with the Milanese. In the same refectory, while he was
working at the Last Supper, on the end wall where is a Passion in
the old manner, Leonardo portrayed the said Lodovico, with
Massimiliano, his eldest son; and, on the other side, the Duchess
Beatrice, with Francesco, their other son, both of whom afterwards
became Dukes of Milan; and all are portrayed divinely well.

While he was engaged on this work, he proposed to the Duke to make a
horse in bronze, of a marvellous greatness, in order to place upon
it, as a memorial, the image of the Duke. And on so vast a scale did
he begin it and continue it, that it could never be completed. And
there are those who have been of the opinion (so various and so
often malign out of envy are the judgments of men) that he began it
with no intention of finishing it, because, being of so great a
size, an incredible difficulty was encountered in seeking to cast it
in one piece; and it might also be believed that, from the result,
many may have formed such a judgment, since many of his works have
remained unfinished. But, in truth, one can believe that his vast
and most excellent mind was hampered through being too full of
desire, and that his wish ever to seek out excellence upon
excellence, and perfection upon perfection, was the reason of it.
"Tal che l' opera fosse ritardata dal desio," as our Petrarca has
said. And, indeed, those who saw the great model that Leonardo made
in clay vow that they have never seen a more beautiful thing, or a
more superb; and it was preserved until the French came to Milan
with King Louis of France, and broke it all to pieces. Lost, also,
is a little model of it in wax, which was held to be perfect,
together with a book on the anatomy of the horse made by him by way
of study.

[Illustration: THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH S. ANNE

(_After the cartoon by =Leonardo da Vinci=. London: Burlington
House_)

_Vasari Society_]

He then applied himself, but with greater care, to the anatomy of
man, assisted by and in turn assisting, in this research, Messer
Marc' Antonio della Torre, an excellent philosopher, who was then
lecturing at Pavia, and who wrote of this matter; and he was one of
the first (as I have heard tell) that began to illustrate the
problems of medicine with the doctrine of Galen, and to throw true
light on anatomy, which up to that time had been wrapped in the
thick and gross darkness of ignorance. And in this he found
marvellous aid in the