Sublime

For the rest of Leonardo’s life, Francesco Melzi would be by his side. He worked as Leonardo’s personal assistant and scribe, drafted his letters, kept his papers, and preserved them after his death. He wrote in a graceful italic, and his notations are to be found throughout Leonardo’s notebooks. He also was Leonardo’s art student. Though never a m

While in Milan in 1507, Leonardo met a fourteen-year-old named Francesco Melzi (fig. 101). He was the son of a distinguished nobleman who was a captain in the Milanese militia and later a civil engineer who worked to reinforce the city’s fortifications, endeavors that fascinated Leonardo. The Melzis lived in the largest villa in the town of Vaprio,

chiaroscuro).