. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. n-troduced portraits in theLast Stippcr. But thiswas not the case. Themaster, no doubt, reliedto some extent on livingmodels for the generallines of his types ; buthe was too complete anidealist to content him-self with what he looked STUDY FOR Till.; HEAD f)F S. MATTHEW. (Windsor Library. upon as the first por- tion only of his task, awork of preparation. Hence, with the exception of two or threetypes, in which certain popular traits are noticeable, all the headshave been subjected to a long and elaborate process of assimilationand arra
. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. n-troduced portraits in theLast Stippcr. But thiswas not the case. Themaster, no doubt, reliedto some extent on livingmodels for the generallines of his types ; buthe was too complete anidealist to content him-self with what he looked STUDY FOR Till.; HEAD f)F S. MATTHEW. (Windsor Library. upon as the first por- tion only of his task, awork of preparation. Hence, with the exception of two or threetypes, in which certain popular traits are noticeable, all the headshave been subjected to a long and elaborate process of assimilationand arrangement, with the result that we see before us, not mererepresentatives of the Milanese race, but citizens of the world. Nordid Leonardo lay his predecessors under contribution ; there is onlyone head, perhaps, that of the second apostle from the end on theright (S. Thaddeus), with its marked Semitic type and floating hair,which recalls some model of the school of Giotto or of Siena. The dominant notes in all these faces are virility, breadth, THE LAST SUPPER 193 conviction. They indicate free and upright natures, men who have aperfect consciousness of their feehngs, and are ready to accept theresponsibiHty for their actions. Energy and loyalty are stamped onevery feature. The master has given a great variety of types. (I amspeaking less of physical differences, such as the crisp, waving, orcurly hair of the various heads, than of moral divergencies.) In some,plain fishermen trans-formed into missionaries,he has preserved therudeness proper to theirformer calling. Of thisclass is the apostle tothe left of Jesus, whoextends his arms andopens his mouth to ex-press his others—as, for in-stance, the old man witha long beard on the left,he has given a patri-archal majesty; to othersagain—such as the be-loved disciple and —the sweetness ofthe quattrocento ado-lescent, with the resig-nation of the Christian convert. Judas, with his hooked nose,
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