Leonardo Goes West

Course: The Mind of Leonardo Da Vinci — Dr. Jonathan Pevsner
Masters in Liberal Arts
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
John Hopkins University

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PREFACE

Leonardo Da Vinci’s legacy continues to do what the master did in life. Explore. Experiment. Discover. Challenge. Create. Entertain. His life has given rebirth to new thoughts for each generation that has followed. His surviving artifacts thoroughly analyzed and in turn those commentaries continue to be debated in academic halls of today.

Leonardo’s shadow has been casted on scientific discoveries, conspiracy theories and Holly Wood productions. He has become a one-person institution that never stops to stir emotions uniting some and dividing others. A life that provided us a mindset required to think. A framework to innovate innovation itself.

I have struggled to add original thought to the existing Leonardo literature. Especially, as it has been impossible to consume and properly intellectually reflect on his life and work in the last short few available months. With some contemplation, I concluded that my small but primary contribution through this paper would be an effort to attract new readership to Leonardo. This will be done with an easily digestible fictious account linking select aspects of Leonardo’s life.

This paper will strive to carve a niche between the two extreme ends that leverage Leonardo — academic style texts and commercial fiction. Further, this paper will make a sincere attempt to stay true to the real Leonardo. It will avoid embellishment for the sake of entertainment value. When this paper does expand on Leonardo’s thoughts and responds to unanswered questions about his life and his work, it would do so to round up a discussion, while attempting to stay true to his spirit. The paper will drop plenty of references to Leonardo’s life and work to fascinate a reader to learn more but fight the temptation to perform a deep dive on any subject touched by Leonardo.

Perhaps the biggest leap of fiction that the reader will be requested to make is of time travel. In a matter of a few pages, Leonardo would be transported from 16th century Italy to modern day Seattle. If there is anyone who would forgive such creative play would be Leonardo himself. One can only speculate what the real Leonardo Da Vinci would have been able to further build and advance — time travel included — with modern day scientific understanding and the rich data analytics that fuel 21st century innovations.

Where relevant and without compromising the narrative rhythm, I will insert in italics direct quotes from Leonardo and insights offered by students of Leonardo from early commentators like Verrocchio to modern day experts like Dr. Jonathan Pevsner.

I do not desire nor expect for readers to agree with my interpretations of Leonardo’s contemporary interactions. Instead, I would be completely content with an outcome that simply stimulates conversations about Leonardo’s thought.

Lastly, the paper should be viewed as a first attempt that may be pursued further beyond this course to convert the work into a full novel.

CHAPTER 1 — FLORENCE

The grasshopper that had mesmerized Leonardo’s attention had long propelled away and taken with it, its crackling sounds. Snapping out of his thoughts, Leonardo reeled back his unfocused gaze and brought out his goose’s wing feather pen[1] and a piece of loose parchment paper. In his typical mirror-writing style[2], his left-hand feverishly jotted down an observation about the insect: This silences the cuckoo with its song. It dies in oil and revives in vinegar. It sings in the greatest heats[3].

Leonardo’s attention went back to the Arno River in the distance. Sometime in 1473, he had stood in this exact spot capturing the light moving over the hills, wind stirring the leaves of the trees, water flowing and falling in cascades[4] in a landscape drawing. He still carried it with him today, as he often did with his various sketches. To his admirers, and in March 1507 there were many, his works were a masterpiece. But Leonardo, the ever curious, the ever perfectionist, understood that to depict nature and all what it contained was meant to be a life-long journey.

