The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (91 page)

1) I have a sort of extremely light and strong bridges, adapted to
be most easily carried, and with them you may pursue, and at any
time flee from the enemy; and others, secure and indestructible by
fire and battle, easy and convenient to lift and place. Also methods
of burning and destroying those of the enemy.

2) I know how, when a place is besieged, to take the water out of
the trenches, and make endless variety of bridges, and covered ways
and ladders, and other machines pertaining to such expeditions.

3) Item. If, by reason of the height of the banks, or the strength
of the place and its position, it is impossible, when besieging a
place, to avail oneself of the plan of bombardment, I have methods
for destroying every rock or other fortress, even if it were founded
on a rock, &c.

4) Again I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry;
and with these can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and
with the smoke of these causing great terror to the enemy, to his
great detriment and confusion.

9) [8] And when the fight should be at sea I have kinds of many
machines most efficient for offence and defence; and vessels which
will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes.

5) Item. I have means by secret and tortuous mines and ways, made
without noise to reach a designated [spot], even if it were needed
to pass under a trench or a river.

6) Item. I will make covered chariots, safe and unattackable which,
entering among the enemy with their artillery, there is no body of
men so great but they would break them. And behind these, infantry
could follow quite unhurt and without any hindrance.

7) Item. In case of need I will make big guns, mortars and light
ordnance of fine and useful forms, out of the common type.

8) Where the operation of bombardment should fail, I would contrive
catapults, mangonels,
trabocchi
and other machines of marvellous
efficacy and not in common use. And in short, according to the
variety of cases, I can contrive various and endless means of
offence and defence.

10) In time of peace I believe I can give perfect satisfaction and
to the equal of any other in architecture and the composition of
buildings public and private; and in guiding water from one place to
another.

Item: I can carry out sculpture in marble, bronze or clay, and also
in painting whatever may be done, and as well as any other, be he
whom he may.

[32] Again, the bronze horse may be taken in hand, which is to be to
the immortal glory and eternal honour of the prince your father of
happy memory, and of the illustrious house of Sforza.

And if any one of the above-named things seem to any one 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 &c.

1341.

To my illustrious Lord, Lodovico, Duke of Bari, Leonardo da Vinci of
Florence— Leonardo.

[Footnote: Evidently a note of the superscription of a letter to the
Duke, and written, like the foregoing from left to right. The
manuscript containing it is of the year 1493. Lodovico was not
proclaimed and styled Duke of Milan till September 1494. The Dukedom
of Bari belonged to the Sforza family till 1499.]

1342.

You would like to see a model which will prove useful to you and to
me, also it will be of use to those who will be the cause of our
usefulness.

[Footnote: 1342. 1343. These two notes occur in the same not very
voluminous MS. as the former one and it is possible that they are
fragments of the same letter. By the
Modello
, the equestrian
statue is probably meant, particularly as the model of this statue
was publicly exhibited in this very year, 1493, on tne occasion of
the marriage of the Emperor Maximilian with Bianca Maria Sforza.]

1343.

There are here, my Lord, many gentlemen who will undertake this
expense among them, if they are allowed to enjoy the use of
admission to the waters, the mills, and the passage of vessels and
when it is sold to them the price will be repaid to them by the
canal of Martesana.

1344.

I am greatly vexed to be in necessity, but I still more regret that
this should be the cause of the hindrance of my wish which is always
disposed to obey your Excellency.

Perhaps your Excellency did not give further orders to Messer
Gualtieri, believing that I had money enough.

I am greatly annoyed that you should have found me in necessity, and
that my having to earn my living should have hindered me …

[12] It vexes me greatly that having to earn my living has forced me
to interrupt the work and to attend to small matters, instead of
following up the work which your Lordship entrusted to me. But I
hope in a short time to have earned so much that I may carry it out
quietly to the satisfaction of your Excellency, to whom I commend
myself; and if your Lordship thought that I had money, your Lordship
was deceived. I had to feed 6 men for 56 months, and have had 50
ducats.

1345.

