Page:Masters in art. Leonardo da Vinci.djvu/24



PORTRAIT OF DA VINCIPLATE VI

It is regretable that we have no portrait of Leonardo in that wonderful youthful beauty which all his contemporaries agree to extol. "His figure," says the anonymous biographer, "was beautifully proportioned, he usually wore a rose-colored coat and long hose, and his hair fell in luxuriant curls as far as his waist." The only authentic likeness we have of him, however, is the red-chalk drawing here reproduced, executed bv his own hand during the last years of his life, when the character of sage and philosopher had fully imprinted itself upon the majestic face.