In the midst of his triumphs in art Da Vinci became military engineer to Cesare Boagia (1502), a position which he probably retained for some considerable time, as it enabled him to move about through central Italy, and when occasion required to make visits to other parts of the peninsula, one of which he made the fol lowing year to Florence, where he served on artistic commissions and did additional military engineering. It was about this time that he painted the famous (Mona Lisa> (Louvre), a portrait that has probably been more written about than any other in the world, especially during the second decade of the present cen tury. Da Vinci spent four years on this por trait, and it is said that even then (1503-06) he was not satisfie.d with it. But notwithstanding his own opinion in the matter, the art judgment of the world is inclined to pronounce it his greatest triumph. About the time of the con clusion of this latter painting Da Vinci was ap pointed painter to the Icing (Louis XII). This was perlaaps the busiest period in his life. He tnaintained studios for -punting and carried on engineering projects and studies in natural sci ences in Florence and Milan, in both of which places he had numerous pupils of surpassing worth who executed his designs for him to supply the incessant demands for his art work from churches and individuals. The art work done by his pupils in Milan was especially not able, and much of it was, at one time, believed to be altogether the work of the master himself. One of the most remarkable canvases of this period is the (Madonna of the Grotto> of which two copies exist, one in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery. Much discussion has taken place as to which of these is the original. It is probable that both are, th many critics pretend to see in the copy inmige Louvre the more direct embodiment of Da Vinci's style and peculiar artistic qualities. However, both copies are truly worthy of the master; and if one of them was painted by a hand other than his it tnust have been some one who was able to enter fully into all Ms moods and who had worked under him so long as to have completely absorbed his atmosphere. From 1513 to 1515 Da Vinci seems to have re sided in Rome, having gone there on the depart ure of the French; but he returned to Milan.in the latter year to take charge of the decorations and festivities attendant upon the entry of the French king,. Francis I, who rewarded him by appointing lum court painter with an annual allowance of 700 scudi in gold. The king also commissioned him to buy up all his own pic tures. This he did, and with them he accom panied the French sovereign to France the fol lowing year, where he seems to have remained for the rest of his life, giving his time to the study of art and sciences.
Da Vinci, in a sense, revolutionized the art of painting and drawing. His technique waS masterly and really wonderful for his age. It enabled him to work with the greatest freedom and speed and with a sureness of touc.h and a mastery of design, of drawing and coloring imtil his day unknown. His portraits, his fig ures and his designs were always wonderfully true to life; and they led the artists of his age to seelc for a fuller and truer expression of all the manifestations of life. This is perhaps the greatest of the many great qualities of the art expression of Da Vinci. Undoubtedly his studies in the natural sciences and, especially in physiology and anatomy, helped him solve many questicnis that his predecessors had not been able to; and the perfection of his drawing and the representation of the human and other forms seems to have quickened his already keen sense of coloring and of contrast of light and shade and of the blending of the two. He
surpassed all his predecessors in the mastery he attained in the depicting of the mystical, the poetical, the sympathetic and the attractive in the human face. It is said that his several years spent in the painting of
Da Vinci was an inventor of note, one of the greatest and most successful engineers of his time and perhaps the deepest thinIcer and most profound investigator into all the known branches of science of his age. In many of his investigations he went far beyond his contempo raries.
Bibliographr.— For a list of pictures con sult any good history of Italian art; Da Vinci's own manuscripts, published in facsimile (Paris 1881-91; Milan 1891-95); and his (Trattato della pittura,' which has been published numerous times (London 1802; Vienna 1882; and Rome 1890). An English edition, with original text, of his literary works, was published by J. P. Richter (London 1883). Consult biographies by Amoretti (Milan 1803) and Paul /fuller Walde (Munich 1889-90) ; the biographies by Rosenberg (Bielefeld lt398; English translation 1903); by E. Miintz (Paris 1899; English trans lation, London 1399); Volynsky (Saint Peters burg 1900; English translation by Heaton and Black, London 1904.) ; Horne (London 190E01 McCurdy (London 1904); Siailles (Paris 1912) and Gronau (New York 1903) • also Uzzielli, (Ricerche intorno a Leonardo da Vinci' (2d ed., Turin 1896 et seq.) • and the critical works of Dr. Jens Thiis (1..ondon s.d.) and Oswald Siren (New Haven, rev. ed., 1916); Lomazz ,o G. P., (Trattato dell' arte della pit tura> (Milan 1585) ; id.,