And if any other comission is given me
by any …
of the reward of my service. Because I am
not [able] to be …
things assigned because meanwhile they
have … to them …
… which they well may settle rather than I …
not my art which I wish to change and …
given some clothing if I dare a sum …

My Lord, I knowing your Excellency's
               mind to be occupied …
to remind your Lordship of my small matters
                  and the arts put to silence
that my silence might be the cause of making
                  your Lordship scorn …
my life in your service. I hold myself ever
                 in readiness to obey …

[Footnote 11: See No. 723, where this passage is repeated.]

Of the horse I will say nothing because
I know the times [are bad]
to your Lordship how I had still to receive
two years' salary of the …
with the two skilled workmen who are constantly
in my pay and at my cost
that at last I found myself advanced the
said sum about 15 lire …
works of fame by which I could show to
those who shall see it that I have been
everywhere, but I do not know where I
could bestow my work [more] …

[Footnote 17: See No. 1344 l. 12.]
I, having been working to gain my
living …

I not having been informed what it is, I find
myself …

[Footnote 19: In April, 1498, Leonardo was engaged in
painting the Saletta Nigra of the Castello at Milan.
(See G. MONGERI,
l'Arte in Milano
, 1872, p. 417.)]

remember the commission to paint the
rooms …

I conveyed to your Lordship only requesting
                            you …

[Footnote: The paper on which this is written is torn down the
middle; about half of each line remains.]

Draft of letter to be sent to Piacenza (1346. 1347).

[Footnote: 1346. 1347. Piacenza belonged to Milan. The Lord spoken
of in this letter, is no doubt Lodovico il Moro. One may infer from
the concluding sentence (No. 1346, l. 33. 34 and No. 1347), that
Leonardo, who no doubt compiled this letter, did not forward it to
Piacenza himself, but gave it to some influential patron, under
whose name and signature a copy of it was sent to the Commission.]

1346.

Magnificent Commissioners of Buildings I, understanding that your
Magnificencies have made up your minds to make certain great works
in bronze, will remind you of certain things: first that you should
not be so hasty or so quick to give the commission, lest by this
haste it should become impossible to select a good model and a good
master; and some man of small merit may be chosen, who by his
insufficiency may cause you to be abused by your descendants,
judging that this age was but ill supplied with men of good counsel
and with good masters; seeing that other cities, and chiefly the
city of the Florentines, has been as it were in these very days,
endowed with beautiful and grand works in bronze; among which are
the doors of their Baptistery. And this town of Florence, like
Piacenza, is a place of intercourse, through which many foreigners
pass; who, seeing that the works are fine and of good quality, carry
away a good impression, and will say that that city is well filled
with worthy inhabitants, seeing the works which bear witness to
their opinion; and on the other hand, I say seeing so much metal
expended and so badly wrought, it were less shame to the city if the
doors had been of plain wood; because, the material, costing so
little, would not seem to merit any great outlay of skill…

Now the principal parts which are sought for in cities are their
cathedrals, and of these the first things which strike the eye are
the doors, by which one passes into these churches.

Beware, gentlemen of the Commission, lest too great speed in your
determination, and so much haste to expedite the entrusting of so
great a work as that which I hear you have ordered, be the cause
that that which was intended for the honour of God and of men should
be turned to great dishonour of your judgments, and of your city,
which, being a place of mark, is the resort and gathering-place of
innumerable foreigners. And this dishonour would result if by your
lack of diligence you were to put your trust in some vaunter, who by
his tricks or by favour shown to him here should obtain such work
from you, by which lasting and very great shame would result to him
and to you. Thus I cannot help being angry when I consider what men
those are who have conferred with you as wishing to undertake this
great work without thinking of their sufficiency for it, not to say
more. This one is a potter, that one a maker of cuirasses, this one
is a bell-founder, another a bell ringer, and one is even a
bombardier; and among them one in his Lordship's service, who
boasted that he was the gossip of Messer Ambrosio Ferrere [Footnote
26: Messer Ambrogio Ferrere was Farmer of the Customs under the
Duke. Piacenza at that time belonged to Milan.], who has some power
and who has made him some promises; and if this were not enough he
would mount on horseback, and go to his Lord and obtain such letters
that you could never refuse [to give] him the work. But consider
where masters of real talent and fit for such work are brought when
they have to compete with such men as these. Open your eyes and look
carefully lest your money should be spent in buying your own
disgrace. I can declare to you that from that place you will procure
none but average works of inferior and coarse masters. There is no
capable man,—[33] and you may believe me,—except Leonardo the
Florentine, who is making the equestrian statue in bronze of the
Duke Francesco and who has no need to bring himself into notice,
because he has work for all his life time; and I doubt, whether
being so great a work, he will ever finish it [34].

