VINCI 



GOS: 



VINEGAR 



whose Last Supper, painted on the wall of the 

 refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria 

 delle Grazie, at Milan, is one of the world's 

 greatest paintings. Leonardo was a man of al- 

 most universal genius. In the fine arts he dis- 

 tinguished him- 

 self not only as 

 a painter but as 

 a sculptor, archi- 

 nisicianand 

 art critic; he was 

 also a mecha- 

 nician, a civil 

 and military en- 

 gineer, an anato- 

 ;i botanist, 

 an astronomer 

 and a geologist 

 in fact, a student He ^J^fwor.d the 

 of all the physi- priceless Last Supper and 

 cal and mathe- Mona Li8a ' 

 matical sciences. He attempted so much that 

 he was not able to carry many undertakings to 

 completion, but his few creations bear the 

 stamp of genius. 



Leonardo was bora at Vinci, not far from 

 Florence, and very early in life gave evidence 

 of the diversity of talents which distinguished 

 him in later years. He soon surpassed his in- 

 structor, Verrocchio, the celebrated Florentine 

 painter. When thirty years of age he entered 

 the service of Lu/lovico il Moro, the Duke of 

 Milan, who ordered the painting of the Last 

 Supper. Though faded and injured by smoke, 

 dampness and clumsy efforts to retouch it, the 

 Last Supper is still a marvel of spiritual beauty. 

 It shows the moment after Christ has an- 

 nounced that one of His disciples will betray 

 In in, and depicts the consternation of the 

 ly with wonderful realism. The grouping 

 of the picture is also worthy of admiration 

 ( 'hrist in the center and the disciples in groups 

 of three on either side. 



In Milan, Leonardo made his influence last- 

 ing by the founding of an Art academy. After 

 tin- occupation of that city by the French, he 

 wrnt to Florence, where he painted the most 

 celebrated of his easel pictures, the wonderful 

 portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, a Floren- 

 lady of prominence. The "inscrutable" 

 smile of this lady has been the subject of end- 

 less discussion, and it is said that Leonardo 

 caused her to assume her mysterious expression 

 1>\ having music played during the sittings. In 

 I'.Ml this priceless painting, commonly known 

 as Mona Lisa, which is one of the glories of 



the Louvre, in Paris, was cut from its frame. 

 Two years later it was recovered from the thief, 

 an Italian, who stole it out of patriotic motives. 



In 1502 the artist was appointed chief engi- 

 neer and architect of the Pope's %rmy, which 

 gave him the opportunity to visit many of the 

 fortified posts in the Papal dominion. The 

 closing years of his life were spent in the serv- 

 ice of France. King Francis I interested him- 

 self in this versatile genius and assigned for his 

 use the Chateau Cloux, near Amboise, where 

 he died. Under the shadow of the great Ca- 

 thedral of Milan a marble monument has been 

 erected to his memory. Among his later works 

 are the famous Virgin of the Rocks, in the 

 National Gallery, London, and a figure of Saint 

 John the Baptist, in the Louvre, Paris. He 

 was also the author of a celebrated treatise on 

 painting. K.D.M. 



Consult Bell's Great Masters. 



VIN'EGAR, a sour liquid of reddish or yel- 

 lowish color, used extensively as a condiment 

 and in pickling and preserving foods. Its sour- 

 ness is due to the active principle, acetic acid, 

 which it contains, but the special flavor and 

 odor that distinguish one brand of vinegar 

 from another are determined by the materials 

 used in the manufacturing process. The amount 

 of acetic acid in vinegar varies from four to 

 eight per cent. 



There are two general methods employed in 

 vinegar making the natural fermenting proc- 

 ess and the so-called quick process. The for- 

 mer method consists in exposing beer, weak 

 wines or cider to air until they turn sour 

 through the conversion of the alcohol into 

 acetic acid. The process is slow, and is suc- 

 cessfully carried out only under certain con- 

 ditions of temperature. The active ferment 

 which brings about this change, called mo 

 of vinegar, may usually be seen on the surface 

 of the liquid as a slimy scum. Malt vinegar is 

 popular among tin- Knglish, and in America 

 cider vinegar is extensively manufactured. 



In the quick process, impure dilute alcohol 

 is poured into vnts or casks containing beech- 

 wood shavings soaked in strong vinegar. There 

 are holes in the vats to permit the entrance 

 and exit of air. As the alcohol soaks down 

 through the shavings it is partly changed into 

 vinegar by coming in contact with mot In T 

 of vinegar and with oxygen. The liquid as it 

 collects at the bottom of the cask is drawn off 

 and again poured in at the top, and the process 

 is repeated until the alcoholic solution is con- 

 verted into vinegar. 



