Lionardo da Vinci was endowed by nature with a genius uncommonly elevated and penetrating, eager after discovery, and diligent in the pursuit, not only in what related to painting, sculpture, and architecture, but in mathematics, mechanics, hydrostatics, music, poetry, botany, astronomy, and also in the accomplishments of horsemanship, fencing, and dancing. Unlike most men of versatile talent, he was so perfect in all these, that when he performed any one, the beholders were ready to imagine that it must have been his sole study. To such vigor of intellect he joined an elegance of features and manners, that graced the virtues of his mind; he was affable with strangers, with citizens, with private individuals, and with princes. This extraordinary combination of qualities in a single man, soon spread his fame over all Italy.
DA VINCI'S WORKS AT MILAN.
In 1494, Da Vinci was invited to Milan by the
Duke Lodovico Sforza, who appointed him Director
of the Academy of Painting and Architecture,
which he had recently revived with additional splendor
and encouragement. During his residence
there, he painted but little, with the exception of his
celebrated picture of the Last Supper, a description
of which will be found in a subsequent article. As