The miserable painstakers … with what hope may they expect a
reward of their merit?

1347.

There is one whom his Lordship invited from Florence to do this work
and who is a worthy master, but with so very much business he will
never finish it; and you may imagine that a difference there is to
be seen between a beautiful object and an ugly one. Quote Pliny.

Letter to the Cardinal Ippolito d' Este.

1348.

[Footnote: This letter addressed to the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este is
here given from Marchese G. CAMPORI'S publication:
Nuovi documenti
per la Vita di Leonardo da Vinci. Atti e Memorie delle R. R.
Deputazioni di Storia patria per la provincie modenesi e parmenesi,
Vol. III.
It is the only text throughout this work which I have not
myself examined and copied from the original. The learned discoverer
of this letter—the only letter from Leonardo hitherto known as
having been sent—adds these interesting remarks:
Codesto Cardinale
nato ad Ercole I. nel 1470, arcivescovo di Strigonia a sette anni,
poi d'Agra, aveva conseguito nel 1497 la pingue ed ambita cattedra
di Milano, la dove avra conosciuto il Vinci, sebbene il poco amore
ch'ei professava alle arti lasci credere che le proteste di servitu
di Leonardo piu che a gratitudine per favori ricevuti e per opere a
lui allogate, accennino a speranza per un favore che si aspetta.
Notabile e ancora in questo prezioso documento la ripetuta signatura
del grande artista 'che si scrive Vincio e Vincius, non da Vinci
come si tiene comunemente, sebbene l'una e l'altra possano valere a
significare cosi il casato come il paese; restando a sapere se il
nome del paese di Vinci fosse assunto a cognome della famiglia di
Leonardo nel qual supposto piu propriamento avrebbe a chiamarsi
Leonardo Vinci, o Vincio (latinamente Vincius) com'egli stesso amo
segnarsi in questa lettera, e come scrissero parecchi contenporanei
di lui, il Casio, il Cesariano, Geoffrey Tory, il Gaurico, il
Bandello, Raffaelle Maffei, il Paciolo. Per ultimo non lascero
d'avvertire come la lettera del Vinci e assai ben conservata, di
nitida e larga scrittura in forma pienemente corrispondente a quella
dei suoi manoscritti, vergata all'uso comune da sinistra a destra,
anziche contrariamente come fu suo costume; ma indubbiamente
autentica e fornita della menzione e del suggello che fresca ancora
conserva l'impronta di una testa di profilo da un picciolo antico
cammeo.
(Compare No. 1368, note.)]

Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord.
  The Lord Ippolito, Cardinal of Este
                          at Ferrare.

Most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord.

I arrived from Milan but a few days since and finding that my elder
brother refuses to

carry into effect a will, made three years ago when my father
died—as also, and no less, because I would not fail in a matter I
esteem most important—I cannot forbear to crave of your most
Reverend Highness a letter of recommendation and favour to Ser
Raphaello Hieronymo, at present one of the illustrious members of
the Signoria before whom my cause is being argued; and more
particularly it has been laid by his Excellency the Gonfaloniere
into the hands of the said Ser Raphaello, that his Worship may have
to decide and end it before the festival of All Saints. And
therefore, my Lord, I entreat you, as urgently as I know how and am
able, that your Highness will write a letter to the said Ser
Raphaello in that admirable and pressing manner which your Highness
can use, recommending to him Leonardo Vincio, your most humble
servant as I am, and shall always be; requesting him and pressing
him not only to do me justice but to do so with despatch; and I have
not the least doubt, from many things that I hear, that Ser
Raphaello, being most affectionately devoted to your Highness, the
matter will issue
ad votum
. And this I shall attribute to your
most Reverend Highness' letter, to whom I once more humbly commend
myself.
Et bene valeat
.