The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete
passing judgment on the allegorical sketches and emblems it must not
be overlooked that even as pictures they were always accompanied by
explanations in words. Several finished drawings of allegorical
compositions or figures have been preserved, but as they have no
corresponding explanation in the MSS. they had no claim to be
reproduced here. The female figure on Pl. XXVI may perhaps be
regarded as a study for such an allegorical painting, of which the
purport would have been explained by an inscription._
On Madonna pictures.
663.
[In the autumn of] 1478 I began the two Madonna [pictures].
[Footnote: Photographs of this page have been published by BRAUN,
No. 439, and PHILPOT, No. 718.
1. _Incominciai_. We have no other information as to the two
pictures of the Madonna here spoken of. As Leonardo here tells us
that he had begun two Madonnas at the same time, the word
'_incominciai_' may be understood to mean that he had begun at the
same time preparatory studies for two pictures to be painted later.
If this is so, the non-existence of the pictures may be explained by
supposing that they were only planned and never executed. I may here
mention a few studies for pictures of the Madonna which probably
belong to this early time; particularly a drawing in silver-point on
bluish tinted paper at Windsor--see Pl. XL, No. 3--, a drawing of
which the details have almost disappeared in the original but have
been rendered quite distinct in the reproduction; secondly a slight
pen and ink sketch in, the Codex VALLARDI, in the Louvre, fol. 64,
No. 2316; again a silver point drawing of a Virgin and child drawn
over again with the pen in the His de la Salle collection also in
the Louvre, No. 101. (See Vicomte BOTH DE TAUZIA, _Notice des
dessins de la collection His de la Salle, exposes au Louvre_. Paris
1881, pp. 80, 81.) This drawing is, it is true, traditionally
ascribed to Raphael, but the author of the catalogue very justly
points out its great resemblance with the sketches for Madonnas in
the British Museum which are indisputably Leonardo's. Some of these
have been published by Mr. HENRY WALLIS in the Art Journal, New Ser.
No. 14, Feb. 1882. If the non-existence of the two pictures here
alluded to justifies my hypothesis that only studies for such
pictures are meant by the text, it may also be supposed that the
drawings were made for some comrade in VERROCCHIO'S atelier. (See
VASARI, Sansoni's ed. Florence 1880. Vol. IV, p. 564): "_E perche a
Lerenzo piaceva fuor di modo la maniera di Lionardo, la seppe cosi
bene imitare, che niuno fu che nella pulitezza e nel finir l'opere
con diligenza l'imitasse più di lui_." Leonardo's notes give me no
opportunity of discussing the pictures executed by him in Florence,
before he moved to Milan. So the studies for the unfinished picture
of the Adoration of the Magi--in the Uffizi, Florence--cannot be
described here, nor would any discussion about the picture in the
Louvre "_La Vierge aux Rochers_" be appropriate in the absence of
all allusion to it in the MSS. Therefore, when I presently add a few
remarks on this painting in explanation of the Master's drawings for
it, it will be not merely with a view to facilitate critical
researches about the picture now in the National Gallery, London,
which by some critics has been pronounced to be a replica of the
Louvre picture, but also because I take this opportunity of
publishing several finished studies of the Master's which, even if
they were not made in Florence but later in Milan, must have been
prior to the painting of the Last Supper. The original picture in
Paris is at present so disfigured by dust and varnish that the
current reproductions in photography actually give evidence more of
the injuries to which the picture has been exposed than of the
original work itself. The wood-cut given on p. 344, is only intended
to give a general notion of the composition. It must be understood
that the outline and expression of the heads, which in the picture
is obscured but not destroyed, is here altogether missed. The
facsimiles which follow are from drawings which appear to me to be
studies for "_La Vierge aux Rochers_."
1. A drawing in silver point on brown toned paper of a woman's head
looking to the left. In the Royal Library at Turin, apparently a
study from nature for the Angel's head (Pl. XLII).
2. A study of drapery for the left leg of the same figure, done with
the brush, Indian ink on greenish paper, the lights heightened with
white.
The original is at Windsor, No. 223. The reproduction Pl. XLIII is
defective in the shadow on the upper part of the thigh, which is not
so deep as in the original; it should also be observed that the
folds of the drapery near the hips are somewhat altered in the
finished work in the Louvre, while the London copy shows a greater
resemblance to this study in that particular.
3. A study in red chalk for the bust of the Infant Christ--No. 3 in
the Windsor collection (Pl. XLIV). The well-known silver-point
drawing on pale green paper, in the Louvre, of a boy's head (No. 363
in REISET, _Notice des dessins, Ecoles d'Italie_) seems to me to be
a slightly altered copy, either from the original picture or from
this red chalk study.
4. A silver-point study on greenish paper, for the head of John the
Baptist, reproduced on p. 342. This was formerly in the Codex
Vallardi and is now exhibited among the drawings in the Louvre. The
lights are, in the original, heightened with white; the outlines,
particularly round the head and ear, are visibly restored.
There is a study of an outstretched hand--No. 288 in the Windsor
collection--which was published in the Grosvenor Gallery
Publication, 1878, simply under the title of: "No. 72 Study of a
hand, pointing" which, on the other hand, I regard as a copy by a
pupil. The action occurs in the kneeling angel of the Paris picture
and not in the London copy.
These four genuine studies form, I believe, a valuable substitute in
the absence of any MS. notes referring to the celebrated Paris
picture.]
Bernardo di Bandino's Portrait.
664.
