Sublime

I think of Leo as a vast chunk of blotting paper, and nothing escapes imprinting itself on his quick eye, awesome intellect, and generous heart.

“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” —Pierre-Marc-Gaston

Whether or not Melzi was ever a lover, he became something more significant. Leonardo loved him as a son, and he needed a son to love. It helped that Melzi was appealing and pretty, which was no doubt one reason Leonardo liked to have him in his retinue. But he was also a loyal and caring companion to whom Leonardo could pass along his papers, his

Proprietary Technology

Lorenzo de’ Medici, eager to navigate the swirling rivalries and alliances among the Italian city-states, saw Florence’s artistic culture as a source of influence. Botticelli and some of his other favorite artists went to Rome to please the pope, Verrocchio and others to Venice. Leonardo and Atalante were probably part of a February 1482 diplomatic

(“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming….”).

As Bruce Lee said, “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”

Alberti had an engineer’s instinct for collaboration and, like Leonardo, was “a lover of friendship” and “open-hearted,” according to the scholar Anthony Grafton. He also honed the skills of courtiership. Interested in every art and technology, he would grill people from all walks of life, from cobblers to university scholars, to learn their secret