hat Giovan Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, being dead, and
Lodovico Sforza raised to the same rank, in the year 1494, Leonardo
was summoned to Milan in great repute to the Duke, who took much
delight in the sound of the lyre, to the end that he might play it:
and Leonardo took with him that instrument which he had made with
his own hands, in great part of silver, in the form of a horse's
skull--a thing bizarre and new--in order that the harmony might be
of greater volume and more sonorous in tone; with which he surpassed
all the musicians who had come together there to play. Besides this,
he was the best improviser in verse of his day. The Duke, hearing
the marvellous discourse of Leonardo, became so enamoured of his
genius, that it was something incredible: and he prevailed upon him
by entreaties to paint an altar-panel containing a Nativity, which
was sent by the Duke to the Emperor.

He also painted in Milan, for the Friars of S. Dominic, at S. Maria
delle Grazie, a Last Supper, a most beautiful and marvellous thing;
and to the heads of the Apostles he gave such majesty and beauty,
that he left the head of Christ unfinished, not believing that he
was able to give it that divine air which is essential to the image
of Christ. This work, remaining thus all but finished, has ever been
held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and also by
strangers as well; for Leonardo imagined and succeeded in expressing
that anxiety which had seized the Apostles in wishing to know who
should betray their Master. For which reason in all their faces are
seen love, fear, and wrath, or rather, sorrow, at not being able to
understand the meaning of Christ; which thing excites no less marvel
than the sight, in contrast to it, of obstinacy, hatred, and
treachery in Judas; not to mention that every least part of the work
displays an incredible diligence, seeing that even in the tablecloth
the texture of the stuff is counterfeited in such a manner that
linen itself could not seem more real.

[Illustration: THE LAST SUPPER

(_After the oil fresco by =Leonardo da Vinci=. Milan: S. Maria delle
Grazie_)

_M.S._]

It is said that the Prior of that place kept pressing Leonardo, in a
most importunate manner, to finish the work; for it seemed strange
to him to see Leonardo sometimes stand half a day at a time, lost in
contemplation, and he would have liked him to go on like the
labourers hoeing in his garden, without ever stopping his brush. And