Summary
In 1482, Leonardo moved to Milan. He was now a master,
but he seemed dissatisfied with his life in Florence. Science
interested him just as much as painting, and he had begun making
copious scientific speculations in his notebooks. Thus even though
Milan was less artistically-centered than Florence, the city would
provide him with more opportunities to apply his various interests.
But his primary motivation for moving was probably the
opportunity to work for Milan's ruler, Ludovico Sforza: Milan held
a highly strategic position in southwestern Europe, and was often
a point of military contention; in a letter Leonardo wrote to Sforza before
coming to the city, he offers his services as a military engineer.
Although it is unclear whether Leonardo ever actually sent this
letter, it proves Leonardo's strong interest in military engineering.
During this time, Leonardo designed a number of military machines,
including a primitive form of war tank and a wild chariot with
scythes attached to its wheels. The aforementioned letter also alludes
to an equestrian monument Sforza hoped to erect in honor of his
father; Leonardo planned a gigantic horse to serve this purpose–one
that would be a feat of engineering as well as art.
When Leonardo first arrived, however, his first major
project was another painting, the Virgin of the Rocks.
Leonardo painted the work for the Confraternity of the
Immaculate Conception in Milan; two brothers named de Predis painted the
side panels. The contract with the Confraternity led to many legal
problems, so much so that Leonardo eventually had to supervise
the painting of a second version of the painting, in 1506.
Perhaps the most striking aspect about the Virgin
of the Rocks is the Virgin's placement on rocks. A precipitous
chasm separates the viewer from the holy scene, as if it were taking
place on some unattainable plane of being. The rocky caves in
the background, opening up onto a hazy landscape, contribute to
the sense of otherworldliness. Leonardo often used hazy, rocky
background, and this provides the extreme example. The Virgin
herself is the most mature woman we have seen him paint at this
point in his career. Her head is longer and more natural than
the round, stylized faces of earlier paintings. An angel sits to
her left, an infant John the Baptist toddles at her right, and
the Christ Child rests at her feet. They form a triangle reminiscent
of the Adoration of the Magi. The angel points
at John the Baptist, and just above her hand hovers Mary's hand,
open yet domineering. In the same vertical line, Christ lifts
two pudgy fingers in benediction.
Even while he entrenched himself in this complex painting, Leonardo
was beginning serious research into anatomy. In order to gain
knowledge about the workings of the human body he learned to dissect
cadavers; the resultant sketches and diagrams are some of the most
meticulous studies of the human body made before the twentieth
century. Not only did he fully record the known structure and
functions of the body; he also made numerous revolutionary discoveries
about anatomy, all of which contradicted contemporary medical beliefs.
His interest in anatomy would persist throughout his life. As
with many of his studies, he planned eventually to collect the
results into a book– in this case the title was to be Of
the Human Figure. However, like so many of his paintings,
none of these books ever came to completion.