In some ways, the drawing tucked away in his leather pouch was a tribute to his early years. Amongst these rambling hills, Leonardo had spent his childhood with his stepmother, grandparents, and his uncle Francesco. The collection of animals, rocks and trees had allowed him to test his curiosity from an early age. Long before he would dissect animals and humans for his anatomical studies, long before he would document fine details about vegetation, long before he would venture into the science of optics and long before he would champion the physics of fluids — this Arno valley had been his living lab. An illegitimate child[5], an eccentric dresser[6], a discreet homosexual[7] amongst other things, Leonardo was an outcast of his society. A label he understood and wore with pride and often acknowledged in his manuscripts, the lack of understanding of his contemporaries of his own contributions. Capturing this sentiment, he once wrote: Though I may not, like them, be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy: — on experience, the mistress of their Masters. They go about puffed up and pompous, dressed and decorated with [the fruits], not of their own labours, but of those of others. And they will not allow me my own. They will scorn me as an inventor; but how much more might they — who are not inventors but vaunters and declaimers of the works of others — be blamed[8].

But today, Leonardo was distracted. He had decided to make a trip to the New World. A trip that was being put together by his good acquaintance and Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci[9]. To a land that had prospered with new scientific innovations and created huge economic wealth. To a land that still suffered from the age-old issues of injustices, Leonardo saw firsthand in his native Florence with the ever-growing divide between the rich and the poor. Leonardo’s excitement to witness such human progress was tampered with a looming decision. Salai!

No matter Salai’s (real name ‘Giacomo Caprotti’) latest shenanigans, his reminder always brought a smile to Leonardo’s face. He fondly remembered when the 10-year old Milanese child and only his second day with him, stole the money out of the purse, that had been reserved for paying for the kid’s clothing[10]. And that was just the beginning. There follow many other accounts of Salai’s misdemeanors how he stole silverpoints from Boltraffo and Marco d’Oggiono, stole money from Messer Galleazzo’s servants, sold a piece of Leonardo’s leather to a cobbler and spent the money on sweets[11]. Leonardo was getting feeble and finding it hard to keep this young man in his twenties out of prison[12].

Brushing off the memories, Leonardo focused on the decision at hand. Should he allow Salai on this journey? There the nobles awaited, ready to shower their hospitality over Leonardo. Could he trust Salai’s latest commitment of good behavior or risk more public spectacles of embarrassment? Gripping his pen, Leonardo scribbled in the margins: ladro, bugiardo, ostinato, ghiotto — thief, liar, obstinate, glutton[13], as if afraid that Salai’s next charm offensive may make him forget the young lad’s trickeries.

Always astutely aware of his surroundings and always looking for ways to connect mind with nature, Leonardo noticed a lone pigeon darting in a circle chasing his own shadow and recorded: Pigeons are a symbol of ingratitude; for when they are old enough no longer to need to be fed, they begin to fight with their father, and this struggle does not end until the young one drives the father out and takes the hen and makes her his own[14].

Back at his home, Leonardo having finished his dinner, reviewed a copy of the letter, he had recently sent to the nobleman of the New World. Amerigo had insisted that no such self-recommendation was necessary. After all, the artist/inventor was known as the true Renaissance man[15] in the far away land. But Leonardo had insisted back. He wanted to capture and present his experiences similar to his past correspondences with the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza[16] and the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II[17].

Most eminent Nobleman. Having now sufficiently considered the specimens of all those who proclaim themselves skilled masters of paintings and sculpture, and that many of such authorities have learnt from me directly or from my vast number of students: I shall endeavor, without prejudice to anyone else, to explain myself to your Excellency sharing my techniques, and then offering them to your best pleasure and approbation to create a magnificent work of peace and harmony befitting your work in your noble land.[18]

(1) Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: — Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest. This little work of mine will be a tissue [of the studies] of these attributes[19]

(2) When the need of painting of humans and animals may rise, I will employ the detailed work on anatomy to mimic the expressions with the true structure of bones as they naturally occur

(3) As the objects of the drawing interact and intersect with each other, they would do so in a way to simulate the authentic biological movements using my years of experimentations

(4) Should the mural be placed outside and interact with natural light, it would be done in a manner to impersonate the behavior of light that brings the mural alive with life

And if any one of the above-named things seem to anyone to be impossible or not feasible, I am most ready to make the experiment in your park, or in whatever place may please your Excellency — to whom I commend myself with the utmost humility[20].

