treatise were designed by, nay, that their type was the invention of Leonardo. Inspired, no doubt, by a passage in Vitruvius, which advises that buildings should be given proportions analogous to those of the human body, he chose to divide his letters into ten parts, just as he had done with the human figure.

As early as 1514 Sigismondo Fanti, of Ferrara, made no scruple of appropriating the new system of proportion of Leonardo's letters in his Theorica et Pratica perspicassimi Sigismundi de Fantis Ferrariensis in artem mathematice professoris de modo scribendi fabricandique omnes litterarum species (Venice, 1514, book iv.). The alphabet he publishes offers some variations upon that of Leonardo-the letter E, for instance, is without the circle traced in the inner angle of the base, and the other circles are sensibly different in proportion--but in spite of that, it is based on the master's system.

But to return to the master.

Studies of physiognomy follow those on proportion and anatomy. Here again Leonardo gives himself up to the most miscellaneous investigations. His countless caricatures are simply illustrations of a theory, unhappily never worked out. The system which governed the conception of the Last Supper inspired these researches also. Lomazzo, whose authorities were the intimates (domestici) of Leonardo, tells us that "one day the artist, wishing to introduce some laughing peasants into a picture, made choice of certain individuals whose features appeared suitable for his purpose. Having made their acquaintance, he then invited them and other friends of his to a banquet, where, sitting near them, he related a number of the maddest and most laughable stories he could think of, making them scream with laughter, Léonard Vinci, qui est trespassé à Amboise et estoit très excellent philosophe et admirable painctre et quasi ung autre Archimède. Cedict frère Lucas a faict imprimer ses lettres attiques comme siennes . . . De vray, elles peuvent bien estre à luy, car il ne les a pas faictes en leur deue proportion. A veult avoir sa jambe droite grosse de la dixiesme partie de sa hauteur . . . . et non pas de la neuvieusme partie, comme dict frère Lucas Paciolus . . . . l'ay entendu que tout ce qu'il en a faict il a prins secrètement de feu Messire Léonard Vinci, qui estoit grant mathématicien, painctre et imageur." (Champfleury, edition of 1529, fols. 13, 35, 41 v°.) The Marchese d'Adda has skilfully defended Pacioli against the accusation of plagiarism. (Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1868, vol. ii.

p. 134.

although they could scarcely have told what they were laughing at. Upon him, none of the looks and gestures provoked by his tales were lost; afterwards, when these guests had departed, he retired to his own house, and drew them in such a skilful manner that his drawings made those who saw them laugh as heartily as the stories had made the guests laugh at the banquet. Unfortunately this composition never proceeded farther than the sketch."

SKETCH FROM THE "TRATTATO DELLA PITTURA."

This fantastic experiment recalls a picture by one of the primitive. Milanese, Michelino da Besozzo, who painted a group of two peasant men and two peasant women convulsed with laughter. About the same period, Bramante ventured on a similar subject: he represented Democritus laughing and Heraclitus weeping.

(Vatican Library.)

Lomazzo also tells us that Leonardo used to be fond of watching the looks and gestures of prisoners going to execution. He made careful notes of their eye-movements, of the contractions of their brows, and of the involuntary quivering of

their muscles.

These studies have been quite erroneously called caricatures. They are fragmentsgreat fragments of a treatise on physiognomy. Leonardo had too lofty an intelligence to be content with making mere frivolous combinations, good for nothing but to provoke a laugh -an impulse, moreover, quite foreign to the Italians of the Renaissance-but he felt a deep and passionate interest in the laws which govern the physical eccentricity as well as the perfection of the human race.

Hence we find that, long before Grandville, he had a glimpse of the true relation between certain human deformities and animal

types. The old man with a bull-dog's face, the old woman with a bird's head, are in his view reflections from an inferior species; he goes so far as to seek in the human countenance for analogies with web-footed animals and even crustaceans.

A step farther, and

SKETCH FROM THE TRATTATO DELLA
PITTURA.

we should have been tempted to talk of evolution, and to compare him with Darwin.1 Modern writers have judged this part of Leonardo's work with great severity. "We can hardly say that he has even skimmed the surface of the subject," says one. Another formally condemns one of the laws laid down in the Trattato. "The following passage," he declares, "shows how empty and false were the ideas of Leonardo on the difference which exists between the laughing and the weeping countenance: he who sheds tears unites the eyebrows at their junction, knits them closely, forms wrinkles above them, and drops the corners of the mouth; on the other hand, he who laughs lifts them [the corners of the mouth] and expands them, while he raises the eyebrows and draws them apart." 3

(Vatican Library.)

We see, then, that the Trattato della Pittura forms a perpetual commentary on the artistic activity of Leonardo. It is a collection of

SKETCH FROM THE
TRATTATO DELLA

PITTURA."

subtle ideas and practical counsels, of scientific observations in which the spirit of analysis is pushed to its extreme limits, and of those concrete guesses or intuitions which reveal the artist of genius.

In spite

of the occasional minuteness of its instructions, it is better fitted to stimulate the mind than to act as a practical guide and formulary. In its great suggestiveness it is addressed rather to those artists who love to think for themselves, than to those who are content to accept ready

(Vatican Library.)

1 In 1586, the Neapolitan G. B. Porta published his De Humana Physiognomonia Libri iv., in which he establishes relations between the features of certain men and animals. He quotes Aristotle, Pliny, e tutti quanti.

2 A. Lemoine, De la Physionomie et de la Parole, Paris, 1865, p. 29.
3 Piderit, La Mimique et la Physionomie, pp. 26, 99, 152. [French tr.]

made formulæ. It must be confessed that no school has felt its inspiration less than that formed by Leonardo himself, whose immediate pupils-Boltraffio, Marco d'Oggiono, Salai, Melzi-never allowed any hard thinking to disturb their equanimity.

We must not forget, however, that in Leonardo's atelier, theoretical teaching was always supplemented by practical and direct oral instruction. The master took pupils, or rather apprentices, to live in his house. His "terms" were 5 lire a month, a very modest sum when we remember all the discomforts and responsibilities which then attended the taking of apprentices.1 Hear what Leonardo says himself of the troubles this system brought upon him; it confirms what we already know of his placidity. "Giacomo came to live with me on the feast of S. Mary Magdalen, 1490. He was ten years old. The second day, I ordered two shirts, a pair of hose, and a doublet for him. When I put aside the money to pay for these things, he took it out of my purse; I was never able to make him confess the robbery, although I was certain of it. A thieving, lying, pig-headed glutton. Next day I supped with Giacomo Andrea and the said Giacomo; he ate for two and did mischief for four, for he broke three flasks and upset the wine, and then came and supped where I was. Item: on

the 7th of September he stole a stylus worth 22 soldi from Marco's studio, while he (Marco) was with me; afterwards, the said Marco, after a long search, found it hidden in the said Giacomo's box. Lira 1, soldi 2. I, Item: on the 26th of January following, while I was with Messer Galeazzo da San Severino arranging his joust, and while certain footmen were undressing in order to try on some costumes of savages, in which they had to appear, Giacomo crept near the wallet of one of them, which was lying on the bed with other effects, and stole a few coppers which he found in it. Lire 2, soldi 4. Item: Messer Agostino da Pavia having given me, in the said house, a Turkish skin to make a pair of shoes, this Giacomo stole it before the month was out, and sold it to a cobbler for 20 soldi,

1 "On March 14, 1494, Galeazzo came to live with me, agreeing to pay 5 lire a month for his cost, paying on the 14th day of each month. His father gave me two Rhenish florins." (Richter, vol. ii., p. 440.)