THE FLORENTINE PAINTER AND SCULPTOR, LEONARDO
DA VINCI.[1]
[born 1452—died 1519.]
The richest gifts are occasionally seen to be showered, as by celestial influence, on certain human beings, nay, they some times super naturally and marvellously congregate in one sole person; beauty, grace, and talent being united in such a manner, that to whatever the man thus favoured may turn himself, his every action is so divine as to leave all other men far behind him, and manifestly to prove that he has been specially endowed by the hand of God himself, and has not obtained his pre-eminence by human teaching, or the power of man. This was seen and acknowledged by all men in the case of Leonardo da Vinci, in whom, to say notliing of his beauty of person, which yet was such that it has never been sufficiently extolled, there was a grace beyond expression which was rendered manifest without thought or effort in every act and deed, and who had besides so rare a gift of talent and ability, that to whatever subject he turned his attention, however difficult, he presently made himself absolute master of it. Extraordinary power was in his case conjoined with remarkable facility, a mind of regal boldness and magnanimous daring; his gifts were such that the celebrity of his name extended most widely, and he was held in the highest estimation, not in his own time only, but also, and even to a greater extent, after his death, nay, this he has continued, and will continue to be by all succeeding ages.
Truly admirable, indeed, and divinely endowed was Leonardo da Vinci; this artist was the son of Ser Piero da Vinci;[2] he would without doubt have made great progress in learn-
- ↑ Vinci is a small castle in the lower Valdarno,.near the lake Fncecchio. This life of Leonardo is one of the best that Vasari has written. Nor has any other writer conveyed so high an idea of this wonderful genius, as we here receive from the simplicity and brevity of Vasari. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ Leonardo, born in 1452, and not earlier, as some of his biographers assert him to have been. He was the natural son of Ser Piero, notary to the Sigaoria of Florence, but is believed to have been legitimized by his father in his early youth. —See Notizie Storiche di Lionardo da Vinci, by Carlo Amoretti. — Milan, 1804; see also Brown’s Life of Leonardo, &c. London, 1828; and Oaye, Carteggio inedito d'Artisti, vol. i., where we have documentary evidence as to the period of his birth, &c., &c.