Leonardo paused. His upright attentive demeanor taking a break. As if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Or perhaps a sign of him giving in to his heart’s desires. He had made his decision. He walked over to his bed a few feet away. Looked fondly at Salai probably dreaming of his next set of antics and slid himself beside his obsession.

CHAPTER 2 — AMERIGO VESPUCCI RESIDENCE

Slapping Salai’s wrist for the fifth time to hold him back from pocketing the pastries[21], Leonardo continued his argument with Amerigo. The meeting had been set up by Salai, who often played a role of his personal secretary[22]. The topic was to finalize contractual details around payment for Leonardo’s services by the New World nobleman.

But was it really about the money? Leonardo made quite a comfortable living through the sale of art produced by his studio, as well as the many consulting assignments and special portrait requests that brought with them both lire and gifts. Perhaps it was about principle. Or perhaps it was his sensitivity to financial matters given he was currently embroiled in a lawsuit against his own stepbrothers, who were conspiring to deprive him of the inheritance left behind by their Uncle Francesco[23]. A snub by his uncle to the family perhaps given Leonardo’s exclusion from his father’s estate a few years ago.

Amerigo reminded Leonardo of the dispute[24] between the artist and Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception around the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. One of a few instances, where Leonardo had not shown regard for both the agreed upon timelines and the intended final artistic product. In the case with Confraternity, the 1483 commission was for an altarpiece for the chapel in the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. Whereas per the contract, the center of this three-panel piece was to show the Madonna and Child surrounded by a troupe of angels and two prophets, the final piece contained just one angel accompanying the Virgin Mary, the baby Jesus and a young John the Baptist and void of any prophets[25]. Add to this the missed deadlines and third-party interventions, the Confraternity’s experience had served as another warning sign for any future patrons looking to engage Leonardo especially on a project that required an extended discipline of execution.

Leonardo broke his focus from Amerigo. Making an abrupt conversation transition, he pulled out two items from his pouch. The first was a book of geometry he had borrowed from Amerigo[26]. The second a charcoal drawing of Amerigo himself[27]. If this was a negotiation tactic, it seemed to work. Amerigo plucked the drawing from Leonardo’s hands and began to admire the likeness to himself clutching a map roll of his voyages to the New World. While Leonardo devised his next move, and while Amerigo instinctively tried to straighten his white curls, as if observing himself in a mirror, Salai discreetly pocketed the book for a future exchange of a few lire.

Suddenly feeling impatient, Leonardo brought Amerigo back to the topic at hand. He recounted the elaborate contract that his father Piero da Vinci, a successful notary[28], had orchestrated between Leonardo and the monastery of San Donato. The commission was for the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ in 1481[29] and the clients were worried about Leonardo’s reputation of leaving paintings unfinished. To create an incentive for Leonardo from walking away mid-way, the contract stipulated that he had to supply from his own pocket the colors, the gold, and all other costs arising[30]. The painting had to be delivered within thirty months at the most, or failing that no reimbursement would be provided[31]. The contract terms were peculiar, as they provided Leonardo a piece of land that he could lease back to the monastery but as part of that exchange would be responsible of a widow’s dowry of 150 florins[32]. Leonardo reminisced how past attempts to impose complex contractual obligations had miserably failed. In the case of the ‘Adoration of the Magi’, Leonardo quickly slipped into debt to the monastery[33].

Amerigo in turn reminded Leonardo that it was exactly how the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ work had come to an end that had the nobleman in the New World worried. The fact that Leonardo walked away from the unfinished painting seven-months later leaving the monastery scrambling with the work finished by one of Leonardo’s contemporaries Sandro Botticelli’s student Filippino Lippi[34].

