which owes its existence to Leonardo's invention, and is at least partly executed by his hand, is mentioned by Antonio de Beatis, secretary to the Cardinal of Aragon, in the following account of a visit to Cloux:—
"On the 10th of October, 1516, we went from Tours to Amboise. In one town we accompanied the Cardinal on a visit to Messer Leonardo Vinci, the Florentine, an old man over seventy years of age, and the most excellent painter of our age. He shewed His Excellency three pictures; one was a portrait of a Florentine lady, taken from life at the request of the late Magnifico Giuliano de' Medici; the other was a young St. John the Baptist, and the third a Madonna and Child sitting in the lap of St. Anne, all most perfectly painted, although no more good work can be expected from him now, as his right hand is paralysed. But he has a Milanese pupil who works very well, and although the said Messer Leonardo can no longer paint with his old suavity and charm, he can still make drawings and teach others. This gentleman has written a treatise on anatomy, with especial regard to painting, and has described the limbs, muscles, nerves, veins, and all that belongs to the bodies of men and women, better than any one else before him has done. We have seen the work with our own eyes, and he told us that he had dissected more than thirty bodies of men and women of all ages. He has also written on the nature of water, and has filled an infinite number of volumes with treatises on machines and other subjects, all written in the vulgar tongue, which, when published, will be of the greatest profit and delight."
This is our last glimpse of the great master. He could no longer paint, and soon gave up writing.
