Voices part two

'He seems to be have been a man with fifty pounds of ideas per square inch resting on his brain''Man is general, but Leonardo was not,''someone said.'Legends can be stories with a root in truth, or severed from the past. And they have a course of their own – an evolution – they are not limited to the concrete. So here is a whale of a story within the legend of Leonardo:

'The legend and his oldest and favourite apprentice, Ambrogio were working in the dissectingarea of his busy workshop and studio, which was within the premises of the Servite Community, of Milan.

'They were just completing the filling of a human heart with hot wax.Time well spent, the legend thought. For the end of what had been a busy dissecting season would soon be upon them – the weather was getting warmer, flies were beginning to buzz... and the last body-part – that man's heart – had been lying on that quickly melting ice for a couple of days... and the price of ice!

'So for the last ten days Leonardo had been making the most of this remaining time, although, as always, he had all sorts of other pressing things going on...; not only several works of art in progress, but also many other duties in his service to the Duke of Milan.

'But now they had to be off – back to work on one of the longest of those ongoing pressing things. He'd swing back here in a few days to see the results of his work on the heart, and write up the notes...

'He told Ambrogio to ready himself to accompany him to the convent. ''Come on lad, look lively, there's no rest for the weird!'' he laughed. Ambrigo was seventeen, tall and slim, with curly copper hair, and he would soon be an artist in his own right. He had been with the Master since the age of twelve, and was in total awe of him. 'The legend took off his heavy apron, and quickly cleaned himself. He left instructions for the next few days with the other apprentices and servants in his employment, before he and Ambrogio hit the milling, crowded, narrow streets of Milan, heading for the Convent of Santa
Maria delle Grazie, where in the refectory on a large wall, he was in the process of painting, what he hoped would, and in fact did become one of his greatest masterpieces, which he called The Last Supper.

'The legend's tall athletic figure with his apprentice Ambrogio in the rear strove through the busy streets. He was a conspicuous figure with his long flowing hair, and short colourful clothes; contrary to the short hair, and long darker clothes which was the fashion of the day.

'As they walked the narrow streets both were observing the myriad of faces of the passing peasants and the trades people, as if searching for a lost friend. Ambrogio, with the gem-glitter of the morning sun making him shade his eyes with his hand, also had to struggle with a small handcart, containing all the paraphernalia of an artist, while trying to keep up with his master's long, and never ending legs.

''What about him there with the broken teeth, Master?'' Ambrogio called.

'''No,''the legend called back without turning, ''he may give you the willies, but that face is really a mere comic masquerade... and too much of an ilk; an unfortunate face, yes, but an accident too easily forgiven – why, he looks as content as a fish!

'''No, Ambrogio, my Judas, must show a vileness from within – a symbol of what's he is, his capacity, his self-loathing. Imagine someone who had just sold out the Messiah!''

*****

..'Three years ago Leonardo had sent his Curriculum Vita to Lodovico Sforza the new Duke of Milan, which consisted of a list of the polymath'smany diverse talents and services he could offer him. The list stated he could construct all kinds of buildings, conduct bodies of water here and there. He was an inventor of machines of all kinds;some for times of war; for both offence and defence; portable bridges, a cannon that could fire a hail of small rocks, he could construct subterranean passages, and armoured wagons, etc.The list was long.And finally at the end he stated 'he could also draw, paint, and sculp as good as any man alive.

'The Duke, a bit of a culture vulture, who had his ear to the grapevine, had heard much of Leonardo's growing fame, had heard of his many skills. And though, greatly impressed with these stories, and the many examples he'd seen of the master's work as a painter, sculpture, inventor, and had heard of his reputation as a great thinker... it
was, in fact, more for what he'd heard of the legend's phenomenal lyre playing that had swung it for him, and induced him to invite the legend to Milan to work for him. For the Duke was a great lover of music, and the music of the lyre in particular, which he himself hadrecently begun to play.

'And Leonardo knowing also of the Duke's love of music, had arrived at the
palace with a magnificent gift: a lyre inlaid with much silver in the
shape of a horse's head, which he himself had  made for the young
Duke. He had designed the instrument to produce a greater volume, and
a sonorous harmony. On meeting Leonardo, the Duke was overwhelmed with his ingenious ideas and conversations, and by his excellent improvisation both on the
lyre and in verse, which it, was agreed by all, surpassed all other court musicians.

'The Duke immediately commissioned him to make many things: a nativity on
an altarpiece panel, as a present for the Emperor, and to sculpt a magnificent horse – the 'Gran Cavallo' (a very complex rearinggiant horse to be built first in clay – which they say was staggering – then to be cast in seventy tons of bronze. But which
in fact, would, never be finished... because guess what? A historical and fatal folly -- bang! bang! – a war with France – the seventy tons of bronze would be turned into canons, and the magnificent clay horse would be used for target practice by the archers...Well, that's the way the world wags.) And for the Friars of S. Dominic Convent, the Duke commissioned the very large Last Supper, which after three years the Master was still labouring with.

