DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0294
248 LEONARDO DA VINCI [1452-
contemporary traveller, which Leonardo, who was
fond of collecting topographical facts upon all
parts of the world, in this as in many other cases,
has copied for his own amusement. The absence
of drawings of Oriental scenes in the artist’s note-
books, and of any allusion to these travels in the
writings of his contemporaries, may be taken as
still more destructive of this theory.
The Anonimo who wrote Leonardo’s life early in
the sixteenth century tells us, that when the painter
was thirty years old, he was sent by Lorenzo de’
Medici, with the musician Atalante Migliorotti, to
bear a silver lute to Lodovico Sforza at Milan.
This would fix the date of Leonardo’s arrival in
1482, or early in 1483, and agrees with the state-
ment of a contemporary, Sabba da Castiglione, who
says that Leonardo spent sixteen years of his life in
modelling the great equestrian statue of Francesco
Sforza, which was destroyed after he left Milan in
1499. This equestrian statue was, in all probability,
the cause of his journey to Milan. From the moment
of his accession to power, in 1480, Lodovico Sforza
had determined to raise a colossal statue in honour
of his father, the great condottiere who became Duke
of Milan, and, as was his habit, asked his friend
Lorenzo de’ Medici for a sculptor who could execute
the work. It was then, doubtless, that Leonardo
wrote the famous letter offering Lodovico Sforza his
services. After dwelling at length on his capacities
as military engineer, and his ability to construct
cannons and scaling - ladders, mortars and engines
of useful and beautiful shape, he concludes with the
following proud words :—
contemporary traveller, which Leonardo, who was
fond of collecting topographical facts upon all
parts of the world, in this as in many other cases,
has copied for his own amusement. The absence
of drawings of Oriental scenes in the artist’s note-
books, and of any allusion to these travels in the
writings of his contemporaries, may be taken as
still more destructive of this theory.
The Anonimo who wrote Leonardo’s life early in
the sixteenth century tells us, that when the painter
was thirty years old, he was sent by Lorenzo de’
Medici, with the musician Atalante Migliorotti, to
bear a silver lute to Lodovico Sforza at Milan.
This would fix the date of Leonardo’s arrival in
1482, or early in 1483, and agrees with the state-
ment of a contemporary, Sabba da Castiglione, who
says that Leonardo spent sixteen years of his life in
modelling the great equestrian statue of Francesco
Sforza, which was destroyed after he left Milan in
1499. This equestrian statue was, in all probability,
the cause of his journey to Milan. From the moment
of his accession to power, in 1480, Lodovico Sforza
had determined to raise a colossal statue in honour
of his father, the great condottiere who became Duke
of Milan, and, as was his habit, asked his friend
Lorenzo de’ Medici for a sculptor who could execute
the work. It was then, doubtless, that Leonardo
wrote the famous letter offering Lodovico Sforza his
services. After dwelling at length on his capacities
as military engineer, and his ability to construct
cannons and scaling - ladders, mortars and engines
of useful and beautiful shape, he concludes with the
following proud words :—