Notebooks (50 page)
Authors: Leonardo da Vinci,Irma Anne Richter,Thereza Wells
Tags: #History, #Fiction, #General, #European, #Art, #Renaissance, #Leonardo;, #Leonardo, #da Vinci;, #1452-1519, #Individual artists, #Art Monographs, #Drawing By Individual Artists, #Notebooks; sketchbooks; etc, #Individual Artist, #History - Renaissance, #Renaissance art, #Individual Painters - Renaissance, #Drawing & drawings, #Drawing, #Techniques - Drawing, #Individual Artists - General, #Individual artists; art monographs, #Art & Art Instruction, #Techniques
On St Mary Magdalene’s day [22 July] 1490 Giacomo came to live with me, when ten years of age. Thief, liar, obstinate, glutton. The second day I had two shirts cut out for him, a pair of hose, and a jerkin, and when I put aside money to pay for these things he stole it from the wallet, and it was never possible to make him confess, although I was quite certain of it—lire 4.
The day after I went to sup with Giacomo Andrea,* and the other Giacomo ate supper for two and did mischief for four, as he broke three flagons, spilled the wine, and after this came to sup where I . . .
On the seventh day of September he stole a stile worth 22 soldi from Marco* who was staying with me. It was of silver and he took it from his studio, and when Marco had searched for it a long time he found it hidden in the box of Giacomo—lire 1 soldi 2.
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In January 1491 Beatrice d’Este arrived in Milan as the bride of Ludovico Sforza. She took advantage of her position as mistress of one of the most splendid courts of Italy to surround herself with learned men, poets, and artists, such as Niccolò da Correggio, Bernardo Castiglione, Bramante, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo helped to arrange festivals in connection with the tournament given by Ludovico’s son-in-law, Galeazzo di San Severino, in celebration of the ducal wedding. The following entry refers to the behaviour of the boy Salaì.
On the 26th day of January [1491], when I was in the house of Messer Galeazzo da San Severino to arrange the festival for his tournament, and certain footmen had undressed to try on some of the costumes of the savages which were to appear at the festival, Giacomo went to the wallet of one of them as it lay on the bed with other clothes and took out whatever money he found there.—2 lire s. 4.
Item, when I was in the same house Maestro Agostino of Pavia* gave me a Turkish hide in order to make a pair of boots; this Giacomo stole it from me within a month and sold it to a cobbler for 20 soldi and with this money by his own confession, he bought aniseed comfits.—L. 2.
Item. Again on the second day of April Gian Antonio* having left a silver stile on one of his drawings, this Giacomo stole from him, and it was worth 24 soldi—L 1 s. 4.
The first year: a cloak Lire 2, 6 shirts Lire 4, 3 jerkins Lire 6, 4 pairs of hose Lire 7 soldi 8, 1 lined doublet Lire 5, 24 pairs of shoes Lire 6 soldi 5, one cap Lira 1, laces for belt Lire 1.
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On the 10th of July 1402
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That is not riches which may be lost; virtue is our true wealth and the reward of its possessor. This cannot be lost; it does not abandon us unless life first leaves us. As for property and external riches hold them with trembling; they often leave their possessor in contempt and ignominy for having lost them.
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This note helps to date the most important of Leonardo’s manuscripts on the practice of painting. Besides dealing with painting, it contains notes on the construction of arches and the beginnings of his treatise on water.
Thursday the 27th of September [1492] Maestro Tommaso returned and worked for himself until the last day but one of February.
On the 18th of March 1493 Giulio the German came to live with me—Antonio, Bartolomeo, Lucia, Piero, Leonardo.
Caterina came on the 16th day of July 1493.
Messer Mariolo’s* Morel the Florentine is a big horse with a fine neck and a beautiful head.
The white stallion belonging to the falconer has fine hind quarters; it is behind the Comasina Gate.
The big horse of Germonino, of Signor Giulio.
