LEONARDO DA VINCI.* Two methods of criticism, speaking generally, seem
to have been employed where those artists are in question whose
• Biographies of Great AeUs's: Leonard.) da Vinci. By J. P. Richter, Ph.D. Loudon: ttampeon Low and Co.
names are classical with the populace, whatever their work may be. One method, much the more usual, concerns itself with taking cognisance of those external correspondences by which schools are formed, manners of work founded, and in which individuals display at once their similarities and originalities. The other method, and as we think, far truer, depends for its criteria upon the positive evidence of beauty, of truth, and of sincerity in the work of the painter, and of those qualities of Art which appeal to her best lovers, after the lore of the external critical correspondences of the schools has been taken into account.
To illustrate plainly what is meant, the case of Leonardo da. Vinci may be as good as any. Leonardo avowedly depended upon his study of nature, and appears to have said little about the antique. The temptation to seize upon this. principle, and proclaim that Leonardo's characteristic wan an independence of the antique, is an example of the first method of criticism. To consider the strange and deep similarities between Leonardo's work and the best antique, to see clearly how level these great creations are in their brimful perfections, to understand that it is no more wonderful that Leonardo was original, than that the antique Greeks were so,— these are the deductions that would be drawn by our second method from indisputable facts.
It is said on all hands at the present day that time and the judgment of ages are the real tests of an artist's rank. But though it may be true that the greatest achievers rise to the surface, it is not true that the relative greatness of the great is preserved in all cases. We are indebted to the abstract schools of criticism—shoals of schools—for the unfortunate result that the world has been taught by them to look for external correspondences rather than for internal beauty. Raphael —" prince of painters "—occupies, as painters have prac- tically found out, about the same relation to Tintoretto and Titian that Mozart does to Handel or Beethoven. The most truly perfect form and moderately sweet colour was applied by Raphael to the illustration of some of the highest ideals of human thought,—of religion. In the " Madonna di San Sisto," we have, in the words of one of our great painters, nothing less than " a revelation," because it is an ideal of the Madonna who would listen, and be able to grant men's prayers. But perfect though it be, it is the work of a far less power than is Titian's " Assumption." If, indeed, we were to look upon a picture as the real source of our religions life, needed in times of pain and sorrow, then Raphael's work might be considered greater than Titian's ; but if Art is designed to give us, in addition, glimpses of glorious harmony—of the paradisaical regions, which our Raphaelesque friend would talk about in verbal art—Titian is nearer the throne than Raphael. It will be remembered that the reason why we are comparing the works of the greater heroes in painting is to show that the popular estimate of their worth is unreliable, at least
until after a very long space. Probably Titian, much of whose
infinitely perfect work is destroyed, will always smack some- what of the pagan, along with Shakespeare. Bat, as our contem- poraries frequently assert, ages alone will show. Nevertheless to any critic who may venture to take the mote out of Titian's eye— and one of our greatest artist-critics has done this—we must reply, "think of the activity manifest in the forms of divine creation." In the same fashion in which our Lord spoke much of his divine conversation at the table with "
sin- ners," artists of the stamp of Titian, Tintoretto, Handel, or Beethoven showed in their work a fall cognisance of the horror and sadness of life in its relation to the .infinite rest from it. The mistresses that Titian painted were created by a greater hand than Titian's before Titian gave us his paintings of them. The judgment of the world at large is not worth a rush about art in the time of its production, and only very gradually as years go on, through the guidance of its good leaders, is able to separate the wheat from the tares, losing or allowing to decay even then the finest sheaves of wheat.
Leonardo da Vinci—the natural son of a Florentine notary, one of the most gifted men of all time, a regular antique Greek, and no mistake about it—first saw the light in 1452. His life was passed in Florence, Milan, Venice, Rome, and France. In France he died ; but the beadle and churchwardens knew so little about him, that his departure from our world was as nearly unrecorded as his entrance upon the scene. In the archives of the Royal Chapel at Amboise, Leonardo's burial is thus re. corded :—" Fut inhume dana le cloistre de cette eglise Lionard de Vincy, • nosble millanais, 1" peintre et ingenieur et architecte du Roy, rueschasnischien d'Estat et anchien direc- teur de peintre du Due de Milan. Ce fat faict le dovce jour d'Aoust, 1519." We may just add that Dr. Jean Paul Richter, the author of this memoir, does not consider the researches of M. Arsene Houssaye as to the place of burial to be satisfactory. The portrait of Leonardo—in chalk, by his own hand— which is fairly reproduced in this book, has the firm, indomit- able expression, added to a somewhat unsearchable depth of penetration, which suggests the idea of a magician. Finely- disposed features, finely and strongly shaped ; small and delicate mouth, though capable of Beethoven's tension ; hyacinthine beard and hair,—these are exhibited in his self-chosen view of himself. An early biographer says of him,—" His figure was beautifully proportioned, and he had a noble and engaging presence. He usually wore a rose-coloured coat, reaching to the knee, and long hose, as was the fashion at that time. His carefully-curled hair fell in luxurious curls as far as his waist." Again, in Giovio's biography we read,—" He was of an ex- tremely kind and generous disposition, of most striking appear- ance, with fine features. He was possessed of much taste, and had also a special talent for entertaining, which he notably dis- played in the conduct of theatrical performances. He also sang well to the lute, and was specially welcomed as a companion to princes." Readers must refer to Dr. Richter for an account in summary of some of the works of this man. On the whole, considering the difficulty of the task, it is written very well, with German ingenuousness and intellectual discrimination. There is one respect, however, in which modern biographers are too trenchant and dogmatic,—it is in the identification of original works. Dr. Richter considers that only ten genuine Leonardo paintings still exist. This is the tendency of the day. Let no owner of a great picture be too much discouraged. A great artist's life-work, his different attempts and manners, his works without a history, his studies without a name, when assembled together are always greater in number than seems possible. To sum up definitely the actual list of original works of any painter is, for any critic, an impossibility ; and the attempt to do so is calculated rather to cause neglect of possibly genuine works, than to do the authenticated ones any service.
Previous page