The mention of Botticelli brought out a frown on Leonardo’s face. Perhaps a bigger regret of leaving the Adoration unfinished was that it was brought to its final form in the Botticelli style. The devotional element in Botticelli’s religious themed work, as well as how he would incorporate extreme flattery in portraying characters was in polar opposite to Leonardo’s own taste[35]. One way in which Leonardo’s work created a real-life feeling was his ability to connect isolated objects in his paintings. The behavior of light interacting with the objects, as well as the relative perspective of those objects with each other created one flowing story. Do not, as many do, paint all kinds of trees, even when equally distant, the same kind of green[36], he had once noted down as a criticism of the Botticelli style. Leonardo was not interested in romanticizing reality. Instead, he found beauty in the refraction of light, disturbance of fluids, shades of shadows, exuberance of motion, consistencies of nature and above all the inconsistencies in which we reacted to it all.

Amerigo decided to ignore the Botticelli reaction. Simply because Leonardo operated at an intellectual level that brought out in him a feeling of contempt for other artists and innovators and even for celebrated masters like Michael D’Angelo[37]. As if a candle was lit in his brain, Amerigo came up with a brilliant tactic.

Unless you accept the New World nobleman’s contractual conditions, Amerigo warned Leonardo, the nobleman may proceed the same way as the Hall of Five Hundred[38]. This possibility brought Leonardo’s mind to a screeching halt. The idea of sharing a large-scale fresco mural with Michael D’Angelo was repugnant. This is how Niccolò Machiavelli had structured the contract in 1504 giving both artists opposing walls inside the Salone dei Cinquecento, a prestigious chamber within the townhall of Florence, to recreate Florentine battle victories. Leonardo had chosen to capture the ‘Battle of Anghiari’ vs Michael’s depiction of ‘Battle of Cascina’[39].

The New World commission promised Leonardo an opportunity to correct the wrongs with his artistic choices with the ‘Battle of Anghiari’. The Anghiari work was in many ways was meant to be a culmination of his lifelong scientific explorations that would be showcased in his hometown. His notebooks were full of sketches and notes that were going to come together in this one masterpiece. While Michael’s competing painting was designed to glorify the heroic of soldiers, the Anghiari was intended to convey the frenzy and confusion of a battle scene. The battle painting itself was to be a battle of movement. The horses and men engaged in expressions of horror, united only in their bewilderment. Alas, the painting remained unfinished[40].

In no way was he going to allow contract gibberish to come in the way that put him again in the same spot as Michael. With one look at Salai and already bemoaning his decision about his travel companion and another look at Amerigo, who would rather be on a ship charting new discoveries, he nodded, just barely, but sufficient enough for Amerigo to hand him a pen to ink the deal.

Amongst the usual legalities, the contract captured, The mural is to be painted in one stretch of 6-months; and in case of not finishing it, he forfeits whatever he has done of it, and it is our right to do what we want with it. In return, his creditors in both Florence and Milan will be compensated an amount up to 1000 florins to settle his debts.

CHAPTER 3 — CENTRAL DISTRICT

The flashing lights of cop cars were competing for presence against the bright sunlight, while Leonardo paced slowly. The stench of fried chicken from Ezell fast food was overwhelming. The vegetarian[41] in him failed to understand the lineup of people outside the shop smiling and joking before devouring another living being. Our life is made by the death of others[42], noted Leonardo in his pocket notebook.

A squinting Leonardo looked up and around. Crouching on 23rd Ave with the 100-year old Garfield High School[43] looming over him, the artist pondered at the site of the potential mural. Eyeing him from some distance was the patron, who was responsible for bringing the great master to the New World. The nobleman was unlike what Leonardo had expected. There were no furs, no jewelry, no sheepskin cloaks, no elaborate woollen hats and even no velvet. The nobleman watched as Leonardo watched Salai use a braccio to painstakingly measure the ground surface on which the mural would be painted. And looking at the nobleman and the painter were a few thousand people being kept at bay with an army of police officers. This was a spectacle never seen before.

