atched him at his work; "for this excellent
painter," Matteo tells us, "always liked to hear other people give their
opinions freely on his pictures." Many a time the young Dominican saw
Messer Leonardo ascend the scaffold in the early morning, and remain
there from sunrise till the hour of twilight, forgetting to eat and
drink, and painting all the while without a moment's pause. Sometimes
again he would not paint a single stroke for several days, but just
stand before the picture during one or two hours, contemplating his
work, and considering and examining the different figures. And the
friars were very much annoyed because of the master's delays, and
complained to the duke, who paid him so large a sum for the work, that
he had not yet begun the head of the traitor Judas. When the duke asked
Leonardo why he left this head undone, he replied that during the last
year he had been vainly seeking in all the worst streets of Milan to
find a type of criminal who would suit the character of Judas, but that
if desired he would introduce the prior's own likeness, which he thought
would answer the purpose excellently! This answer is said to have amused
the duke highly, and Lodovico and his painter had a good laugh together
at the expense of the prior.

But since Leonardo was otherwise engaged, and another painter who had
been employed in the Castello suddenly disappeared, owing, we are told,
to some scandal in which he was concerned, the duke determined to send
to Florence for another artist to complete the decorations of his new
rooms. There was evidently no Lombard master whom he considered equal to
the task, and since Lorenzo de' Medici had sent him Leonardo, there
might be some other artists of rare excellence among his
fellow-citizens. So Lodovico wrote to his envoy at Florence, and desired
him to let him have a full description of the best painters then living
there. In reply, he received the following list, which is still
preserved in the archives of Milan, and which is of great interest, both
as a monument of the Moro's untiring perseverance in seeking out the
best masters, and as a record of the different degrees of estimation in
which living artists were held by their contemporaries:--

"Sandro de Botticelli--a most excellent master, both in panel and
wall-painting. His figures have a manly air, and are admirable in
conception and proportion.

"Filippino di Frati Filippo--an excellent disciple of the above-named,