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Page 83
Margery began, and told how he used always to wear a sketch-book
attached to his girdle as he walked through the streets of Florence, so
that he might make a sketch of any face whose expression especially
attracted him; how he would invite peasants to his studio and talk with
them and tell laughable stories, that he might study the changes of
emotion in their faces; and how he would even follow to their death
criminals doomed to execution, in order to watch their suffering and
horror.
"He did not care much for the form or coloring or beauty of faces;--only
for the expression of feeling," she added.
"But," said Malcom, after waiting a moment for the others to speak if
they chose, "he studied a host of other things, also. For in the letter
he sent to Duke Ludovico of Milan asking that he might be taken into his
service, he wrote that he could make portable bridges wonderfully
adapted for use in warfare, also bombshells, cannon, and many other
engines of war; that he could engineer underground ways, aqueducts,
etc.; that he could build great houses, besides carrying on works of
sculpture and painting. And there were many other things that I do not
now remember. It seems as if he felt himself able to do all things. I
believe he did make a magnificent equestrian statue of the duke's
father. And he studied botany and astronomy, anatomy and mathematics,
and all sorts of things besides. I really do not see how he could have
got much painting in."
"He has left only a very few pictures to the world," said Barbara. "We
saw two or three at Florence, but I think only one--that unfinished
_Adoration of the Magi_--is surely his. We shall see the _Last Supper_
and _Head of Christ_ at Milan. Then there are two or three in Paris and
one in London I think these are all," and she looked inquiringly at Mr.
Sumner, who smilingly nodded confirmation of her words.
"But," she went on, with an answering smile, "I do not think this was
due to lack of time, for on these few pictures he probably spent as much
time as ordinary artists do in painting a great many. He was never
satisfied with the result of his work. His aims were so high and he saw
and felt so much in his subjects that he would paint his pictures over
and over again, and then often destroy them because he could not produce
what he wished. I think he was one of the most untiring of artists."
"I have been especially interested," said Bettina, after a minute or
two, "in the story of the _Last Supper_ which we shall soon see."
She then went on to tell the sad tale of Beatrice d'Este,--the good and
beautiful wife of harsh, wicked Duke Ludovico. How she used to go daily
to the church Santa Maria delle Grazie to be alone,--to think and to
pray; and how, after her early death, the duke, probably influenced by
remorse because of his cruelty to her, desired Leonardo to decorate this
church and its adjoining monastery with pictures in memory of his dead
young wife. The only remaining one of these is the _Last Supper_ in the
refectory of the old monastery. And the famous _Head of Christ_ in the
Brera Gallery, Milan, is only one of perhaps hundreds of studies that he
made for the expression which he should give to his Christ in the _Last
Supper_,--so dissatisfied was he with his renderings of the face of our
Saviour. And even with his last effort he was not content, but said the
head must ever go unfinished.
"I am glad to hear you say that this _Head of Christ_ was produced
simply as a study of expression," remarked Mr. Sumner. "I am sure this
fact is not understood by many who look upon it. I know of no other
artistic representation in the world that is so utterly just an
expression and nothing more;--a fleeting expression of some inner
feeling of which the face is simply an index. And this feeling is the
blended grief and love and resignation that filled the heart of our
Saviour when He said to His disciples, 'One of you shall betray me.' It
is a simply wrought study, made on paper with charcoal and water-color.
The paper is worn, its edges are almost tattered; yet were it given me
to become the possessor of one of the world's art-treasures--whichever
one I should choose--I think I should select this. You will know why
when you see it."
"What a pity that the great picture, the _Last Supper_, is so injured,"
said Malcom, after a pause. "Is it as bad as it is said to be, uncle?"
"It is in a pretty bad condition, yet, after all, I enjoy it better than
any copy that has ever been made. The handiwork of Leonardo, though so
much of it has been lost, is yet the expression of a master; any lesser
artist fails to render the highest that is in the picture. Both the Duke
and Leonardo were in fault for its present condition. The monastery is
very low, and on extremely wet ground. Water has often risen and
inundated a portion of the building. It is not a fit place for any
painting, as the Duke ought to have known. And, then, Leonardo, instead
of painting in fresco, used oils, and of course the colors could not
adhere to the damp plaster; so they have dropped off, bit by bit, until
the surface is sadly disfigured."
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