As Leonardo understood, this region had witnessed significant demonstrations to highlight the injustices against the black people in the New World. Where he stood, Central District, had been a historically black neighborhood but was fast losing its traditional heritage and character with new settlers. He was tasked to memorialize the past with a mural that would also become a symbol of hope for better days ahead. He appreciated the concerns he saw in the eyes of some people, who highlighted his lack of understanding of the context and history that they said would prevent him from producing a homage that would connect. However, others pointed to Leonardo’s own struggles with his own identity, his own roots (some claimed his mother, Caterina, was a North African slave[44]), his personal fights to carve out a name for himself in a society that marginalized bastards and inconsistently persecuted homosexuals[45] — they said Leonardo’s story had plenty of merits to allow him an opportunity to create an artwork of this magnitude.

The nobleman was aware of such concerns. A risk-taking entrepreneur, he was less worried about the credentials of Leonardo and more anxious about the artist’s distracted mind and his appetite for perfectionism that may render the mural incomplete.

Clutching his notepad, Leonardo hurried towards the nobleman. And skipping any exchange of pleasantries, Leonardo handed him pages outlining next steps.

The nobleman read how Leonardo would represent the smoke of artillery mingling in the air with the dust and tossed up by the movement of the oppressors and the oppressed. And this mixture you must express thus: The dust, being a thing of earth, has weight; and although from its fineness it is easily tossed up and mingles with the air, it nevertheless readily falls again. It is the finest part that rises highest; hence that part will be least seen and will look almost of the same colour as the air. The higher the smoke mixed with the dust-laden air rises towards a certain level, the more it will look like a dark cloud; and it will be seen that at the top, where the smoke is more separate from the dust, the smoke will assume a bluish tinge and the dust will tend to its colour. This mixture of air, smoke and dust will look much lighter on the side whence the light comes than on the opposite side. The more the figures are in this turmoil the less will they be seen, and the less contrast will there be in their lights and shadows[46].

Leonardo waited for a reaction.

Before this trip to the New World was on the radar, while in Milan staying in the house of his exquisite new friend and disciple, Francesco Melzi, he received the strangest correspondence. A nobleman in the far away New World was interested to purchase a few of his scientific writings. It was the exorbitant gold being offered in return that caught his attention. An eye popping 16,000 ounces of gold[47]! (although Leonardo would later feel short changed learning how much more has been profited by the New World in fictionalizing his life to entertain the masses).

He had put Melzi put to work. To analyze and assemble a selection of Leonardo’s work on astronomy, properties of water, rocks, fossils, and celestial light to meet the nobleman’s request[48].

In addition to being Leonardo’s student, Melzi had assumed a position of his chief scribe[49]. In fact, before embarking on the New World trip, Leonardo had entrusted Melzi with his treasure trove of manuscripts and notes for safe keeping. Upon return, Leonardo intended to arrange them as he had contemplated : And this is to be a collection without order, taken from many papers which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they may treat. And subjects there were numerous. Theory of colors, to-do lists, records of expenses, proportions and movements of the human figure, botany, difference of perception, light and shade, elements of landscape paintings, philosophy, mechanical engineering, principles of astronomy, laws of sound, science of vision, instrumentation, preliminary sketches and studies, geology, anatomy, costume design, flying machines, weaponry and many other topics. His notebooks became a repository from the everyday mundane to leading scientific observations of his time.

His mind returned to the nobleman, who was wholly absorbed in the sketch. The nobleman looked a lot younger than his age. But not young enough, Leonardo chuckled inside. He pulled a dangling notebook around his belt and wrote: And if you would see in what a man takes pleasure, without hearing him speak, change the subject of your discourse in talking to him, and when you presently see him intent, without yawning or wrinkling his brow or other actions of various kinds, you may be certain that the matter of which you are speaking is such as is agreeable to him[50]. Before he could test his hypothesis, the nobleman looked up with his eyes confirming agreement.

