eautiful favorite
of Ludovico Sforza, and was painted at Milan in 1497. It is, as a work
of art, of such extraordinary perfection that all critical admiration
is lost in wonder.

Of the grand equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, Leonardo never
finished more than the model in clay, which was considered a
masterpiece. Some years afterward (in 1499), when Milan was invaded by
the French, it was used as a target by the Gascon bowmen, and
completely destroyed. The profound anatomical studies which Leonardo
made for this work still exist.

[Illustration: Raphael Introduced to Da Vinci.]

In the year 1500, the French being in possession of Milan, his patron
Ludovico in captivity, and the affairs of the state in utter
confusion, Leonardo returned to his native Florence, where he hoped to
re-establish his broken fortunes, and to find employment. Here begins
the third period of his artistic life, from 1500 to 1513, that is,
from his forty-eighth to his sixtieth year. He found the Medici family
in exile, but was received by Pietro Soderini (who governed the city
as "_Gonfaloniere perpetuo_") with great distinction, and a pension
was assigned to him as painter in the service of the republic. One of
his first works after his return to Florence was the famous portrait
of Madonna Lisa del Giocondo, called in French _La Joconde_, and now
in the Louvre (484), which after the death of Leonardo was purchased
by Francis I. for 4,000 gold crowns, equal to 45,000 francs or L1,800,
an enormous sum in those days; yet who ever thought it too much?

Then began the rivalry between Leonardo and Michael Angelo, which
lasted during the remainder of Leonardo's life. The difference of age
(for Michael Angelo was twenty-two years younger) ought to have
prevented all unseemly jealousy; but Michael Angelo was haughty and
impatient of all superiority, or even equality; Leonardo, sensitive,
capricious, and naturally disinclined to admit the pretensions of a
rival, to whom he could say, and _did_ say, "I was famous before you
were born!" With all their admiration of each other's genius, their
mutual frailties prevented any real good-will on either side.

Leonardo, during his stay at Florence, painted the portrait of Ginevra
Benci, the reigning beauty of her time. We find that in 1502 he was
engaged by Caesar Borgia to visit and report on the fortifications of
his territories, and in this office he was employed for two years. In
1503 he formed a plan