to the end that he might make progress with it, they took him into their own abode with all his household, supplying the expenses of the whole, and so he kept them attending on him for a long time, but did not make any commencement; at length, however, he prepared a cartoon, with the Madonna, Sant’ Anna, and the infant Christ, so admirably depicted that it not only caused astonishment in every artist who saw it, but, when finished, the chamber wherein it stood was crowded for two days by men and women, old and young; a concourse, in short, such as one sees flocking to the most solemn festivals, all hastening to behold the wonders produced by Leonardo, and which awakened amazement in the whole people. Nor was this without good cause, seeing that in the countenance of that Virgin there is all the simplicity and loveliness which can be conceived as giving grace and beauty to the Mother of Christ, the artist proposing to show in her the modesty and humility of the virgin, filled with joy and gladness as she contemplates the beauty of her Son, whom she is tenderly supporting in her lap. And while Our Lady, with eyes modestly bent down, is looking at a little San Giovanni, who is playing with a lamb, Sant’ Anna, at the summit of delight, is observing the group with a smile of happiness, rejoicing as she sees that her terrestrial progeny have become divine; all which is entirely worthy of the mind and genius of Leonardo: this cartoon was subsequently taken to France, as will be related hereafter.[1] Leonardo then painted the portrait of Ginevra, the wife of Amerigo Benci,[2] a most beautiful thing, and abandoned the commission entrusted to him by the Servite Monks, who once more confided it to Filippino, but neither could the last-named master complete it, because his death supervened before he had time to do so.[3]
- ↑ It was afterwards restored to Italy, and was for some time in the possession of Aurelio Luini, son of ihe painter Bernardino Luini. It is now in England, as our readers are aware, but there are pictures painted from it by the disciples of Leonardo, which are in different galleries, the Louvre and the Leuchtenberg, for example. There are, besides, two in Milan, one in the church of St. Eustorgio, the other in the Brera. There is likewise one in the Florentine Gallery of the Uffizj.
- ↑ Now in the Pitti Palace.
- ↑ It was painted by Pietro Perugino, as has been related in the life of that master. See also the life of Filippo Lippi.