CHAPTER 4 — CAPITOL HILL

The sounds were deafening. The colors blinding. The surrounding ocean of people a blur. Leonardo looked around his float — part of a long chain of extravagant parade celebrating the annual Pride Week[51].

The past hurt in him was reluctant to let his guard down.

He had spent a lifetime under public limelight but kept matters of his sexuality private with some exceptions. The episode involving Jacopo Saltarelli from April 1476 haunted him still. When an anonymous denunciation implicated Leonardo along with three other men of sodomy. And although the Officers of the Night and Conservers of the Morality of Monasteries later dropped the charges, the hypocrisy of his society repulsed him. Some said he was wrangled in the case as a punishment for using Jacopo, as a model for a religious drawing.

Or perhaps another hint for some dropped by Leonardo was the Angelo Incarnato — a small drawing made on blue paper of a wingless angel in a full-frontal aroused pose[52]. Leonardo probably referred the incident above and this later sketch when he remarked, When I made a Christ-child you put me in prison, and now if I show Him grown up you will do worse to me[53].

Leonardo wanted to be judged. But not on the basis of anything other than the strength of his work. It seemed he had spent a lifetime in a tussle for appreciation from all around him. Seeking acknowledgement that often-trailed Leonardo’s own expectations. The New World had put Leonardo on a pedestal amongst a sea of worshippers. They seemed to accept him as is. He buried his face in his lavender scented hands[54]. And at this exact moment, a contemplative Leonardo desired to leave and return back to his world. A hallow feeling in his chest longed for Florence. He wrote, Now you see that the hope and the desire of returning home and to one’s former state is like the moth to the light, and that the man who with constant longing awaits with joy each new spring time, each new summer, each new month and new year — deeming that the things he longs for are ever too late in coming — does not perceive that he is longing for his own destruction[55].

Mechanically and while still lost in his memories, Leonardo gave a heavy sigh and a simultaneous tug to a rope that opened the mouth of a charging lion bursting with lilies at the shrieking bystanders. This was the same lion that had entertained the King of France on his entry to Milan, a spectacle that Leonardo had contributed towards the welcome party[56].

And just as the helpers on the float refilled the lion, Leonardo triggered another surprise. Like a candy man throwing out candies, he blew into creatures formed with a thin paste of wax and made them fly through the air. Unlike the chaos Leonardo had created with a similar antic in Rome when celebrating the election of Pope Leo[57], where many felt disgusted with the wax creatures falling back on the ground, the crowd here seemed to wrestle one another to pocket them for souvenirs. Bizarre, he thought!

CHAPTER 5 — STADIUM

Backstage, Leonardo stood up straightening his rose-colored linen tunic[58], he had brought with him from the Old World. Extending his arms, he embraced another famous nobleman of the New World. Even more prosperous but more private than Leonardo’s current patron, this nobleman had an aura of impatience around him. Unlike Leonardo’s facial hair filled face with curls dropping from the side and joining a decent size beard, this nobleman sported a clean-shaven face accompanied by a shiny head. A head that Leonardo understood was probably worth more than the French King Francois I, the entire Medici clan of Florence and Pope Leo combined.

The ask was simple. The portrait of the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The Mona Lisa!

The offer was irresistible. (1) a lifelong pension of many florins, (2) a lavish chateau to house Leonardo, (3) an army of housekeepers (4) a purpose built art studio with several rooms each fitted with windows at various angles to allow for natural light[59] (5) commissioning of several paintings under Leonardo’s supervision, (6) a state-of-the-art laboratory for Leonardo’s continued scientific pursuits, (7) organizing and publishing of his manuscripts, (8) settling of all of Leonardo’s debts in the Old World and (9) an on-line platform to teach students from around the world. Leonardo was not sure what exactly entailed with the last item, but he let it go.

His mind raced back to 1499, when Leonardo found himself in the company of a victorious French King Louis XII, who had captured Milan. The King paid a visit to admire ‘The Last Supper’ mural at the refractory of the Covenant of Santa Maria delle Grazie[60].