'His other duties included those of state engineer, plus the creating and supervising of many artistic and cultural projects; the organising of festivals, and entertainment, plus the giving of advice on numerous subjects. He was also expected to show his face regular at the Duke's scene – play the court; shock and amaze them with the undreamed of..., to crush wine with them, though he was no fan of booze, and
improvise and sing his share of dithyrambs to Bacchus on that lyre. There had been many late nights, heavy, scenes... and, O the constant rapport... But such is the price of fame, and the need of money.

'So, he had been juggling with all these duties since he'd arrived. But what had recently added an extra weight to the juggling act, was the rather pushy, tactless Prior of the convent, who during conversations with Leonardo, and through his secretary, tried wearyingly to press him; with fool questions such as how much longer the painting might take to complete, and if it could not be done more rapidly, and that
he might work as does the gardener who cuts the grass. It bugged the Prior that Leonardo spent many hours only standing gazing in contemplation before the work. Or that he worked some days without a break, then he would be gone for a few days. Leonardo would often split from the rectory and walk around the corner to the Convent Corte Vecchia, where he was also working on his beloved Gran Cavallo.

'Leonardo's way of working on The Last Supper so bugged the Prior that he took
his case to the Duke. That he might press Leonardo to bring a finish to the work; and within a reasonable deadline, and that he should be pressed to sign a contract to that effect....

'So the Duke summonsed Leonardo to tactfully ask if there were some unforeseen problem. Over the next hours Leonardo laid it all on the young Duke. He simply gave him de rigour – plugged in his high voltage vocabulary and let the poetry run.... He
dismantled the whole artist-thing like butchering a bovine. He brought him elegantly into the complex labyrinth such work resembles. The subtle decisions involved at every stage in the mysterious rendering of emotions and thoughts in paint. He explained the interaction of forces and character of line, the subtle perceived distances of hues from the eye, the need for a clear state of mind; free to roam all other fields to make endless discerning connections. He told the Duke of his 'look-listening' technique, which allowed the artist to listen to a picture like a symphony. ''It is the language of the eye and it blazes like truth.'' He explained, how after hours of painting, lost in its fugue, the eye and mind become hypersensitive also to the colours in the natural world. And how with this creative state of mind the artist becomes a smoking head of ideas that demand to be expressed and responded to. ''The artist must not only answer to life, but to his imagination,'' the Master insisted. A statement which seemed to trouble The Duke, somewhat....
''And all this... to render paint to speak sublimely on the end of a brush, or at the fingertips, To put mystery into a smile.''

'The Master, drunk on his passion, and lured on by the Duke's fascinated and eager ear, even broke his own rule by the telling of many of his secrets: his painting techniques, his drawings of his flying machines, and many of his other wondrous devices. He told him of his secrete room – which only he could enter – and even of
some of its contents... '

'Finally, he related to the young Duke the very practical problems involved in this particular piece of work. Such as his present, and so far, unsuccessful search for a suitable model for his Judas.

'He explained how he had easily found the models for the Apostles; they had been more a case of expressions rather than types; though a multiple array of expressions: shock, horror, disbelieve, suspicion, rage, fear. All displayed on their faces at that moment when Christ lays the future on them. Tells them that one of them, one of his
chosen one's, has sold him out. It was this moment, he, the artist, had chosen to 'stop time in paint'.

'Then he told him how, not long after, he had been lucky to find his Christ – Anima Mundi – a young man from the choir of Saint Dominic. An angelic face, complete with a divine air. Such innocence...!  'But Judas is another! ''Is he tool of God or Devil?''

'Judas is the face – he is the face the viewer will look for... his face and his expression must be recognizable... must give him away; give away his character, and his treacherous act.

'The Master then told The Duke of his pursuit of his Judas among the houses of his friends, and people attached to the church – it isn't easy to get a man who thinks well of himself to sit for someone like Judas...why a man could take real offence just by the asking.

'He told The Duke of his new tack to find him. How he had begun to look
further afield, going by night into the slum areas. And how if he found him, he would pay a good fee to his Judas – though not as much as thirty pieces of silver -- and he would do the very opposite of Christ, and keep his intentions, and his chosen one in the darkness of ignorance.

'The Duke was mesmerised by Leonardo's adventurous world, and swore him as
much time as he needed to finish his work, without any further clumsy interference from the unenlightened Prior. And he wished him luck that he might find his Judas, promising him assistance in his search, in the way of body guards whenever he needed to enter the slum areas.

'Leonard thanked The Duke for his sensitivity and understanding. And assured
The Duke that if all his efforts to find his Judas failed... well, he could always use the Prior as the model. Which sent The Duke into roars of laughter that echoed and accompanied Leonardo as he left the palace with a satisfied smile on his face, and a glint in his eye that went all the way to China.

https://www.abctales.com/story/chris-whitley/vocies-part-three