I continue reading Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson and admire Leonardo’s acute ability to observe, his various skills and the amazing capability to get to the bottom of causes and structures. Right now, I am with him in 1502 and would like to share with you a very interesting confluence of the events and names of that period.
In 1499, Leonardo lost his job in Milan, occupied by the French troops, and in 1502 offered his services to Cesare Borgia, the current Pope’s son. Young Cesare at the time tried to unite by force various kingdoms on the territory of Papal States (around Rome). The Papal States area was donated piece by piece at various times to the Catholic Church and was the main source of income that provided for the church maintenance and its charitable activity.
To demonstrate his skills, Leonardo drew a map of Cesare’s stronghold – the town of Imola. Maps at that time were rarities and were drawn with a lot of decorations, images of people and animals. But Leonardo drew a practical map that captured the relations of the city and its buildings with the geography and the neighboring cities. He used the compass and a small cart (with the odometer) invented and constructed by him for that occasion, which he used to measure exactly all the distances, including each house of the town.
In May 1502, he entered the service of Cesare Borgia as a military architect and engineer. He had to inspect the fortresses conquered by Cesare and provide recommendations for their reinforcement.
At that time a Florence representative at Cesare’s court was Niccolo Machiavelli. For eight months, these three extraordinary persons – Leonardo, Niccolo, and Cesare – traveled together. What did they talk about? How did they get along? One of the products of that period was Prince by Machiavelli, modeled of Cesare.
At the same 1502, another citizen of Florence Amerigo Vespucci has returned from his last overseas expedition and proved that the new land discovered recently by Columbus was not the eastern coast of India but a new continent that eventually (in 1507) was named by the feminine version of his name – America.
Amerigo’s cousin Augustin was Machiavelli’s assistant in Florence.
And Michelangelo worked on his David in 1501 – 1504, too. And in 1502, a two-years-old Benvenuto Cellini walked Florence’s streets. Then – in 1504 – Rafael Santi settled in Florence – a year after Leonardo returned from the Cesare’s service. In the same 1504, Leonardo and Botticelli (along with other 28 prominent artists and architects of Florence) became members of the committee that had to choose the location for Michelangelo’s David. The author of the statue was very unhappy with their decision. But Florence’s fathers and the population at large decided that David was too perfect to be displayed high up in a cathedral. So, the committee has chosen the new location – at the Palazzo della Signoria, in the heart of the city.
So many great names and events in such a short space and time period!
It was Leonardo who recognized the brilliance of what Michelangelo was accomplishing with a stone that 4? 5? other sculptors attempted to carve David from yet failed. It was Leonardo who fought for the relocation from atop of the piazza to down below… ground level… so people could marvel in its brilliance.
From an artistic perspective, David is meant to be viewed from below.. perched high atop a building. When positioned here, the hands, the feet, the limbs are no longer grotesquely large. Similarly, Michangelo took liberty to the figure of Mary in his Pieta. In order to fully support the weight of the body of Jesus, Mary is actually ‘larger than life’ yet still perfect. Beauty truly is in the eyes of the beholder… from the right perspective 😉
My friend, this is my most treasured time of history! A time of true art & beauty! Of Neo-Platonism and the Medicis. Of great discovery and mastery. Of immense horror and punishment, but with the greatest of hope and invention. Oh to be alive in 1492! It is said when Michelangelo died–an old man–they toured his body in an open casket across Italy and the air about him smelled of roses. Preserved, in the Italian Sun as if touched by God.
Thanks for the post, Nick.
Cheers!