68 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



to say. But he seems to have thrived in this new atmosphere, and 

 these Milanese years are among the most active and the most 

 fertile of his life. He was now at the height of his power and full 

 scope was given to his devouring activity. It is during this period, 

 for instance, that he modelled his famous equestrian statue of 

 Francesco Sforza, that he painted the "Virgin of the Rocks/' and 

 the "Last Supper/' while he was also superintending important 

 hydraulic works, and pursuing indefatigably his various scientific 

 investigations. Yet even at this time of greatest activity and en- 

 thusiasm he must have been a lonesome man. This brilliant but 

 very corrupt court was of course the rendezvous of hundreds of 

 dilettanti, parasites, snobs — male and female — and what could 

 Leonardo do to protect himself against them but be silent and 

 withdraw into his own shell? 



Milan justly shares with Florence the fame of having given 

 Leonardo to the world; it was really his second birthplace. Un- 

 fortunately, before long, heavy clouds gathered over this joyous 

 city, and by 1 500 the show was over and Ludovico, made prisoner 

 by the French, was to spend the last ten years of his life most 

 miserably in the underground cell of a dungeon. From that time 

 on, Leonardo's life became very unsettled. It is true, he spent 

 many years in Florence, employed by the Signoria, painting "la 

 Gioconda" and the "Battle of Anghiari"; then for some years he 

 was back in Milan, but he is more and more restless and some- 

 how the charm is broken. After the fall of the Sforzas, Isabella 

 d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua — perhaps the most distinguished 

 woman of the Renaissance — tried to attach Leonardo to he*" serv- 

 ice, but he refused, and instead he chose, in 1502, to follow Cesare 

 Borgia as his military engineer. One may wonder at this choice, 

 yet it is easy enough to explain. At that time Leonardo was already 

 far prouder of his achievements as a mechanic and an engineer 

 than as a painter. It is likely that in the eyes of Isabella, however, 

 he was simply an artist and he may have feared that this accom- 

 plished princess would give him but little scope for his engineering 

 designs and his scientific research. On the other hand, Leonardo 



