The paradox of the Italian Renaissance was that it was a time of extraordinary artistic creativity, yet art of the High Renaissance was created during a period of intense political turmoil.
Around 1481–82 Leonardo da Vinci wrote an extraordinary letter offering his services to the Duke of Milan.
This is the secretarial draft of that letter.
In it the artist describes many types of weapons, siege machinery, portable bridges, hydraulic devices, and other engineering innovations he can create for the Duke of Milan.
Only at the very end of the letter does he mention his painting.
Leonardo’s designs for various inventions in the Atlanticus Codex in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
Codex Atlanticus 69r
Codex Atlanticus 50r
Codex Atlanticus 31r
Codex Atlanticus 26v
Though he despised violence, Leonardo was willing to create terrifying war machines to please his patron.
Leonardo was a man of genius, whose life was full of contradictions.
Images of the Marchese Lodovico Gonzaga, his family, and court from Mantegna’s Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, MantuaBible of Borso d’EsteDetail of Francesco Cossa’s Triumph of VenusPedro Berruguete, Portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and His Son Palazzo Ducale, UrbinoTitian, Assumption of the VirginTitian, Portrait of a Woman with a MirrorTitian, Equestrian Portrait of the Emperor Charles VBacchus, an early work by MichelangeloMichelangelo, PietàMichelangelo, David in its present location in the Galleria dell’AccademiaRaphael, Portrait of Pope Julius IIOne of Michelangelo’s preliminary drawings for the tombA smaller version of the Pope’s tomb in San Pietro in Vincoli, RomeBotticelli, The Trials and Calling of MosesPerugino, Christ Handing the Keys to St PeterGhirlandaio, The Calling of the ApostlesRosselli, Crossing of the Red SeaExterior view of the Sistine ChapelRaphael, The School of Athens, Sala della Segnatura, VaticanRaphael, Galatea, Villa Farnesina, RomePasquino Fragments of Giulio Romano’s etchings for Marcantonio Raimondi’s I modi
