Sublime

ALLA RICERCA DELL’UOMO DEI DADI

As Leonardo’s de facto and perhaps legally adopted son and heir, Francesco Melzi was named the executor and bequeathed most of the estate. This included Leonardo’s pension, all sums of money owed to him, his clothes, books, writings, and “all the instruments and portraits pertaining to his art and calling as a painter.” To his most recently hired

Francesco di Giorgio from Siena.8 Thirteen years older than Leonardo, he was another exemplar of an artisan who combined art, engineering, and architecture. He had begun as a painter, moved as a young man to Urbino to work as an architect, returned to Siena to run the underground aqueduct system, and was a sculptor in his spare time. He was also

Now, the man who gives himself away does the last act of generosity; he is like a martyr, a lover, or a monk. But he is also almost certainly what we commonly call a fool.

chiaroscuro).