembered, to the immortal honour of Leonardo da Vinci, that he first dissipated the film of ignorance which impeded the progress of the Arts; and if Raphael and Michaelangelo afterwards surpassed him in his own line, it is to him that justly belongs the merit of having first pointed out the road which they so. successfully followed. It is easier to improve than to invent; but to him who had the talents to imagine and the courage to overcome the prejudices of ages, ought to belong the gratitude of posterity, more than to those who, by following his precepts, increased their own reputation. To no one, in short, are the Arts more largely indebted, than to Leonardo da Vinci, whose virtues endeared him to all who knew him, and whose exertions so mainly contributed to the refinement and civilization of future ages.
