66 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



his eleven brothers and sisters — far younger than himself anyhow 

 — except when, at their father's death, they all leagued them- 

 selves against him to deny him any part of the patrimony. A 

 motherless, brotherless, lonely childhood; we cannot lay too much 

 stress on this; it accounts for so much. 



In or about 1470 Ser Piero placed his son, now a very handsome 

 and precocious boy, in the studio of Andrea Verrocchio, who 

 since Donatello's death was the greatest sculptor of Florence; also 

 a painter, a goldsmith, a very versatile man, indeed. Within the 

 next years Leonardo had the opportunity to show the stuff of 

 which he was made, and by 1480 his genius had matured. He was 

 considered by common consent a great painter, and, moreover, 

 his mind was swarming with ideas, not simply artistic ideas, but 

 also architectural and engineering plans. 



Leonardo was born in the neighborhood of Florence and bred 

 in the great city. It is well, even in so short a sketch, to say what 

 this implies. The people of Tuscany are made up of an extraor- 

 dinary mixture of Etruscan, Roman, and Teutonic blood. Their 

 main city, Florence, had been for centuries a considerable em- 

 porium, but also a center of arts and of letters. Suffice it to re- 

 member that of all the Italian dialects it is the Tuscan, and more 

 specifically its Florentine variety, which has become the national 

 language. The prosperous city soon took a lively interest in art, 

 but loved it in its own way. These imaginative but cool-headed 

 merchants patronize goldsmiths, sculptors, draftsmen. They do 

 not waste any sentimentality, neither are they very sensual : clear 

 outlines appeal more to them than gorgeous colors. Except when 

 they are temporarily maddened by personal jealousy or by a feud 

 which spreads like oil, it would be difficult to find people more 

 level-headed, and having on an average more common sense and 

 a clearer will. 



Leonardo was a Florentine to the backbone, and yet this en- 

 vironment was not congenial to him. He was distinctly superior to 

 most of his fellow citizens as a craftsman, but he could not match 

 the best of them in literary matters. The Medici had gathered 



