DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0029
LIONARDO DA VINCI.
25
extraordinary effects, were invented or introduced
by himself. If he could no longer assert that mea-
sureless superiority over all others which he had
done in his younger days, it was because he himself
had opened to them new paths to excellence. The
arrival of his old competitor Michael Angelo, and
some slight on the part of Leo X., who was annoyed
by his speculative and dilatory habits in executing
the works intrusted to him, all added to his irrita-
tion and disgust. He left Rome, and set out for
Pavia, where the French king Francis I. then held
his court. He was received by the young monarch
with every mark of respect, loaded with favours,
and a pension of 700 gold crowns settled on him
for life. At the famous conference between Fran-
cis I. and Leo X. at Bologna, Lionardo attended
his new patron, and was of essential service to him
on that occasion. In the following year, 1516, he
returned with Francis I. to France, and was at-
tached to the French court as principal painter.
It appears, however, that during his residence in
France he did not paint a single picture. His
health had begun to decline from the time he left
Italy; and feeling his end approach, he prepared
himself for it by religious meditation, by acts of
charity, and by a most conscientious distribution
by will of all his worldly possessions to his relatives
and friends. At length, after protracted suffering,
this great and most extraordinary man died at
25
extraordinary effects, were invented or introduced
by himself. If he could no longer assert that mea-
sureless superiority over all others which he had
done in his younger days, it was because he himself
had opened to them new paths to excellence. The
arrival of his old competitor Michael Angelo, and
some slight on the part of Leo X., who was annoyed
by his speculative and dilatory habits in executing
the works intrusted to him, all added to his irrita-
tion and disgust. He left Rome, and set out for
Pavia, where the French king Francis I. then held
his court. He was received by the young monarch
with every mark of respect, loaded with favours,
and a pension of 700 gold crowns settled on him
for life. At the famous conference between Fran-
cis I. and Leo X. at Bologna, Lionardo attended
his new patron, and was of essential service to him
on that occasion. In the following year, 1516, he
returned with Francis I. to France, and was at-
tached to the French court as principal painter.
It appears, however, that during his residence in
France he did not paint a single picture. His
health had begun to decline from the time he left
Italy; and feeling his end approach, he prepared
himself for it by religious meditation, by acts of
charity, and by a most conscientious distribution
by will of all his worldly possessions to his relatives
and friends. At length, after protracted suffering,
this great and most extraordinary man died at