for defence as for attack, while in time of peace he can erect public
and private buildings. Moreover, he urges that he can also execute
sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay, and, with regard to painting,
"can do as well as any one else, no matter who he may be." In
conclusion, he offers to execute the proposed bronze equestrian statue
of Francesco Sforza "which shall bring glory and never-ending honour
to that illustrious house."

It was about 1482, the probable date of Leonardo's migration from
Florence to Milan, that he painted the "Vierge aux Rochers," now in
the Louvre (No. 1599). It is an essentially Florentine picture, and
although it has no pedigree earlier than 1625, when it was in the
Royal Collection at Fontainebleau, it is undoubtedly much earlier and
considerably more authentic than the "Virgin of the Rocks," now in the
National Gallery (Plate III.).

He certainly set to work about this time on the projected statue of
Francesco Sforza, but probably then made very little progress with it.
He may also in that year or the next have painted the lost portrait of
Cecilia Gallerani, one of the mistresses of Ludovico Sforza. It has,
however, been surmised that that lady's features are preserved to us
in the "Lady with a Weasel," by Leonardo's pupil Boltraffio, which is
now in the Czartoryski Collection at Cracow.




IN THE EAST

The absence of any record of Leonardo in Milan, or elsewhere in Italy,