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 all who knew him; but the avocations to which this last circumstance subjected him, are one reason why so many of his works remain unfinished.

With such advantages of mind and body as these, it was no wonder that his reputation should spread itself, as we find it soon did, over all Italy. The painting of the shield before mentioned, had already, as has been noticed, come into the possession of the Duke of Milan; and the subsequent accounts which he had from time to time heard of Leonardo’s abilities and talents, induced Lodovic Sforza, surnamed the Moor, then Duke of Milan, about, or a little before the year, to invite him to his court, and to settle on him a pension of five hundred crowns, a considerable sum at that time.

Various are the reasons assigned for this invitation: Vasari attributes it to his skill in music, a science of which the Duke is said to have been fond; others have ascribed it to a design which the Duke entertained of erecting a brazen statue to the memory of his father ; but others con- Rh