he returned to Milan in the December, while the next year the French were expelled, so they remained on with the master.
But Milan, in consequence of the political revolution, was now in such a disturbed state that Leonardo knew it could no longer be the home of the Fine Arts, so he resolved to settle down in Rome, where Giovanni de' Medici had been elected to fill the Pontifical Throne. The following note in his own handwriting gives us the date: 'I set out from Milan for Rome on the 24th day of September, 1513,[1] with Giovanni, Francesco Melzi, Salai, Lorenzo, and II Fanfoia.'[2] That he went to Florence en route is admitted by his biographers, and thence to Rome in the company, if not in the pay, of Giuliano de' Medici (II Magnifico), the Pope's brother.[3] This meeting with Giuliano de' Medici in Florence is deserving of special notice, as it is fraught with great significance, as I shall point out later on. Moreover, during his short stay here he must have called on the Giocondos and other friends and taken final leave of them. That he had decided to settle permanently in the capital is shown by his having taken his friend Melzi and his whole household with him, as well as his unfinished pictures, drawings and manuscripts. Nor was he singular nor rash in his decision, for some of the greatest artists of the day had already gathered in the capital, in anticipation of the patronage and encouragement the recently elected Pontiff would bestow upon Art. How fully the anticipation was realized is matter of history. Under Leo X Rome once more rose to be mistress of the civilized world. Art and Literature flourished. Those engaged in them prospered, with the exception of Leonardo, by far the greatest genius of them all. He soon found his hopes and plans again shattered, and, aged and disappointed, he quitted his native land for France, in the service of Francis I, never to return.
28
- ↑ Brown, Mrs. Heaton, and Richter give this date as 1514, but Müntz and McCurdy give the correct date, 1513. Leonardo was installed in the Belvedere in Rome by Leo X in December, 1513, and was in Parma on a visit on September 25, 1514.
- ↑ In the MSS. of the Institut E (folio i), given in McCurdy's 'Life of Leonardo' (p. 64). Also Richter, 'Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci' (vol. 2, p. 441).
- ↑ 'He went to Rome with Duke Giuliano de' Medici, at the election of Pope Leo.' Vasari, 'Lives of the Most Eminent Painters' (vol. 4, p. 103). Newly translated by Gaston Du C. de Vere (10 vols.), London, 1912-14. McCurdy, in his 'Life of Leonardo,' says: 'He was in Florence on October 10, 1513, and there probably met and travelled on with Giuliano de' Medici, II Magnifico, the Pope's brother, who was his patron during his stay in Rome' (.p. 64). 'The master left Milan for Rome,' writes Müntz (vol. 2, p. 193), 'on September 24, 1513 ... on the 27th halted at San Angelo on the Po. At Florence—if I do not misunderstand a passage in Vasari—Leonardo attached himself and his following to Giuliano de' Medici, who was about to leave for Rome to join his brother, the Pope. ... He hastened to attach Leonardo to his own person, assigning him a monthly sum of thirty-three gold ducats—a magnificent salary.'
