--CONTINUED.

BOOKS RECOMMENDED: The works on Italian art before mentioned
and consult also the General Bibliography (p. xv.)

LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE MILANESE: The third person in the great
Florentine trinity of painters was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the
other two being Michael Angelo and Raphael. He greatly influenced the
school of Milan, and has usually been classed with the Milanese, yet
he was educated in Florence, in the workshop of Verrocchio, and was so
universal in thought and methods that he hardly belongs to any school.

He has been named a realist, an idealist, a magician, a wizard, a
dreamer, and finally a scientist, by different writers, yet he was
none of these things while being all of them--a full-rounded,
universal man, learned in many departments and excelling in whatever
he undertook. He had the scientific and experimental way of looking at
things. That is perhaps to be regretted, since it resulted in his
experimenting with everything and completing little of anything. His
different tastes and pursuits pulled him different ways, and his
knowledge made him sceptical of his own powers. He pondered and
thought how to reach up higher, how to penetrate deeper, how to
realize more comprehensively, and in the end he gave up in despair. He
could not fulfil his ideal of the head of Christ nor the head of Mona
Lisa, and after years of labor he left them unfinished. The problem
of human life, the spirit, the world engrossed him, and all his
creations seem impregnated with the psychological, the mystical, the
unattainable, the hidden.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--LEONARDO DA VINCI. MONA LISA. LOUVRE.]

He was no religionist, though painting the religious subject with
feeling; he was not in any sense a classicist, nor had he any care for
the antique marbles, which he considered a study of nature at
second-hand. He was more in love with physical life without being an
enthusiast over it. His regard for contours, rhythm of line, blend of
light with shade, study of atmosphere, perspective, trees, animals,
humanity, show that though he examined nature scientifically, he
pictured it aesthetically. In his types there is much sweetness of
soul, charm of disposition, dignity of mien, even grandeur and majesty
of presence. His people we would like to know better. They are full of
life, intelligence, sympathy; they have fascination of manner,
winsomeness of mood, grace of bearing. We see this in his bes