In January, 1503, he was again in Florence, where he served on the eommission of artists to decide upon the proper location for Michelangelo's "David," and served as an engineer in the war against l'isa. Toward the end of the year he en tered upon his famous contest with Michelangelo (q.v.) in a design for the decoration of the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The contest was of national importance, designed, by a glorilieation of past valor, to encourage the Florentines in their struggle with Pisa. Each prepared a car toon for one of the long Mills, Leonardo's subject being the "Battle of Angbiari." The centre of the cartoon was a cavalry struggle upon a bridge over a standard in which the fierce passion of battle was portrayed. as never before or shwa To judge from Leonardo's report to the Sigtairia, based upon profound historical studies, it seers that on the left the Patriarch of Agnileja, leader of the Florentines. watched the battle. praying for success, and on the right the Milanese troops were in full flight. The execution of the paint ing upon the wall does not seem to have pro gressed beyond the central group about the standard, which survives in the "Battle of the Standard," a drawing in the Louvre ascribed to Milieus, and in the well-known engraving by Ed el luck.
During this second Florentine period (1503-00) Leonardo painted two fine portraits, that of Ginevra Benei, which is lost, and "Mona Lisa," the pride of the Louvre. perhaps the most cele brated portrait in the world. She was the third wife of the Florentine Francesco del Gioconda whence the name "La Joconde," by which the por trait is known in France. The face has sadly suf fered at the restorer's hand, Mr. Pater to the con trary notwithstanding. The redness of the lips and the carnation of the face have disappeared, as have the subtle gradations of blue and red about the eyes, which Vasari praises so highly. But the eyes still have their dewy shimmer, as in life. a subtle smile plays about the mouth, and the wonderful hands are almost unspoiled. Leonardo is said to have employed musicians and jesters to produce the subtle and mysterious expression of her countenance, an effect heightened by the strange, rocky landscape in which she appears. Af ter four years' labor on the work. he prong need it unfinished ; but to other eyes it seems one of the most highly finished works in modern art.
In 1500 Leonardo went to Milan on a three months' leave of absence from Florence. The powerful intercession of Chaumont, the French Governor of Milan, at length induced the gon falonier of Florence to release him from his con tract in the Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo was named Court painter to the King, Louis XII., and for the next few years he divided his time between the two cities. He was kept at Florence by a long drawn-out, though ultimately successful, lawsuit against one of his brothers, who refused to carry out the provision of his father's will that Leo nardo share equally with the other children. At
Milan he continued his engineering projects, and he had studios both there and at Florence. At this period, especially, he executed many designs for paintings carried out by his Milanese pupils. It has been the service of Morelli to distinguish these from his genuine works, and to rewrite the history of the Milanese school. Among such paintings no longer attributed to Leonardo are the "Holy Family with Saint Catharine" and a half nude female figure recalling "Mona Lisa" at Saha Petersburg; "Mndonna with the Scales," Madonna with the Child and Saint John Bap tist," the "Youthful Bacchus," and a "Youthful Saint John 1Ia ptist"—a11 in the Louvre; and the fresco of a "Virgin with Donor" in Sant' thinfrio, Koine. Even the beautiful "Madonna late (Saint Petersburg), a work worthy of Leonardo, is now generally assigned to Bernardino de' Conti. A free copy of Leonardo's •'Leda and the Swan," which we know he painted during the second Mi lanese period, survives in Sodoma's version in the Borghose Collection at Rome. The only gen uine surviving painting of this second Milanese period—some indeed give it an earlier date—is the "Madonna in the Grotto." There has been much dispute as to whether the original is in the Louvre or in the National Gallery. Some careful critics consider both genuine, but the best opinion favors the Louvre. In this re markable work Leonardo has finally solved the problem of chiaroscuro, in the striking con trast of the faces of the Virgin and the two children with the darkness of the grotto.
When the French temporarily abandoned Milan in 1513 Leonardo paid a visit to Rome; but neither this nor his previous brief visit, seems to have exercised any influence upon his art. In 1515 he returned to Milan, and was in charge of the festivities when Francis 1. of France trium phantly entered. Ile was made Conu•t painter at a salary of 700 gold scndi annually, besides being confirmed in his prevbms possessions. By order of Francis 1. he bought up all of his own pictures that could be had, whence the col lec•tion in the Louvre, and in 1510 he accom panied the King to France. He passed the re mainder of his days in the residence assigned him in Castle Ciotti, devoted to scientific research, and died there soon after the date of his testa ment, Nay 2, 1519. Ile did not die in the arms of Francis 1.. as is often supposed on the evidence of Va sari, hut in the presence of his friend Melzi, a young Milanese nobleman who had been his constant companion during the latter part of his life. and to whom he left most of his prop erty and his invaluable manuscripts.