Evening star., 1928-04-08
lcontinned from Third pare.l )

IN the middle ages: a hundred years
had vet to elApse before Copernicus
and Calileo. vcSalius and Gilbert and
Harvey would complete the renaissance
of science.
Already Leonardo had reached a
modern conception of the world. seeing
everything as the result of an inviolahle
law. oh marvellous necessity" he
writes, Thou with supreme reason con-
StraineSt aN effects 10 be the direct
results of their causes, and by supreme
and TTevocable law every natural action
oh@vs tllee by the shortest possible pro-
cess" Like Faust. he hungercd to know
ell these laws and to reduce them To on
coSTAIc unity. Like Spinoza. he found
in ths study Of natures eternal order
the road 10 wisdom, u1o6esty and tram
oail soul; II is almost the voice of Spin
oza that We hear when Leonardo writes:
"Cy3n6a amore a figlic di grande sap
tenSa-Creat love is the offspring OF
CS>at wisdom
So We see him working in his great
studio. with the yOung pupils, who
loved him like a father but working
for the most part engrosscd and alone,
fC-getful Of rest and food, Sc til
ssrai solo tu Sarai tutto tuo"-"E you
are alone you viii be wholly yourself"
Apparently cold in the calm Of his
disposition. he was yet filled with the
waTmcSt love of men and all things,
Apparently feminine in the beauty Of
his features and in the SoftnsSs and
whiteness Of his hands. yet he excelled
in all fests Of strength and horSeman-
ship. bending horSeshoeS as II they
were tin He was SO mild and gentle
that he could not bear to eat flesh. and
H,@ - he fSvx%N xr.t,r f1n sNar
OF meat would seem as disgusting to
US as the eating of men. Sometimes
he would enter a store. buy some Of
the birds that were Gagged there and.
taking them into the street, would lib
crate them Yet he was no serious,
long-faced person: his radiant counte-
nance won the hearts OF all. He liked
his Joke occasionally; once he gath
cred his friends into a room and placed
in their hands some bladders which
he had connected with bellows in an
other room: then he blew the bellows
tin the bladderS expanded so much
as to crowd the astounded guests tight
II against the walls. He was thor
oughly human god,
The most remarkable item in his
notes concerns the flight Of birds "A
bird is an instrument working accord
ing 70 mathematical laws" Dissect
the bat. study II carefully. and on this
model construct the machine" The
human bird shan take his first fight.
filing the world with amazement. and
bringing eternal glory to the nest from
which il sprung" Time and time
again. il seems, Leonardo constructed
flying machines: time and again he
failed IN his efforts to rise. but he
carried the noble dream OF human
flight down through the century. one
cropping figure in the great line from
Daedal1S TO the Wrights. What race
II is that can hold a dream in its
heart for 5000 wears and never yield,
And what q brave prophecy there was
in Leonardo's simple words. There
shall be wingx,"
Amidst all this science. this en-
gineering and invention Leonardo
found time to be the supreme painter
and sculptor of his generation H
made for the Duke of Milan colossal
equestrian statue Of the great con-
6ottt-re. Francesca Sierra: he worked
on il for ~ years and when he put
uD the clay model in the gardens Of
the Duke 'all who saw ii declared thsy
had never witnessed anything more
majestic or msre beautiful. Then in
$500 came war and the invading
French. hostile soldiers made the
statue a butt Of their craftsmanship,
and within sn hour brutality had laid
In ruins the most impressive statue
Of the age
Having rlvaled Donatello and Ve-roc-
chic in sculpture Leonardo turned TO
rial Mtcf1eiangeio and Raphael TN
painting We see from his skesch book
drawings 50 beautiful that one eatchcs /
ones breath with pain IN looking at !
them how long he iaDored and how /
manv preparatory trials ne made before /.
painting his masterpiece. The Last Sup
par." in the Church of Santa Maria
della Craze Never before had been
such a perfect grouping or such vivid
NATURALIZATION Of every figure In the
group Imagine the time necessary n
make i3 complete portraits not from
models. but out of the bodyless visions
of the artists soul No wonder Leo
nar6o iabored IL years 20 finish 1t, and
would never admit that II was COM
pleie. No wonder that when be had
made all the apostles and came TO
Christ he could rot 70 on: he had given