Leonardo the Florentine: A Study in Personality

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Leonardo the Florentine A Study in Personality By Rachel Annand Taylor With a Note on the Authors Work by Gilbert Murray Harper V Brothers Publishers New York and London Printed in U. S. A, G-D First printing, August, 1928 Second printing, September, 1928 Third printing, October, 1928 Fourth printing, October, 1928 Fifth printing, October. 1928 Sixth printing, November. 1928 Seventh printing, December, 1928 Eighth printing, February, 1929 Ninth printing, July, 19 29 fTiv v v v J 4t6 ttf sss To Dr Percival S. Connellan from whose skill as a physician and a psychologist this book has drawn what vitality it may possess Contents Page Authors Note ...... xi Introduction ..... The Prologue ...... xxvii Part i The City of Lorenzo Chapter i. The Aspect of Florence in Leonardos Time, 3 ii. Lorenzo and his Friends . . . .14 iii. Daily Life in Florence . . . 25 iv. The Legend of Leonardo . .38 v. The Bottega of Verrocchio . . .52 Part ii The Court of Lodovico i. The Spirit of Milan ..... 87 ii. The Renaissance Mood in Milan . . .99 iii. The Aspect of Milan - 111 iv. Lodovico and his Friends 1 . - - 140 v. Lodovico and his Friends 2 ... 173 vi The Labour of Herakles .... 216 vii. The Task of Psyche . . . .239 Part iii The Wandering Years i. The Way Back to Florence . . . 287 ii. The Return of the Exile . 307 iiS. The Caxxxp of Caasar .... 332 Contents Part iii. continued Chapter Page iv. Afartct Lisa, The Battle of Arighiciri . . 35O r. With the French in Milan, 38O vi. In the Vatican ..... 413 Part iv The Hostel of Francis i. The Hostel of Francis . ., . 439 Part v Leonardo da Vinci i. The Personality of Leonardo . . . 469 ii. The Expression of Leonardo . . 513 iii. Leonardo the Savant . 531 TheEpilogue . 543 Appendix A. ..... 549 Appendix B ..... 555 Chief Italian Artists Contemporary with Leonardo da Vinci .... 559 General Dates from 1452-1519 . . . 561 Bibliography ...... 563 Index ....... 569 List of Illustrations Cartoon for St Anne and the Virgin . . . Frontispiece To face page Young Man in Masquers Dress ..... 190 Studies of Horses ....... 234 Study for the Head of Judas ...... 244 Study for the Head of Philip 256 Head of Young Man in Agitation ..... 274 Kneeling Leda ........ 376 Types of Destructive Machines ..... 394 Flower Studies ........ 524 vu Note RACHEL ANNAND TAYLORS verse became known to me first in the year 1909, through a very remarkable volume of poetry, Rose and Vine. It was poetry of intense imagination and exquisite craftsmanship, never simple, never commonplace, never easy, defiantly and mockingly anti-modern, and instinct with a rich and dreamlike beauty of phrase. It seemed almost impossible that such a book should attain any degree of popular success, yet it went almost immediately into a second edition, and was followed quickly by another volume of similar quality, The Hours of Fiammetta 1910. Critics who waited eagerly for Mrs Taylors next work had to wait some thirteen years, and then received a learned, brilliant, wayward and fascinating treatise in prose on Aspects of the Italian Renaissance, of which I wrote at the time Certainly I cannot promise that a reader will find in this volume the white light of impersonal judgment, or that the right man will always be hanged. Every sentence has passed through the medium of a strong and sensitive personality, which some times may distort, as it undoubtedly penetrates and reveals. . . . The book isthrough and through the work of a poet and has to be judged, like a poem or a Platonic rhapsody, by the beauty which it discovers and creates. The same year saw another volume of verse, The End of Fiammetta, which seemed both in style and outlook to show the effects of experience and disillusion and I now hear of the approaching publication of a profound esoteric study of Leonardo da Vinci-I am told that unprincipled critics in disturbed states of society have been known to write reviews of books which they have not read...