Author :
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 60 pages
File Size : 46,57 MB
Release : 2018-02
Category :
ISBN : 9780484809566
Excerpt from A Book of the Passion of Our Lord Depicted by the Old Masters Vasari goes on to say that the Prior complained to the Duke of an about Leonardo's delay. The Duke therefore sent for the ater, who reasoned much with him about art, and made him lerstand that men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the at when they work the least, seeking out inventions with the 1d, and forming those perfect ideas which the hands afterwards ress, and reproduce, from the images already conceived in the in. And he added that two heads were still wanting for him to at: that of Christ, which he did not wish to seek on earth; lhe could not think it was possible to conceive in the imagina 1 that beauty and heavenly grace which should be the markof God incarnate. Next, there was wanting that of Judas, which was also troubling him, not thinking himself capable of imagining features that should represent the countenance of him who, after so many benefits received, had a mind so cruel as to resolve to betray his Lord, the Creator of the world. However, he would seek out a model for the latter. And so the poor Prior, in confusion, confined himself to urging on the work in the garden, and left Leonardo in peace, who finished only the head of Judas, which seems the very embodiment of treachery and inhumanity; but that of Christ, as has been said, remained unfinished. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the world's greatest painters. Lesser painters often think that their works are perfect. But because his genius was so great, Leonardo's understanding of his own powers was as complete. Unhappily his perfect knowledge of himself made him undervalue those powers. He wished that all his paintings should be perfect, and when they were partly finished he would decide that they could never be perfect, and abandoned them. Thus Vasari, again, writes of him In truth, one can believe that his vast and most excellent mind was hampered through being too full of desire, and that his wish ever to seek out excellence upon excellence, and perfection upon perfection, was the reason of it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.