DA VINCI'S DRAWINGS OF THE HEADS IN HIS CELEBRATED LAST SUPPER.
The series of drawings for the celebrated work
of the Last Supper, which were formerly in the
Ambrosian Library at Milan, are now in the possession
of Sir Thomas Baring. From the great injuries
which that sublime composition has sustained,
these may be considered as among the most precious
reliques of this master. The drawing which represents
the head of the Saviour is magnificent, and
probably superior to the same head in the picture,
which is said to have been left unfinished.
Whether this circumstance arose from the
troubles which then existed in Italy, and in which
the Sforza family were so immediately engaged, or
from a feeling on the part of the artist, that he had
not been able to surpass that sublimity of character
to which he had attained in his first design, and
therefore left the same to a more happy moment,
may now be matter of speculative conjecture.
FRANCIS I. AND THE LAST SUPPER OF VINCI.
Francis I. was so struck with admiration when he
first saw the Last Supper of Da Vinci, that he resolved
to carry it to France. For this purpose he
attempted to saw it from the wall; but finding that
he could not detach it without destroying the picture,
he abandoned the project.