One of Leonardo’s contemporaries, Bandello, an Italian writer, commented: He (Leonardo) usually leaves early in the morning to get on the platform, because ‘The Last Supper’ is quite high off the ground, he often, I say, from the rising sun until the evening twilight ever takes the brush out of his hand, but forgetting eating and drinking, without ceasing to paint. He would then stay two, three and four days that he didn’t lay a hand on it and yet dwelling at times one or two hours of the day and only contemplating, considering and examining by himself, judging his figures[61].

And what an amazing collection of figures were represented on ‘The Last Supper’ that the King insisted on carving out the wall to relocate back to Paris. A request politely explained by his engineers as too risky to the painting itself[62]. True to Leonardo’s unorthodox style, ‘The Last Supper’ had been a departure from the traditional peaceful Christian interpretation of the moment of communion. Instead, the twisted bodies and expressions captured the sudden confusion when Jesus shares the coming betrayal of one of his disciples. There are no decorative elements to dampen the tragedy being relayed. Instead, a cold illustration of moving gestures and impressions portray the drama complemented with the precision of linear perspectives.

Just as Leonardo’s mind was getting sucked into the choice of materials used to create the ‘The Last Supper’ — a mix of oil and varnish[63] — that had already started to peel away, a gentle nudge brought him back. It was time. Leaving the bald nobleman and his offer behind, the master stepped onto the stage just as the event emcee, Dr. Jonathan Pevsner[64] finished his introduction: While science and technology have advanced at a breathtaking pace, we still need Leonardo’s qualities of passion, curiosity, the ability to visualize knowledge, and clear thinking to guide us forward[65].

Leonardo was used to lecturing a handful of students in a small studio setting. He had also performed with music at the Milan court and entertained audience with his impromptu verses[66]. However, Leonardo was better known as the mind behind extravagant pageants and large-scale celebrations such as the welcome party for the French King into Milan[67] or the time when an elaborate carnival was orchestrated in Florence for the visiting Pope[68].

This speech was definitely going to put Leonardo outside his comfort zone. A zone he often operated in comfortably.

One reason why Leonardo had accepted to speak in front of thousands of screaming fans was because he understood that amongst them were many aspiring young Leonardos. He wanted to first address any, whose real motive to pursue discovery was financial gains. He read from a note he had made some years ago:

I wish to work miracles; — it may be that I shall possess less than other men of more peaceful lives, or than those who want to grow rich in a day. I may live for a long time in great poverty, as always happens, and to all eternity will happen, to alchemists, the would-be creators of gold and silver, and to engineers who would have dead water stir itself into life and perpetual motion, and to those supreme fools, the necromancer and the enchanter[69].

Sensing the crowd could make use of something lighthearted he shared in jest:

A sick man finding himself in articulo mortis (on his death bed) heard a knock at the door, and asking one of his servants who was knocking, the servant went out, and answered that it was a woman calling herself Madonna Bona. Then the sick man lifting his arms to Heaven thanked God with a loud voice, and told the servants that they were to let her come in at once, so that he might see one good woman before he died, since in all his life he had never yet seen one[70].

The topic of mortality he noticed made the listeners uncomfortable. He pulled out his pocket size notebook and noted: As a day well spent procures a happy sleep, so a life well employed procures a happy death[71].

He had witnessed the enormous appetite for information that people consumed in the New World. Leonardo shared some advice:

The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known[72]. Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment[73]. But remember Just as eating against one’s will is injurious to health, so study without a liking for it spoils the memory, and it retains nothing it takes in[74].

With that last comment, Leonardo brought out from a sack, the strangest looking object in the shape of a horse’s head. Yes, this was the same musical instrument that had kick started Leonardo’s international career. It was his ability to play the ‘lyre’ that had allowed him to leave Florence as a cultural representative of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence to join the court of Duke Ludovico il Moro in Milan[75]. Unable to withstand the constant light flashes from the audience that bothered his eyes less and his curious mind more, he closed his eyes and blasted his favorite tune.

