Da Vinci's Ghost (30 page)

78
“pursues many immoral activities”: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 114. The details of the case that appear here, along with information about homosexuality in Florence, derive from Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 114–23; and Bramly,
Leonardo
, 117–24.

78
The word
Florenzer
: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 116.

78
“It has dealings”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 124–25.

79
more than a hundred: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 117.

79
“As I have told you”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 288.

80
“A stone of good size”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 137–38. See also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, 339.

80
According to one of his earliest biographers: Anonimo Gaddiano, “Leonardo da Vinci,” in Goldscheider,
Leonardo
, 30.

82
“Painting possesses a truly divine power”: Alberti,
De pictura
2.25, in Alberti,
On Painting and On Sculpture
, 61.

83
“The divine character of painting”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 274. See also Leonardo,
Treatise on Painting
1, no. 280, 113.

83
“The painter is lord”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 194–95.

85
“You have a god’s capacity”: Cicero,
The Dream of Scipio
24, in
On the Good Life
, 353.

85
“possesses in itself”: Ficino,
Platonic Theology
3.2, in Gadol,
Leon Battista Alberti
, 232.

86
“I have placed you”: Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity of Man,” in McIntire and Burns,
Speeches
, 116.

87
“chained to the reading of manuscripts”: Alberti,
On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Letters
, in Grafton,
Leon Battista Alberti
, 32.

88
“So that the subject”: Alberti,
De Statua
11, in Alberti,
On Painting and On Sculpture
, 133–35.

89
–90 He listed sixty-eight: Ibid., 135.

91
In one of his notebook sketches:
Codex Atlanticus
, 189
v
. See Marani, “Leonardo,
The Vitruvian Man
, and the
De statua
Treatise,” in Radke,
Leonardo
, 83.

91
he set out some preliminary thoughts:
Manuscript A
, 43
r
. See Marani, “Leonardo,” in Radke,
Leonardo
, 84.

91
“Let me tell you”: Alberti,
Momus
, in Baxandall,
Words for Pictures
, 37.

92
“The painter’s mind”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 205.

92
the job of painting the altarpiece: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 133.

93
“Alas!”: Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 196.

93
“In his imagination”: Ibid., 189.

93
“the universal master”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
1, no. 506, 253.

93
“Describe the tongue”: Ibid., 2, no. 819, 119.

93
“Of the flight”: Ibid., no. 820, 119.

94
“They will say”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 2. See also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
1, no. 10, 14.

94
“Tell me”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 154. See also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, nos. 1360, 1365, 1366, 413–14.

94
he lists eight Florentines: See Kemp,
Leonardo
, 65–66, for a full translation of the passage and commentary.

100
an army of animals: Hollingsworth,
Patronage in Renaissance Italy
, 171.

100
“There now appeared disorders”: Machiavelli,
Istorie florentine
7.28, in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 93–94.

101
“The well-dressed painter”: Leonardo,
Treatise on Painting
1, no. 51, 37.

102
“I take up the burden”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 198.

103
“the coarse speech”: Ibid., 200.

103
Leonardo traveled to Milan: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 189.

103
“a form calculated in order to render the tone”: Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 191.

103
“He surpassed all the musicians”: Ibid., 191.

104
about a hundred workshops: Welch,
Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan
, 251.

105
“trumpeters and reciters”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2. See also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
1, no. 11, 15.

106
“quality, the beauty”: Da Vinci,
Treatise on Painting
1, no. 15, 8.

106
“in numbers and measurements”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 202.

108
“The work our hands do”: Da Vinci,
Treatise on Painting
1, no. 34, 23.

108
“Many flowers copied”: Kemp,
Leonardo
, 22.

110
“What man, however hard of heart”: Alberti,
On Painting
, 35.

111
“This work makes the spectator wonder”: Chrysoloras,
Comparison of Old and New Rome
, in Smith,
Architecture
, 213.

116
“He from whom nothing is hidden”: Rykwert,
The Dancing Column
, 86. Translation slightly modified.

117
“Make a book”: Bolgar,
The Classical Heritage
, 273. Translation slightly modified.

118
“We should imitate bees”: Seneca,
Epistulae morales
84, in Moss,
Printed Commonplace-Books
, 12.

119
“Everything proceeds from everything”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, no. 1473, 445.

119
“The earth is moved”: MacCurdy,
The Notebooks
1, 78.

119
“My concern now”: Pedretti,
The Literary Works
1, 102.

123
in about 1484: for this date, see Schofield, “Leonardo’s Milanese Architecture,” 111–15.

123
“an infinite variety”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 175, with slight modifications. For the whole letter, see also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, no. 1340, 395–98.

126
“I shall show”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 302.

127
“completely worldly and depraved”: Abelard,
Historia calamitatum
, in Radice,
The Letters
, no. 1, 19.

127
“I see myself dwelling”: Panofsky,
Abbot Suger
, 65. Translation slightly modified.

127
“The foundation of the temple”: Bede,
De templo
4.1, in Meyer,
Medieval Allegory
, 1.

127
“a figure and image”: Maximus the Confessor,
Mystagogia
2, in Hiscock,
The Symbol
, 25–26.

128
“the elegant architect”: Alan of Lille,
Liber de planctu naturae
, in Kruft,
A History
, 36. Translation mine.

129
“It shall come to pass”: Isaiah 2:2.

130
“We come at last”: Vasari,
On Technique
, 83–84.

