Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 8.djvu/29

 LEONARDO DA VINCI 213 after his return to Florence was the famous portrait of Madonna Lisa del Gio- condo, called in French La Joconde, and now in the Louvre (484), which after the death of Leonardo was purchased by Francis I. for 4,000 gold crowns, equal to 45,000 francs or ;£ 1,800, an enormous sum in those days ; yet who ever thought it too much ? Then began the rivalry between Leonardo and Michael Angelo, which lasted during the remainder of Leonardo's life. The difference of age (for Michael Angelo was twenty-two years younger) ought to have prevented all unseemly jealousy ; but Michael Angelo was haughty and impatient of all superiority, or even equality ; Leonardo, sensitive, capricious, and naturally disinclined to admit the pretensions of a rival, to whom he could say, and did say, " I was famous be- fore you were born ! " With all their admiration of each other's genius, their mutual frailties prevented any real good-will on either side. Leonardo, during his stay at Florence, painted the portrait of Ginevra Benci, the reigning beauty of her time. We find that in 1502 he was engaged by Cae- sar Borgia to visit and report on the fortifications of his territories, and in this office he was employed for two years. In 1503 he formed a plan for turning the course of the Arno, and in the following year he lost his father. In 1505 he modelled the group which we now see over the northern door of the San Gio- vanni, at Florence. In 15 14 he was invited to Rome by Leo X., but more in his character of philosopher, mechanic, and alchemist, than as a painter. Here Raphael was at the height of his fame, and engaged in his greatest works, the frescos of the Vatican. The younger artist was introduced to the elder ; and two pictures which Leonardo painted while at Rome — the " Madonna of St. Ono- frio," and the " Holy Family," painted for Filiberta of Savoy, the pope's sister- in-law (which is now at St. Petersburg) — show that even this veteran in art felt the irresistible influence of the genius of his young rival. They are both Raffael- esque in the subject and treatment. It appears that Leonardo was ill-satisfied with his sojourn at Rome. He had long been accustomed to hold the first rank as an artist wherever he resided ; whereas at Rome he found himself only one among many who, if they acknowl- edged his greatness, affected to consider his day as past He was conscious that many of the improvements in the arts which were now brought into use, and which enabled the painters of the day to produce such extraordinary effects, were invented or introduced by himself. If he could no longer assert that measureless superiority over all others which he had done in his younger days, it was because he himself had opened to them new paths to excellence. The arrival of his old competitor, Michael Angelo, and some slight on the part of Leo X., who was an- noyed by his speculative and dilatory habits in executing the works intrusted to him, all added to his irritation and disgust. He left Rome, and set out for Pa- via, where the French king, Francis I., then held his court. He was received by the young monarch with every mark of respect, loaded with favors, and a pension of 700 gold crowns settled on him for life. At the famous conference between Francis I. and Leo X., at Bologna, Leonardo attended his new patron, and was