A tan-coloured small cap, A doublet of black serge, A black jerkin
lined A blue coat lined, with fur of foxes' breasts, and the collar
of the jerkin covered with black and white stippled velvet Bernardo
di Bandino Baroncelli; black hose.
[Footnote: These eleven lines of text are by the side of the pen and
ink drawing of a man hanged--Pl. LXII, No. 1. This drawing was
exhibited in 1879 at the _Ecole des Beaux-Arts_ in Paris and the
compilers of the catalogue amused themselves by giving the victim's
name as follows: "_Un pendu, vetu d'une longue robe, les mains liées
sur le dos ... Bernardo di Bendino Barontigni, marchand de
pantalons_" (see _Catalogue descriptif des Dessins de Mailres
anciens exposes a l'Ecole des Beaux Arts_, Paris 1879; No. 83, pp.
9-10). Now, the criminal represented here, is none other than
Bernardino di Bandino Baroncelli the murderer of Giuliano de'Medici,
whose name as a coadjutor in the conspiracy of the Pazzi has gained
a melancholy notoriety by the tragedy of the 26th April 1478.
Bernardo was descended from an ancient family and the son of the man
who, under King Ferrante, was President of the High Court of Justice
in Naples. His ruined fortunes, it would seem, induced him to join
the Pazzi; he and Francesco Pazzi were entrusted with the task of
murdering Giuliano de'Medici on the fixed day. Their victim not
appearing in the cathedral at the hour when they expected him, the
two conspirators ran to the palace of the Medici and induced him to
accompany them. Giuliano then took his place in the chancel of the
Cathedral, and as the officiating priest raised the Host--the sign
agreed upon--Bernardo stabbed the unsuspecting Giuliano in the
breast with a short sword; Giuliano stepped backwards and fell dead.
The attempt on Lorenzo's life however, by the other conspirators at
the same moment, failed of success. Bernardo no sooner saw that
Lorenzo tried to make his escape towards the sacristy, than he
rushed upon him, and struck down Francesco Nori who endeavoured to
protect Lorenzo. How Lorenzo then took refuge behind the brazen
doors of the sacristy, and how, as soon as Giuliano's death was made
known, the further plans of the conspirators were defeated, while a
terrible vengeance overtook all the perpetrators and accomplices,
this is no place to tell. Bernardo Bandini alone seemed to be
favoured by fortune; he hid first in the tower of the Cathedral, and
then escaped undiscovered from Florence. Poliziano, who was with
Lorenzo in the Cathedral, says in his 'Conjurationis Pactianae
Commentarium': "_Bandinus fugitans in Tiphernatem incidit, a quo in
aciem receptus Senas pervenit_." And Gino Capponi in summing up the
reports of the numerous contemporary narrators of the event, says:
"_Bernardo Bandini ricoverato in Costantinopoli, fu per ordine del
Sultano preso e consegnato a un Antonio di Bernardino dei Medici,
che Lorenzo aveva mandato apposta in Turchia: così era grande la
potenza di quest' uomo e grande la voglia di farne mostra e che non
restasse in vita chi aveagli ucciso il fratello, fu egli applicato
appena giunto_" (_Storia della Republica di Firenze II_, 377, 378).
Details about the dates may be found in the _Chronichetta di
Belfredello Strinati Alfieri_: "_Bernardo di Bandino Bandini
sopradetto ne venne preso da Gostantinopoti a dì 14. Dicembre 1479 e
disaminato, che fu al Bargello, fu impiccato alle finestre di detto
Bargello allato alla Doana a dì 29. Dicembre MCCCCLXXIX che pochi dì
stette_." It may however be mentioned with reference to the mode of
writing the name of the assassin that, though most of his
contemporaries wrote Bernardo Bandini, in the _Breve Chronicon
Caroli Petri de Joanninis_ he is called Bernardo di Bandini
Baroncelli; and, in the _Sententiae Domini Matthaei de Toscana_,
Bernardus Joannis Bandini de Baroncellis, as is written on
Leonardo's drawing of him when hanged. Now VASARI, in the life of
_Andrea del Castagno_ (Vol. II, 680; ed. Milanesi 1878), tells us
that in 1478 this painter was commissioned by order of the Signoria
to represent the members of the Pazzi conspiracy as traitors, on the
facade of the Palazzo del Podestà--the Bargello. This statement is
obviously founded on a mistake, for Andrea del Castagno was already
dead in 1457. He had however been commissioned to paint Rinaldo
degli Albizzi, when declared a rebel and exiled in 1434, and his
adherents, as hanging head downwards; and in consequence he had
acquired the nickname of Andrea degl' Impiccati. On the 21st July
1478 the Council of Eight came to the following resolution: "_item
servatis etc. deliberaverunt et santiaverunt Sandro Botticelli pro
ejus labore in pingendo proditores flor. quadraginta largos_" (see
G. MILANESI, _Arch. star. VI_ (1862) p. 5 note.)
As has been told, Giuliano de' Medici was murdered on the 26th April
1478, and we see by this that only three months later Botticelli was
paid for his painting of the "_proditores_". We can however hardly
suppose that all the members of the conspiracy were depicted by him
in fresco on the facade of the palace, since no fewer than eighty
had been condemned to death. We have no means of knowing whether,
besides Botticelli, any other painters, perhaps Leonardo, was
commissioned, when the criminals had been hanged in person out of
the windows of the Palazzo del Podestà to represent them there
afterwards in effigy in memory of their disgrace. Nor do we know
whether the assassin who had escaped may at first not have been
provisionally represented as hanged in effigy. Now, when we try to
connect the historical facts with this drawing by Leonardo
reproduced on Pl. LXII, No. I, and the full description of the