of an ear with which the critic might reasonably find fault. The thing I wish to point out about it is not so much the subtle vigour of the execution, as a certain family likeness, as it were, to a figure in one of the frescoes in the Hall of Constantine, in the Vatican. Long ago, when studying the fresco which represents Leo X. approving the plans of the new S. Peter's, I was struck with the presence of a bald and bearded individual in the middle of the composition, standing, and unrolling, with an air of remarkable assurance, Bramante's plans for the great undertaking. The fresco, no doubt, has been more than half repainted, but an old engraving by Sante Bartoli is sufficient evidence that the heads have not been altered in their essential features.

In spite of his energetic features and air of authority, this old man would not have made any special impression upon me, but for the fact that he re-appears in the Dispute of the Sacrament. There he is, standing behind the group on the extreme left, and, significantly enough, again close to Bramante. It is clear that we have not here to do with some casual model, chosen by Raphael for his expressive features alone. The man who lays the plan of the basilica before Pope Leo X. is obviously one of the chief actors in that gigantic enterprise. He is not Bramante, whose features are well known. Why, then, should he not be the other chief pivot on whom the whole work turned, from the administrative standpoint? Why should he not be Giuliano Leno, superintendent of the fabric of St. Peter's? Bramante," Vasari tells us, "left behind him Giuliano Leno, who played a considerable rôle in the building works of his time. He was more skilful in superintending the execution of other people's plans than in making designs on his own account, although he possessed a sound judgment and a wide experience." The Ferrarese ambassador tells us that Raphael felt the effects of a sort of melancholy when he took up architecture after Bramante's death; he disputes, he says, the practice of that art with Giuliano Leno.1

This conjecture made-I dare not say this point established—I return to Leonardo and the Ambrosiana drawing. The reproductions here given will enable the reader to appreciate the likeness between the individual portrayed by Raphael in the Disputa and by Giulio 1 See my Raphael, 2nd ed., pp. 315, 585, 586, 638,

Romano or his assistants in the fresco of the Sala di Constantino on the one hand, and Leonardo's old man on the other. I am quite alive to the necessity for reserve, not to say scepticism, in matters iconographic. But I cannot help being impressed by all these points of contact the large aquiline nose, the contracted eyebrows, betraying an obstinate will, the brilliant eyes and sarcastic mouth, the bald cranium and thick short

If

(Ambrosiana, Milan.)

jaw!

But you may ask, when and where did Leonardo see Giuliano Leno? The answer is easy. At Rome, in 1513. I have published, in Historiens et Critiques de Raphael (p. 133), a document in which, among the "lavori fatti fare da M. Giuliano Leno," the repair of the stanze tiene a Belvedere Leonardo da Vinci" is expressly mentioned. Here we have relations well

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and duly proved, between the Florentine painter, living for the moment in Rome, and the superintendent of the fabric of St. Peter's. my researches have brought to light yet another individual who had to do with Bramante, Raphael, and Leonardo, I shall consider my unusual excursion into the realm of conjecture more than repaid.

Leo X. welcomed Leonardo with great cordiality, and gave him a lodging in the Belvedere itself. There we find him installed in the

month of December, 1513.

The story goes that the Pope, having given him a commission for a picture, he began at once to distil herbs and oils in order to make the varnish; whereupon Leo exclaimed, "Alas! this man will do