Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . , 1894. ^ Ritrasse del naturale Piero Francesco del Giocondo (p. 11). 3 Ritrasse in Firenze, dal naturale, la Ginevra dAmerigho Benci, la quale tanto benefini che non il ritratto, ma la propria Ginevra pareva (p. 10). Leonardo mentions theBenci several times. Mappamondo de Benci. Giovanni Benci, il libro niio, ediaspri,ottonc per li ochiali (Richter, vol. ii. p. 437). ?* Giovanna Tornabuoin e Ginevra de Benci, ne/ Coro di Sta. Maria Novella in , 1890. {Arcliivio storico italiano.) i6o LEONARDO DA VINCI the same name, Gine
Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science; . , 1894. ^ Ritrasse del naturale Piero Francesco del Giocondo (p. 11). 3 Ritrasse in Firenze, dal naturale, la Ginevra dAmerigho Benci, la quale tanto benefini che non il ritratto, ma la propria Ginevra pareva (p. 10). Leonardo mentions theBenci several times. Mappamondo de Benci. Giovanni Benci, il libro niio, ediaspri,ottonc per li ochiali (Richter, vol. ii. p. 437). ?* Giovanna Tornabuoin e Ginevra de Benci, ne/ Coro di Sta. Maria Novella in , 1890. {Arcliivio storico italiano.) i6o LEONARDO DA VINCI the same name, Ginevra di Bartolommeo di Giovanni dAmerigoBenci, who was two years old in 14S0, and Ginevra di DonatodAmerigo Benci, who was three years old at the same period. Rosini, the historian of Italian painting, quoted, in support 01Vasari, a portrait in his own possession which he asserted to beLeonardos original portrait. But this very mediocre work, which wasbequeathed to the National Museum at Florence by Signor L. Carrand,shows no traces of Leonardos These portraits lead me, by a natural transition, to consider Leonardos ideal of femalebeauty, and the place occupiedby woman in his life and see a longf and fascinating:array, from the Three DancingGirls, or Bacchantes, one of theyoung masters earliest drawings(p. 36), down to La Gioconda. There is no recognised and authentic female portrait executed by Leonardo in his youth. All we have are a {ç.v^ drawings, and two or three sacred pictures (the authenticity of only one of which, the Virgin of the Rocks, is above discussion), whereby we may guess at the type which then hovered before the eyes of the young beginner. Something vague, indeed, there is about these faces. We shouldfind it hard to discover any of what I will call a well-assimilatedand well-matured type. Both the form of the faces and theirexpressions are still somewhat uncertain. The artists hantl had notas yet the; full commaml of his instruments. If the draw
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