132
“In the articulation”: Durandus,
Rationale divinorum officiorum
1.14, in Rykwert,
The Dancing Column
, 39. Translation slightly modified.

132
in remarkably similar terms: See, for example, the description (c. 1436) of the cathedral of Florence cited in Grafton,
Leon Battista Alberti
, 281: “I have decided that the wonderful edifice of this sacred basilica more or less takes the shape of a human body.”

133
“seeking out architects”: Hiscock,
The Wise Master Builder
, 164.

133
“Villard de Honnecourt greets you”: Barnes,
The Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt
, 35.

135
“imagined”: Ibid., 95.

136
“ought to rise”: Ackerman,
“Ars sine scientia nihil est,”
91.

138
correspond to those of the Pantheon: Schofield, “Amadeo, Bramante, and Leonardo,” postscript, 95.

138
“The Lord God is seated”: Ackerman,
“Ars sine scientia nihil est,”
100.

138
“in a fashion”: Ibid., 100.

139
“You have appointed”: Welch,
Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan
, 108.

139
“by a prudent geometrician”: Ibid.

139
“May God help me”: Ibid.

140
“Because of the departure”: Schofield, “Amadeo, Bramante, and Leonardo,” 68, n. 4. Unpublished English translation supplied to me by Richard Schofield.

140
“When fortune comes”: Bramly,
Leonardo
, 213. See also Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, no. 1177, 294.

141
“My lords, deputies, fathers”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 300–02. Slightly modified, based on the partial translation in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 223.

144
a stylized image of himself and Leonardo: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 310–12.

146
“What he handed down”: Alberti,
On the Art of Building
, 6.1, 154.

147
“He made careful drawings”: Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 72–73.

147
“My gods!”: Alberti,
On the Art of Building
, 6.1, 154. Translation slightly modified.

148
“prostrate and stripped”: Poggio Bracciolini,
De varietate fortunae
1, in Elmer, Webb, and Wood,
The Renaissance in Europe
, 7.

149
the Florentine Vitruvius: Gadol,
Leon Battista Alberti
, 99, n. 10.

149
“Let it be said”: Alberti,
On the Art of Building
, prologue, 5.

149
Leonardo would even record: Reti, “The Two Unpublished Manuscripts,” no. 19, 81.

150
“The harmony is such”: Alberti,
On the Art of Building
, 1.9, 23–24.

151
“works on architecture”: Vespasiano,
Lives
, in Whitcomb,
Literary Source Book
, 77.

151
Francesco was a figure: The biographical highlights listed in this paragraph derive primarily from Betts,
The Architectural Theories
, 3–7; and Scaglia,
Francesco di Giorgio
, 13–17.

152
“Pictures are very apt”: Pliny,
Natural History
25.4–5, cited in Ivins,
Prints and Visual Communications
, 14.

153
“as many interpreters as readers”: Martini,
Treatise
, 2.489, in Laurenza, “The
Vitruvian Man
,” 44.

153
He did so most memorably in his
Treatise
: Betts, “On the Chronology,” 13–14.

154
“a well-composed”: Ibid., 5.

155
“I will show you”: Filarete,
Treatise
(trans. Spencer), 6
r
, 12.

156
“seems to outline”: Dulcino,
Nuptiae illustrissimi ducis mediolani
, in Schofield, “Amadeo, Bramante, and Leonardo,” 82.

159
“A good painter”: Irma A. Richter,
The Notebooks
, 176.

161
“took an especial delight”: Vasari,
Lives
, in Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 43. See also Vasari,
Vasari’s Lives
, 188.

161
“He would not kill a flea”: Nicholl,
Leonardo
, 43.

161
“do not feed on anything”: Ibid., 478.

162
“The frog retains life”: O’Malley and Saunders,
Leonardo
, 352.

162
“The frog immediately dies”: Ibid., 350.

162
“Having placed”: Mundinus,
Anathomia
, in Singer,
The Fasciculo di Medicina
, 59.

162
one of the earliest surviving references: Park, “The Criminal and the Saintly Body,” 7.

163
“Sketch in the bones”: Alberti,
On Painting and On Sculpture
, 75.

163
“It is necessary”: Clayton,
Leonardo
, 12.

164
“The professor shall read”: Ibid.

164
a medical miscellany that Leonardo himself owned: Reti, “The Two Unpublished Manuscripts,” no. 2, 81.

164
“microcosm”: Mundinus,
Anathomia
, in Singer,
The Fasciculo di Medicina
, 60.

166
“Having observed the guts”: Ibid., 68.

167
“You see to the right”: Ibid.

167
“In man, these lobes”: Ibid., 71.

168
If you opened your eyes outside: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
1, no. 68, 42.

168
“Down to my own time”: Ibid., no. 21, 19.

171
he owned at least 45 books: For the contents of the list, see Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, 442–45. For the dating, see Pedretti,
The Literary Works
2, 353–54.

171
he owned at least 116: For the contents and dating of the list, see Reti, “The Two Unpublished Manuscripts,” 81–89; and Pedretti,
The Literary Works
2, 355–68.

171
“Try to get Vitolone”: Jean Paul Richter,
The Notebooks
2, no. 1448, 435.

172
One high-ranking official: Vallentin,
Leonardo
, 149.

173
Here, under one roof: For the contents of the Visconti library, see Pellegrin,
La Bibliothèque des Visconti
.