pletion. But of a truth, there is good reason to believe that the very greatness of his most exalted mind, aiming at more than could be effected, was itself an impediment; perpetually seeking to add excellence to excellence, and perfection to perfection; this was, without doubt, the true hindrance, so that, as our Petrarch has it,[1] the work was retarded by desire. All who saw the large model in clay which Leonardo made for this work, declared that they had never seen anything more beautiful or more majestic; this model remained as he had left it until the French, with their King Louis, came to Milan, when they destroyed it totally.[2] A small model of the same work, executed in wax, and which was considered perfect, was also lost, with a book containing studies of the anatomy of the horse, which Leonardo had prepared for his own use. He afterwards gave his attention, and with increased earnestness, to the anatomy of the human frame, a study wherein Messer Marcantonio della Torre, an eminent philosopher, and himself, did mutually assist and encourage each other.[3] Messer Mareantonio was at that time holding lectures in Pavia, and wrote on the same subject; he was one of the first, as I have heard say, who began to apply the doctrines of Galen to the elucidation of medical science, and to diffuse light over the science of anatomy, which, up to that time, had been involved in the I f
- ↑ See Trionfo d’Amore, cap. iii. p. 453. — Ed. Flor., 1832-8.
- ↑ The model being completed, Leonardo computed that 100,000 lbs. weight of bronze would be required for the casting, but this the war against Ludovico il Moro rendered him incapable of furnishing, and in 1499 the French soldiers took the model for a target and destroyed it. That it was never completed was, therefore, not the fault of Leonardo. There is, indeed, a passage in Fra Luca Pacciolo, from which Gerli has sought to prove that he did cast it, and that the bronze casting, as well as the model, was broken to pieces by the French soldiers; but this is by no means to be safely affirmed. There is a design for this work in an engraving which Gerli is inclined to attribute to Leonardo himself (see Disegni di Leonardo), and which was at one time in the possession of Signor Vallardi, of Milan: another, the head of an old man, was in the collection of the Duke of Buckingham; and a third, a female head in profile, is mentioned by the late Mr. Young Ottley as in the possession of Mr. Woodburn.
- ↑ The celebrated anatomist, Marcantonio della Torre, of Verona, whose eulogy was written by Paul Jovius, but who died in his thirtieth year. There is a portrait of him in the Ambrosian Library, said to be by Leonardo, but not considered to be worthy of that master. —See Passavant. See also, Maffei, Verona illustrata.
