has seized the object of their strife with both hands, and is urging his horse to its speed, while he, lending the whole weight of his person to the effort, clings with his utmost strength to the shaft of the banner, and strives to tear it by main force from the hands of four others, who are all labouring to defend it with uplifted swords, which each brandishes in the attempt to divide the shaft with one of his hands, while he grasps the cause of contention with the other.[1] An old soldier, with a red cap on his head, has also seized the standard with one hand, and raising a curved scimitar in the other, is uttering cries of rage, and fiercely dealing a blow, by which he is endeavouring to cut off the hands of two of his opponents, who, grinding their teeth, are struggling in an attitude of fixed determination to defend their banner. On the earth, among the feet of the horses, are two other figures foreshortened, who are obstinately fighting in that position; one has been hurled to the ground, while the other has thrown himself upon him, and, raising his arm to its utmost height, is bringing down his dagger with all his force to the throat of his enemy; the latter, meanwhile, struggling mightily with arms and feet, is defending himself from the impending death.[2] It would be scarcely possible adequately to describe the skill shown by Leonardo in this work, or to do justice to the beauty of design with which he has depicted the warlike habiliments of the soldiers, with their helmets, crests, and other ornaments, infinitely varied as they are; or the wonderful mastery he exhibits in the forms and movements of the horses; these animals were, indeed, more admirably treated by Leonardo than by any other master; the muscular development, the animation of their movements, and their exquisite beauty, are rendered with the utmost fidelity.
It is said that, for the execution of this cartoon, Leonardo caused a most elaborate scafi’olding to be constructed, which
- ↑ The description of Vasari is not correct as regards the number of the figures, the whole group consisting of four only. —Schorn.
- ↑ The group around the banner was engraved by Gerard Edelinck (see Bryan, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers), after a design by Rubens, which he is believed to have made according to the description of Vasari, rather than from the cartoon.. An engraving similar to that of Edelinck will be found in Malvasia, Etruria Pittrice. See also Rosini, Storia della Scultura, for various details respecting the works of Leonardo.
