The metal which
was supposed to go into this work of art was molded into cannon balls.
Leonardo was a member of the commission which deliberated where to
place Michelangelo's magnificent statue of David. His cartographic
work was so ahead of its time, that the express highway from Florence
to the sea - built in the 20th century - follows precisely the route
of a canal he envisioned. His scientific investigations - in anatomy,
hydraulics, mechanics, ornithology, botany - are considered valuable
to this very day. Bill Gates owns some his notebooks containing
scientific data and observations (known as the Codex Hammer).
But Leonardo's loyalties were fickle. He switched sides to the
conquering French and in 1506 returned to Milan to work for its French
governor, Charles D'Amboise. Later, he became court painter for King
Louis XII of France who, at the time, resided in Milan. In 1516, he
relocated to France, to serve King Francis I and there he died.
Leonardo summed up the lessons of his art in a series of missives to
his students, probably in Milan. These were later (1542) collected by
his close associate, Francesco Melzi, as "A Treatise on Painting" and
published in print (1651, 1817).
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