DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0308
258
LEONARDO DA VINCI
[1452-
MUanese artist Mortorfano’s fresco of the Crucifixion,
on the opposite wall. Since, however, he insisted on
painting them in oils, these noble figures—which
contemporaries describe as living images of both
Duke and Duchess—have almost disappeared. But
already Lodovico’s enemies were closing about him,
and he found himself in sore need of men and money.
In April, 1499, Leonardo, who up till this time
had found him so generous a patron, wrote to remind
him that his salary was two years in arrear, and in
reply received a grant of a vineyard outside the
Porta Vercellina, with a letter acknowledging his
services in the warmest terms, and calling him the
most famous of living painters. When, a few months
later, the French entered Milan, and Lodovico fled to
Innsbruck, Leonardo sent 600 florins which he had
saved to the bank of S. Maria Nuova in Florence,
and went to Venice. On his journey he stopped
at Mantua, and paid a visit to the accomplished
Marchesa Isabella, sister to Duchess Beatrice, whom
he had often met at the court of Milan, and whose
portrait he drew in charcoal. By the end of March
he was back in Florence. There he heard the news
of Lodovico’s final defeat and betrayal to the French,
and of the terrible ruin which had overwhelmed his
State and friends. The fair palace which he had
helped to decorate was pillaged by French soldiery,
and the model of his equestrian statue became a
target for Gascon archers. A few broken sentences
in one of Leonardo’s note-books record the grief
which he felt that day. Bramante’s buildings were
left unfinished, the architect Jacopo da Ferrara, a
friend dear to him as a brother, had been hung by
LEONARDO DA VINCI
[1452-
MUanese artist Mortorfano’s fresco of the Crucifixion,
on the opposite wall. Since, however, he insisted on
painting them in oils, these noble figures—which
contemporaries describe as living images of both
Duke and Duchess—have almost disappeared. But
already Lodovico’s enemies were closing about him,
and he found himself in sore need of men and money.
In April, 1499, Leonardo, who up till this time
had found him so generous a patron, wrote to remind
him that his salary was two years in arrear, and in
reply received a grant of a vineyard outside the
Porta Vercellina, with a letter acknowledging his
services in the warmest terms, and calling him the
most famous of living painters. When, a few months
later, the French entered Milan, and Lodovico fled to
Innsbruck, Leonardo sent 600 florins which he had
saved to the bank of S. Maria Nuova in Florence,
and went to Venice. On his journey he stopped
at Mantua, and paid a visit to the accomplished
Marchesa Isabella, sister to Duchess Beatrice, whom
he had often met at the court of Milan, and whose
portrait he drew in charcoal. By the end of March
he was back in Florence. There he heard the news
of Lodovico’s final defeat and betrayal to the French,
and of the terrible ruin which had overwhelmed his
State and friends. The fair palace which he had
helped to decorate was pillaged by French soldiery,
and the model of his equestrian statue became a
target for Gascon archers. A few broken sentences
in one of Leonardo’s note-books record the grief
which he felt that day. Bramante’s buildings were
left unfinished, the architect Jacopo da Ferrara, a
friend dear to him as a brother, had been hung by