394 V I N 
selection of matter, the general treatment of the subject, the 
unequalled truth and variety of expression, the close atten¬ 
tion paid to character and to nature, the depth, richness and 
brilliancy of its colour, with the high degree of finish to 
which it was carried,—all are manifested in this copy, 
though in some parts imperfectly. In it also are seen the 
want of many points in chiaro-scuro and in colour, which, 
if they could have been combined with the matter it con¬ 
tains (and they have since then been combined by Titian 
and others), would place the original of this picture in 
every respect at the head of all the pictures which ever were 
painted. 
During his residence at Milan, Du Fresne says he com¬ 
posed his very useful work “ II Trattato della Pittura,” for 
the use of the pupils in the' academy under his care; and his 
activity and exertions, supported by such uncommon talents, 
had already formed many skilful artists, who afterwards be¬ 
came renowned, and who would probably have rendered 
Milan the rival of Florence as a school of art, but for the 
disastrous issue of a contest between the duke and the king 
of France, in which, in 1500, the former was defeated, cap¬ 
tured, and carried into the country of his enemy, where 
about ten years afterwards he died. 
By this event, the progress of the arts at Milan was 
broken up, with its academy for a time, and its illustrious 
president returned to Florence, where the arts were encou¬ 
raged by the house of Medici. 
In 1503, the council of Florence having determined to 
decorate their chamber with works of art, Lionardo was ap¬ 
pointed to execute one side of it; and M. Angelo, then only 
twenty-nine years of age, but whose gigantic powers were 
already matured, was selected, as his competitor, to undertake 
the other. A most unfortunate coalition, as the emulation it 
excited, aided and strengthened to bitterness by the mistaken 
affection of admiring partisans of either master, produced in 
the end the most confirmed jealously, and even hatred, 
between these two great men, and divided Florence into 
parties, who embittered their disputes, without being able to 
reconcile their ditferences. Lionardo chose for his subject 
the battle of Nicolo Picinino against Attila. He had prepared 
his cartoon, and proceeded in a certain degree with his pic¬ 
ture in oil colours, when to his great mortification he found, 
that owing to some imperfection in the preparation of the 
ground, his colours began to peel from the wall, and he 
abandoned his work. 
Lionardo appears to have divided his residence at Florence 
and at Milan till 1513, during which time he probably painted 
his own portrait, which is in the gallery at Florence, a head 
whose energy leaves all the rest in the room far behind, and 
that perhaps which in many cabinets is called the portrait of 
Raffaelle. The half figure also of a young nun in the palace 
Nicolini; Christ among the doctors, formerly in the Doria 
palace; the supposed portrait of queen Giovanna, adorned 
with beautiful architecture; that picture in the Barberini of 
Vanity and Modesty, the beauty and finish of which no one 
has ever been able to convey in a copy ;—these appear, with 
many others, to belong to this period, when, free from other 
serious occupations, he was at liberty to attend to painting 
with increasing power. 
He accepted an invitation from Francis I., king of France, 
to visit his court; but he was so exhausted by anxiety and 
sickness on his arrival in France, that he was never more able 
to use the pencil. He died on the 2d of May, 1519, at a 
place called Cloux, near Amboise, and in the 67th year of 
his age. 
There are so many imitators of the style of Da Vinci, that 
it is extremely difficult to know what to regard as his among 
the numerous minor productions which are presented to us 
as the product of his easel. Among those imitators, Bernar¬ 
dino Luini holds the first rank, and his pictures are constantly 
imposed upon us as those of Lionardo. Lorenzo di Credi 
is another who copied Lionardo with great exactness. An¬ 
tonio Sogliani also imitated and copied him as well as others; 
so that no wonder there are so many works brought to 
sale under the high pretension of his name, by which our 
C I. 
connoisseurs are duped, and our picture dealers are en¬ 
riched. 
The real character of Lionardo da Vinci as a painter is of 
the highest quality, as we have before observed. He is the 
parent of the chiaro-scuro, upon which the fame of Cor- 
regio principally depends; and he first attempted to com¬ 
bine high finish with selection of parts and grandeur of 
style, particularly aiming to give intelligence to character 
and expression to features; in fact tg pourtray the mind; 
and in this no one has ever surpassed him, not even Raffaelle, 
who followed in this respect the road opened by da Vinci. 
What is commonly called the beau-ideal, was not exactly the 
form he appears to have sought; but he had so much the 
feeling which generated it, that he always took from his 
model the essential and characteristic, leaving out the mean 
and useless. Hence we find in his picture of the Last Supper, 
so great a variety of character and of expression, which 
those who have attached themselves to the antique as their 
guide have never given; the imitation having, as we con¬ 
ceive, always superseded the original spirit of selection which 
dictated the taste of the ancients. 
Two different manners are observable in his painting; 
one with dark shades, strongly contrasting with the lights, 
the other more placid, and conducted with more of middle 
teint. Grace of design, expression of the mind, and subtile 
management of the pencil, triumph in and adorn each; 
all is gay in his pictures, but especially the heads of his 
women and children. In these he constantly repeated one 
idea, giving a smile to them which it is impossible to behold 
without experiencing a sympathetic impulse. Yet, if one 
may judge from the labour of his pictures, he rarely reached 
the point at which he aimed, having an impression in his 
own mind more full and complete than he could render 
by his pencil; and like Protogenes of old with his Jalysus, 
knew not, as Apelles said of him, when to leave off, nor 
could be contented with good, when he aspired after the 
best. 
As an author, Lionardo da Vinci has rendered essential 
service to art, particularly in his Treatise on Painting, which 
is the only one of his numerous compilations that has been 
given to the public, and which, in 1802, was translated into 
Fnglish by J. F. Rigaud. Venturi speaks of this work as 
having been compiled from various of his manuscripts, which 
were doubtless the product of his every-day reflections, set 
down as they occurred, and without attention to order or 
arrangement. It treats of proportion, anatomy, motion and 
equipoise of figures, perspective, composition, expression, 
light and shade, colouring, &c., in 365 precepts, some of 
which are confused and not easily to be unravelled, others 
are common-place, but most are learned, ingenious, and 
useful. The rest of his miscellaneous works, treating of the 
anatomy of the horse and of the human subject, of per¬ 
spective, optics, hydraulics, botany, &c., were left by him in 
his will to his friend and pupil Francisco Melzi, and con¬ 
sisted of fourteen volumes, large and small, which by various 
means found their way into the national library at Paris, and 
one is in the British Museum. 
VINCI, a town of Italy, in Tuscany; 12 miles w r est of 
Florence. 
VI'NCIBLE, adj. \yinco, Lat.] Conquerable; super- 
able.—He, not vincible in spirit, and well assured that short¬ 
ness of provision would in a short time draw the seditious to 
shorter limits, drew his sword. Hayward. 
VI'NCIBLENESS, s. Liableness to be overcome. Johnson. 
VI'NCTURE, s. [vinctura, Lat.] A binding. Bailey. 
VINDE'MIAL, adj. [vindemia , Lat.] Belonging to a 
vintage. 
To VINDE'MIATE, v. n. [vindemia , Lat.] To gather 
the vintage.—Now vindemiate, and take your bees towards 
the expiration of this month. Evelyn. 
VINDEMIA'TION, s. [vindemia , Lat.] Grape-gather¬ 
ing. Bailey. 
To VI'NDICATE, v. a. [vindico, Lat.] To justify; to 
support; to maintain.—Where the respondent denies any 
proposition, the opponent must directly vindicate and confirm 
that 
