Giocondo, gave one of the earliest and best lessons to the age, in the great style, in his memorable painting of the Last Supper. This power of attending at the same moment to the minutiae of detail, and to the grand and leading principles of the art or science in which a person may be employed, shows a species of universality of power that may be reckoned among the highest perfections of the human mind; and it places Da Vinci not merely in the rank of the first of painters, but of the greatest of men.

DA VINCI'S IDEA OF PERFECTION IN ART.

Da Vinci was never satisfied with his works, and Lanzi finds the same fault with him that Apelles did with Protogenes-his not knowing when to take his hand from his work. Phidias himself, says Tully, bore in his mind a more beautiful Minerva and a grander Jove than he was capable of exhibiting with his chisel. It is prudent counsel that teaches us to aspire to the best, but to rest satisfied with attaining what is good. "Vinci," says Lanzi, "was never satisfied with his labors, if he did not execute them as perfectly as he had conceived them; and being unable to reach the high point proposed with a mortal hand, he sometimes only designed his work, or conducted it only to a certain degree of completion. Sometimes he devoted to it so long a period as almost to renew the example of the ancient who employed seven years over his picture

(Protogenes' Ialysus and his Dog). But as there was no limit to the discovery of fresh beauties in that work, so in the opinion of Lomazzo it happens with the perfections of Vinci's paintings, including even those which Vasari and others allude to as left imperfect." Lanzi says it is certain that he loft some of his works only half finished. "Such is his Epiphany, in the Ducal Gallery at Florence, and his Holy Family, in the Archbishop's palace at Milan." Others he finished in the most exquisite manner. "He was not satisfied with only perfecting the heads, counterfeiting the shining of the eyes, the pores of the skin, the roots of the hair, and oven the beating of the arteries; but he likewise portrayed each separate garment, and every accessory, with equal minuteness. Thus in his landscapes, also, there was not a single herb, or leaf of a tree, which he had not taken, like a portrait, from the face of nature; and even to his very leaves he gave a peculiar air, fold, and position best adapted to represent their rustling in the wind. While he bestowed his attention in this manner to minutiæ, he at the same time, as is observed by Mengs, led the way to a more enlarged and dignified style; entered into the most abstruse inquiries as to the source and nature of expression-the most philosophical and elevated branch of the art-and smoothed the way for the appearance of Raffaelle." Vinci spent four years on his portrait of Mona Lisa Giocondo.

DA VINCI AND THE PRIOR.

The Last Supper of Lionardo da Vinci was painted in the Refectory of the Dominican convent of S. Maria della Grazia, at Milan. It was considered one of the proudest monuments of that city. While forming the plan of its composition, Da Vinci meditated profoundly on the subject; and having prepared himself by long study, and above all by a closer examination of nature, he began the execution by repeated sketches, both of the whole design, and of all its individual parts. He used to frequent the accustomed haunts of persons resembling, in their character and habits, those whom he was about to introduce in his picture; and as often as he met with any attitudes, groups, or features which suited his purpose, he sketched them in his tablets, which he always carried with him. Having nearly finished the other apostles in this way, he had left the head of Judas untouched for a long time, as he could find no physiognomy which satisfied him, or came up to the ideas he had formed of such a villainous and treacherous character.

The prior of the convent grew impatient at being so long incommoded in that essential branch of monastic discipline which was carried on in the refectory or dining hall, where the picture was being painted, and complained to the Grand Duke, who called on the artist to explain the delay. Da Vinci

excused himself by saying that he worked at it two whole hours every day. The pious head of the house renewed his representations with great warmth, and alleged that Lionardo had only one head to finish; and that so far from working two hours a day, he had not been near the place for almost twelve months. Again summoned before the prince, the painter thus defended himself. "It is true I have not entered the convent for a long time; but it is not less true that I have been employed every day at least two hours upon the picture. The head of Judas remains to be executed, and in order to give it a physiognomy suitable to the excessive wickedness of the character, I have for more than a year past been daily frequenting the Borghetto, morning and evening, where the lowest refuse of the capital live; but I have not yet found the features I am in quest of. These once found, the picture shall be finished in a day. If, however," he added, "I still am unsuccessful in my search, I shall rest satisfied with the face of the Prior himself, which would suit my purpose extremely well; only that I have for a long time been hesitating about taking such a liberty with him in his own convent." It is hardly necessary to add that the Duke was perfectly satisfied with this apology. The artist soon after met with his Judas, and finished his great work. It is stated by several Italian writers that Da Vinci, out of revenge, did actually take this liberty with the prior.

DA VINCI'S DRAWINGS OF THE HEADS IN HIS CELE

BRATED LAST SUPPER.

The series of drawings for the celebrated work of the Last Supper, which were formerly in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, are now in the possession of Sir Thomas Baring. From the great inju ries which that sublime composition has sustained, these may be considered as among the most precious reliques of this master. The drawing which represents the head of the Saviour is magnificent, and probably superior to the same head in the picture, which is said to have been left unfinished. Whether this circumstance arose from the troubles which then existed in Italy, and in which the Sforza family were so immediately engaged, or from a feeling on the part of the artist, that he had not been able to surpass that sublimity of character to which he had attained in his first design, and therefore left the same to a more happy moment, may now be matter of speculative conjecture.

FRANCIS I. AND THE LAST SUPPER OF VINCI.

Francis I. was so struck with admiration when he first saw the Last Supper of Da Vinci, that he resolved to carry it to France. For this purpose he attempted to saw it from the wall; but finding that he could not detach it without destroying the picture, he abandoned the project.