Sublime

Another set of drawings that Leonardo produced for the amusement of the Sforza court were pen-and-ink caricatures of funny-looking people he dubbed “visi mostruosi” (monstrous faces), which are now commonly called his “grotesques.” Most are small, just under the size of a credit card.

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,

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