L'amore di qualunque cosa è figliuolo d'essa cognitione. L'amore à tanto più fervente, quanto la cognitione è piu certa.
Leonardo da Vinci.
(Knowledge of a thing engenders love of it; the more exact the knowledge, the more fervent the love.)
'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.'—St. Matt. x. 16.
Giovanni's Diary
On the 25th of March 1494 I entered myself as a disciple in the studio of Messer Leonardo da Vinci, the Florentine master.
This is the order of his teaching:—perspective; the dimensions and proportions of the human body; drawings from examples by the best masters; drawings from nature.
To-day Marco d'Oggionno, my fellow-disciple, has given me a book, taken down entirely from the words of our Master. The book begins thus:—
'The purest joy is given to the body by the light of the sun; to the spirit, by the clear shining of mathematics. That is why the science of Perspective (in which the contemplation of the bright line—la linia radiosa—true solace of the eye, goes hand in hand with the clearness of mathematics—true solace of the mind) must be exalted above all other human research and science. May He who said, "I am the true Light," lend me His aid that I may know the science of Perspective—the science of His light. I divide this book into three parts: the first, the diminishing, by distance, of the size of objects; the second, the diminishing of the distinctness of the colour; the third, the diminishing of the clearness of the outline.'
The Master cares for me like a father. When he learned of my poverty, he refused to take the monthly payment agreed on.