. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. works : the portrait of a cardinal, in the Berlin Gallery(1499), the portrait of aman in profile in theVittadini collection atMilan (1500), that of theyoung Catellano Trivul-zio, in the Pallavicini-Trivulzio collection atTurin (1505), &c. Allthese figures are distin-guished by a dry pre-cision, proper rather tothe burin than the , if the sym-pathetic portrait of aMilanese lady, in profile,in the Morrison collec-tion really belongs toConti, he must at onetime have adopted a freermanner and a richer im-pasto. It has often
. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. works : the portrait of a cardinal, in the Berlin Gallery(1499), the portrait of aman in profile in theVittadini collection atMilan (1500), that of theyoung Catellano Trivul-zio, in the Pallavicini-Trivulzio collection atTurin (1505), &c. Allthese figures are distin-guished by a dry pre-cision, proper rather tothe burin than the , if the sym-pathetic portrait of aMilanese lady, in profile,in the Morrison collec-tion really belongs toConti, he must at onetime have adopted a freermanner and a richer im-pasto. It has often beenmaintained that the change in Leonardos style in his new place of abode was due tothe influence of the school he found there. A Florentine whenhe arrived in Milan, writes the learned and brilliant MarchesedAdda, Leonardo left it a Milanese. And further on he adds : An art, peculiar to and savouring of its native soil, sprang upin Lombardy from the union of Tuscan and Paduan had Milanese disciples who took back with them the. STUDY OF A HORSEMAN. (Windsor Library.) 134 LEONARDO DA VINCI traditions of Squarcione. The works of the elder Foppa, Leonardoda Besozzo, Buttinone, Civerchio, Troso da Monza, and Zenale daTreviglio, are proof enough that a veritable and even highly-developedart existed in Milan long before the arrival of Leonardo.^ But was the change in Leonardo as distinctly marked as they wouldhave us believe, and moreover, did the example of the Lombard artistscount for so much in it as is asserted ? I do not hesitate, for my part,to answer, no, and for these reasons : the works executed at the begin-ning of his sojourn in Milan, the Vh^gin of the Rocks, for instance,prove that the youthful Leonardo was already gifted with elegance,sweetness, and grace in a greater degree than any master who hadpreceded him. On the other hand, no genius was ever more recalci-trant to the teaching and suggestions of others than his ; the imitativefaculty was whol
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