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Arts & Communication Leonardo from Caffa in Crimea

been just that, a painter. There is no independent record of in size and scale. One is on canvas, while the other is on
Leonardo da Vinci’s training in any kind of engineering in panel. It is hard to imagine why an artist would make such
Florence in the decade of the 1470s, nor any record of his a precise statement of beginning two artworks at the same
military training or even his attachment to a local militia. time, that he then approached quite differently in practical
However, the man who created document 446E seems terms. Moreover, these paintings, rather insipid, soppy
to be fixated on civil and military engineering, with his depictions of mother and child, are not great examples of
drawings depicting men. Renaissance painting of this period. In reality, document
446E says nothing directly about Madonna pictures. More
Despite being straightforward, in the Western narrative,
the life story of painter Leonardo da Vinci is presented importantly, if this was to have been a document crucial
to the life of the Tuscan painter Leonardo, there is nothing
in a convoluted and anticipative manner. The received about finishing the very important altarpiece for the
story starts with his inscription as a painter in the Guild Signoria, for which the painter Leonardo da Vinci received
of St Luke in 1472 and supposedly leads to his scientific a substantial advance of 25 florins sometime in 1477 or
Notebooks, which he is said to have begun in Pistoia 1478. The approach, subject matter, and technique of the
in 1478. There is no explanation of what happened in two Madonnas proposed by Villata also have nothing to do
between. Referring only to Verrocchio’s involvement with with the rest of the drawings of 446E, which are occupied
the raising of the golden orb, which event occurred before with masculine pastimes, specifically war.
1472 and does not reference painter Leonardo da Vinci’s
assistance, Leonardo scholars start with a painter and The discovery of a design for a semi-automatic crossbow
end up with a military engineer. Yet, as far as anyone can on the back of drawing 446E is both surprising and
discover, painter Leonardo da Vinci was not employed by confusing. The arrow bolts are not depicted, but usually,
any Florentine militia, which Caferro 22,p.132 explains would there would be at least three that would splay in different
have been made up of “recruited mercenaries alongside directions, making it semi-automatic. The weapon’s
rural feudal lords,… [and] a substantial infantry force, purpose is for defense, and the cranking mechanism
much of which was recruited from its contado [rural] and would double the firing distance of a handheld crossbow,
25
subject communes …” Painter Leonardo was not a listed reaching distances of up to 150 m. Although many ideas
mercenary, and indeed, this would have been most odd, and designs for crossbows are found in the Notebooks
and he was not a contadino (a peasant). Mercenaries are, by dated to a later period, there is no precedent for a Tuscan
very definition, foreign. Although Caferro’s research refers painter to have a specific interest in heavy military-grade
th
specifically to the 14 century, he describes a situation crossbows. Crossbows would not be that unusual in the
that was little changed in the 15 century, that is, until the Tuscan countryside, but these would have been handheld,
th
time of Niccolò Machiavelli (Florence, 1469 – 1527). As I which farmers might have used regularly for hunting. The
state in More Than (2) Leonardo in Anti-Theory 23,p.48 , “[t] crossbow would require training to manufacture and a fair
he engineer arrives suddenly in the story of Leonardo da amount of dedication to maintain working order. It is also a
Vinci at the end of 1478 (in Pistoia).” weapon that requires skill to operate. Given that the mode
for a citizen’s army waned in 15 -century Florence, where
th
I note that Villata does not mention the tensioned it would be fair to say citizens preferred to get on with their
crossbow in 446E, stating only that the verso contains chosen trades and professions and to pay foreigners to
drawings of “civilian and military machines.” He does defend them if need be. Esposito 26,p.20 points to how “[u]
not say anything further about the military. Like many nder the Medici family in the first half of the 15 century
th
other art historians, he focuses on the phrase “… bre 1478 the republic’s only standing force was a 100-strong urban
Inchominciai le 2 virgine Marie”. Villata 24,p.7 repeats Richter’s guard (the fanti di Palazzo), plus 1000 – 1500 mercenaries
1888 translation that suggests this phrase means “[In the in 200 – 300 three-man ‘lances’ and four to six 100-man
autumn of] 1478 I began the two Madonna [pictures].” infantry companies.… although Florence left it late to
Villata offers two Madonna pictures in his book: the re-acquire an effective army, the republic’s great wealth
so-called Benois Madonna (c.1482, oil on canvas, 49.5 cm would enable it to hire up to 15,000 mercenaries.” I have
× 33 cm, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg) and The absolutely no doubt that the man who began writing the
Madonna of the Carnation (c.1478 – 1482, oil on panel, Italian Notebooks in 1478, 446E being the first known
62 cm × 47.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich). This seems page, was a mercenary. However, I believe this could not
to be the only way to recover a painter from an enigmatic have been the Tuscan painter Leonardo da Vinci. The only
document that otherwise has nothing to do with painting. slight hint that the compiler of this document might have
Notably, although there are certain similarities in style and been a painter is the reference to the two virgins, which,
technique, the two Madonnas cited by Villata are different given the subject matter of the rest of the sheet, can also

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 8 doi: 10.36922/ac.2642