Sublime

As he approached his thirtieth birthday, Leonardo had established his genius but had remarkably little to show for it publicly. His only known artistic accomplishments were some brilliant but peripheral contributions to two Verrocchio paintings, a couple of devotional Madonnas that were hard to distinguish from others being produced in the workshop

As with so many other of Leonardo’s visionary designs, he was ahead of what was practical for his time. Ludovico did not adopt his vision of the city, but in this case Leonardo’s proposals were sensible as well as brilliant. If even part of his plan had been implemented, it might have transformed the nature of cities, reduced the onslaught of plagu

Museum of Serial Killers, in Florence.