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Ludovico Sforza issued a decree in 1493 to make the canal of the Martesana near Milan navigable. Leonardo in the following draft has some remunerative suggestions to make on the subject.
To my illustrious Lord, Ludovico, Duke of Bari. Leonardo da Vinci of Florence. . . . Does it please you to see a model which will prove useful to you and to me, and it will also be of use to those who will be the cause of our usefulness. . . . There are here, my Lord, many gentlemen who will undertake this expense between them, if they are allowed to enjoy admission to the waters, the mills, and the passage of vessels, and when their expenses are repaid they will repay for the canal of Martesana. . . .
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The heirs of Maestro Ghiringhello have the works of Pelacano.*
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Maestro Stefano Caponi, a physician, lives at the piscina and has Euclid, De Ponderibus.
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1493 on the first day of November we settled accounts.
Giulio had to pay 4 months and Maestro Tommaso 9 months; Maestro Tommaso afterwards made 6 candlesticks, 10 days’ work; Giulio some fire-tongs, 15 days’ work. Then he worked for himself till the 27th of May, and worked for me at a lever till 18th of July; then for himself till the 7th of August, and on the 15th for half a day for a lady. Then again for me at two locks until 20th of August.
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In 1493 Leonardo had completed the clay model of the horse for the Sforza monument. It measured 23 feet from the top of the horse’s head to the base, but was as yet without a rider. It was possibly this model that was exhibited under a triumphal arch inside Milan Cathedral on the occasion of the marriage of Bianca Maria Sforza, niece of Ludovico Sforza, to the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I. The wedding took place at Innsbruck on 16 March 1494 and the bride was escorted by a distinguished company travelling northwards from Milan, across Lake Como and the Valtellina towards the Tyrol.
Meanwhile the question arose how to cast the colossal clay model of the horse in bronze
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Mould for the horse
Make the horse on legs of iron, strong and well set on good foundations; then grease it and cover it with coating, leaving each coat to dry thoroughly layer by layer; and this will thicken it by the breadth of three fingers. Now fix and bind it with iron as may be necessary.
Moreover, take off the mould and then make the thickness. Then fill the mould by degrees and make it good throughout; encircle and bind it with irons and bake it inside where it has to touch the bronze.
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On the 29th day of January 1494
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At the beginning of 1494 Leonardo was at Vigevano, the summer seat of the Sforzas on the banks of the Ticino, where Bramante was reconstructing the castle and adding the spacious Palazzo delle Dame. Leonardo made the following estimate for the decoration of a hall with scenes from Roman history and portraits of philosophers.
At the beginning of 1494 Leonardo was at Vigevano, the summer seat of the Sforzas on the banks of the Ticino, where Bramante was reconstructing the castle and adding the spacious Palazzo delle Dame. Leonardo made the following estimate for the decoration of a hall with scenes from Roman history and portraits of philosophers.
The hall towards the court is 128 paces long and 27 braccia wide.
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The narrow moulding above the hall, lire 30.
The mouldings underneath this, estimating each picture separately, lire 7; and for the cost of blue, gold, white, plaster, indigo, and glue 3 Lire; time 3 days.
The pictures below these mouldings with their pilaster 12 lire each.
I calculate the cost for smalt, blue and gold and other colours at 1½ lire.
I calculate three days for the invention of a composition, pilaster and other things.
Item for each small vault 7 lire.
Outlay for blue and gold 3½.
Time 4 days.
For the windows 1½.
The cornice below the windows 6 soldi per braccio.
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How many braccia high is the level of the walls?
How many braccia high is the level of the walls?
123 braccia.
How large is the hall?
How large is the garland?
30 ducats.
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In the same notebook are drawings and calculations for the construction of a wooden pavilion to be erected in the ducal grounds. He was also interested in the building of stairs and the channelling of water.
On the second day of February 1494 at the Sforzesca [Vigevano] I have drawn twenty-five steps each of two thirds of a braccio and eight braccia wide.
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