REFEFRENCES

[1] Drawing materials used by Leonardo da Vinci. Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved from: https://www.rct.uk/sites/default/files/resources/Drawing%20materials%20Leonardo%202019.pdf.

[2] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 28.

[3] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1238.

[4] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 51

[5] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 18.

[6] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 11.

[7] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 107.

[8] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 11.

[9] The Mona Lisa Foundation. THE ‘HEIDELBERG DOCUMENT’. Retrieved from: http://monalisa.org/2012/09/11/302

[10] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 106.

[11] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 106.

[12] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 106.

[13] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 106.

[14] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1224.

[15] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 399.

[16] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–014 0169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 84.

[17] National Geographic. LEONARDO’S BRIDGE: Part 2. “A Bridge for the Sultan”. Retrieved from: https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/01/22/leonardos-bridge-part-2-a-bridge-for-the-sultan.

[18] Language adopted from Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 21.

[19] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 23.

[20] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 22.

[21] Inspired by Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 272.

[22] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 337.

[23] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 204.

[24] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 201.

[25] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 198.

[26] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1452.

[27] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 19.

[28] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 10.

[29] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 80.

[30] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 168.

[31] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 168.

[32] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 168.

[33] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 169.

[34] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 32.

[35] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 85.

[36] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 85.

[37] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 137.

[38] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 192.

[39] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 193.

[40] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 37.

[41] Britannica. 8 of History’s Most Famous Vegetarians. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/list/8-of-historys-most-famous-vegetarians

[42] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 845

[43] https://garfieldhs.seattleschools.org/about/about_garfield

[44] Alberge, D. Tuscan archives yield up secrets of Leonardo’s mystery mother. The Guardian. 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/may/20/leonardo-da-vinci-orphan-mother-caterina.

[45] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 117.

[46] Taken from Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 601 with minor edits.

[47] Popmoranis, T. Bill Gates paid $30.8 million for this book 25 years ago — here’s why it still inspires him today. CNBC. 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/02/micrsoft-billionaire-bill-gates-paid-30-million-for-this-book-25-years-ago-and-it-still-inspires-him-today.html — Purchase price converted into gold equivalent in December-2020 rate.

[48] Povoledo, E. In Leonardo da Vinci’s Scientific Notebook, the Mind of a Genius at Work. The New York Times. 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/arts/leonardo-da-vinci-codex-leicester-uffizi.html.

[49] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 412.

[50] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1201.

[51] https://www.seattlepride.org/

[52] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 468.

[53] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 469.

[54] Roth Pierpont, C. The Secret Lives of Leonardo da Vinci. The New Yorker. 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/16/the-secret-lives-of-leonardo-da-vinci.

[55] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1162.

[56] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 30.

[57] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 41.

[58] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 11.

[59] Leonardo’s manuscripts have plenty of references of windows as an instrument to change the behavior of light.

[60] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 23.

[61] Bandello, M. LVIII (1497). Retrieved from: https://news.italy-museum.com/the-last-supper-by-leonardo-vinci.

[62] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 22.

[63] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 145.

[64] Jonathan Pevsner, PhD, professor and research scientist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute

[65] The Lancet. 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/pi-kkr041019.php.

[66] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 21.

[67] Vasari, G., Horne, H. Percy. (1903). The life of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Longmans. p. 30.

[68] Nicholl, C. Flights of the Mind. ISBN: 978–0143036128. Penguin Books, 2004. P. 483.

[69] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 796.

[70] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1290.

[71] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1173.

[72] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1172.

[73] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1171.

[74] Richter, J P. The Complete Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Entry # 1175.

[75] Clark, K. Leonardo Da Vinci. ISBN: 978–0140169829. Penguin Books, 1989. p. 82.