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magnanimous . . . The grace of God so possessed his mind, his memory and intellect formed such a mighty union, and he could so clearly express his ideas that he was able to confound the boldest opponents.” And this from a man who admired Michelangelo much more than Leonardo! Vasari ignored Leonardo’s attitude to science. Leonardo was almost superhumanly capable of unbiased observation, not only of people and objects around him, but of himself. His notes are full of “discussions” between “opponents.” Some of these are arguments he had with himself! In some of them, Leonardo repeated the opinions of others such as Aristotle. Sometimes he agreed with these views and sometimes he disagreed with them. But he never let his previous opinions cloud his judgment. Indeed, Leonardo was quite willing to base his own views and drawings on those made by others. But even when he did this, he often made improvements to their work! Leonardo’s intellectual powers may have set him apart from others and made him lonely, for he seems to have had few close friends. Yet, his kindness and sympathy were noticed by many. “He was very fond of horses,” wrote Vasari, “and indeed he loved all animals and trained them with great kindness and patience. Often when passing places where birds were sold, he would let them out of their cages and pay the vendor the price asked.” This love of animals made him a vegetarian. It also hindered his search for knowledge, for he hardly ever performed animal experiments. Had he done so, he might have made greater advances in physiology . This was the Leonardo who left Verrocchio’s studio in 1476, to make his own independent career. His remaining years as a young man in Florence were not happy. His life had been scarred by the accusation made against him. Although he worked for a time for Lorenzo de’ Medici as a sculptor, he did not mix with the aloof scholars of Florence. Nor did he want to. He did not agree with such artists as Marsilio Ficino or Pico della Mirandola, who publicly stated that “mathematics are not true knowledge.” Once more, Leonardo combined his studies of perspective with his studies of human beings. He made many drawings for a painting called the Adoration

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