DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67657#0516
404
Known Masters and their Immediate Followers.
We are unable to connect this print with any other known work by
Leonardo.
No other impression of this beautisul print is known to exist. Its artistic
distinction in comparison with all the other work of the school, with the
sensitive quality of the outline, and the characteristic simplicity of the parallel
shading, renders it at least conceivable that the plate may be an original work
of Leonardo himself. The presence of a slipped stroke above the forehead is
some argument in favour of regarding it as by the hand of an unpractised
engraver, though of a master in style. The direction of the shading (sloping
down from r. to 1.) may also count in favour of such a view. It would be
natural for a left-handed workman like Leonardo to push the graver, in parallel
shading, upward from 1. to r., which would then in printing yield an im-
pression like the present, corresponding to the usual direction of his pen
drawings.
5. PROFILE BUST OF A YOUNG WOMAN WITH A GARLAND OF IVY.
P. v. 180, 2.—G. d’A. 7.
A young woman seen in profile to the r. ; her hair, which is adorned
with ivy, falling in ringlets on her r. shoulder. Drapery hangs across the
1. shoulder, leaving the r. breast bare. A circular srame has been barely
outlined, and round this is the inscription • acha • (1.) • le • vl (r.).
[136 X 129 : the circle, radius 129] Fine early impression.
Purchased 1850. 11. 9. 92.
Reproductions (from the present impression) : Chalc. Soc. 1887, No. 7; Gazette des
Beaux-Arts XXV. 141; E. Muntz, Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1898, I. p. 216.
This second engraved profile of a woman of Leonardo’s customary type has
no quality to suggest an original work of his hand. The shading is cross-
hatched, in contrast to the parallel shading of the preceding example, the
handling competent enough but comparatively coarse and heavy, the transition
from dark to light harsh and without gradation. The craftsman was possibly
working from an antique relief or medallion. A drawing of a very similar type
of profile in the Louvre (reproduced by Braun, No. 176; in E. Muntz, Leonardo
da Vinci, London 1898, Vol. II. p. 197, and G. Frizzoni, Rassegna d’ Arte, IV.
p. 113), has been attributed by Dr. Frizzoni to Boltrafiio.
ACADEMIA LEONARDI.
The print just described, and six pattern plates showing puzzle patterns
of knots or interlaced cords all bear the inscription Academia Leonardi
Vinci (with slight variation in orthography in the several cases). The
tradition that Leonardo presided over an Academy or School at Milan
seems based on these inscriptions alone, and Muntz 1 was clearly in error
in admitting the existence os such a school. He also went so far as
to suggest that the miscellaneous manuscripts left by Leonardo should be
regarded in many cases as notes for lectures delivered in his school, citing
in support of his hypothesis a passage from the Epistola in Luca Pacioli’s
Divina Proportione (printed, Venice 1509), describing a laudabile e scien-
tifico duello which took place in the Castello di Porta Giovia on the
9th February 1498.2 This, however, was nothing but an occasional
1 Leonardo da Vinci, London 1898, Vol. I. p. 225.
2 See G. Uzielli (Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, Serie seconda, Rome,
1884, pp. 369-71), who regards the Academy as an unfulfilled aspiration at
most; and Muller-Waide, Pr. Jahrbuch, 1897, p. 115.
Known Masters and their Immediate Followers.
We are unable to connect this print with any other known work by
Leonardo.
No other impression of this beautisul print is known to exist. Its artistic
distinction in comparison with all the other work of the school, with the
sensitive quality of the outline, and the characteristic simplicity of the parallel
shading, renders it at least conceivable that the plate may be an original work
of Leonardo himself. The presence of a slipped stroke above the forehead is
some argument in favour of regarding it as by the hand of an unpractised
engraver, though of a master in style. The direction of the shading (sloping
down from r. to 1.) may also count in favour of such a view. It would be
natural for a left-handed workman like Leonardo to push the graver, in parallel
shading, upward from 1. to r., which would then in printing yield an im-
pression like the present, corresponding to the usual direction of his pen
drawings.
5. PROFILE BUST OF A YOUNG WOMAN WITH A GARLAND OF IVY.
P. v. 180, 2.—G. d’A. 7.
A young woman seen in profile to the r. ; her hair, which is adorned
with ivy, falling in ringlets on her r. shoulder. Drapery hangs across the
1. shoulder, leaving the r. breast bare. A circular srame has been barely
outlined, and round this is the inscription • acha • (1.) • le • vl (r.).
[136 X 129 : the circle, radius 129] Fine early impression.
Purchased 1850. 11. 9. 92.
Reproductions (from the present impression) : Chalc. Soc. 1887, No. 7; Gazette des
Beaux-Arts XXV. 141; E. Muntz, Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1898, I. p. 216.
This second engraved profile of a woman of Leonardo’s customary type has
no quality to suggest an original work of his hand. The shading is cross-
hatched, in contrast to the parallel shading of the preceding example, the
handling competent enough but comparatively coarse and heavy, the transition
from dark to light harsh and without gradation. The craftsman was possibly
working from an antique relief or medallion. A drawing of a very similar type
of profile in the Louvre (reproduced by Braun, No. 176; in E. Muntz, Leonardo
da Vinci, London 1898, Vol. II. p. 197, and G. Frizzoni, Rassegna d’ Arte, IV.
p. 113), has been attributed by Dr. Frizzoni to Boltrafiio.
ACADEMIA LEONARDI.
The print just described, and six pattern plates showing puzzle patterns
of knots or interlaced cords all bear the inscription Academia Leonardi
Vinci (with slight variation in orthography in the several cases). The
tradition that Leonardo presided over an Academy or School at Milan
seems based on these inscriptions alone, and Muntz 1 was clearly in error
in admitting the existence os such a school. He also went so far as
to suggest that the miscellaneous manuscripts left by Leonardo should be
regarded in many cases as notes for lectures delivered in his school, citing
in support of his hypothesis a passage from the Epistola in Luca Pacioli’s
Divina Proportione (printed, Venice 1509), describing a laudabile e scien-
tifico duello which took place in the Castello di Porta Giovia on the
9th February 1498.2 This, however, was nothing but an occasional
1 Leonardo da Vinci, London 1898, Vol. I. p. 225.
2 See G. Uzielli (Ricerche intorno a Leonardo, Serie seconda, Rome,
1884, pp. 369-71), who regards the Academy as an unfulfilled aspiration at
most; and Muller-Waide, Pr. Jahrbuch, 1897, p. 115.