unity." This copy was long in the possession of the Carthusians in
their Convent at Pavia, and, on the suppression of that Order and
the sale of their effects in 1793, passed into the possession of a
grocer at Milan. It was subsequently purchased for L600 by the Royal
Academy on the advice of Sir Thomas Lawrence, who left no stone
unturned to acquire also the original studies for the heads of the
Apostles. Some of these in red and black chalk are now preserved
in the Royal Library at Windsor, where there are in all 145 drawings
by Leonardo.

Several other old copies of the fresco exist, notably the one in the
Louvre. Francis I. wished to remove the whole wall of the Refectory to
Paris, but he was persuaded that that would be impossible; the
Constable de Montmorency then had a copy made for the Chapel of the
Chateau d'Ecouen, whence it ultimately passed to the Louvre.

The singularly beautiful "Head of Christ" (Plate VI.), now in the
Brera Gallery at Milan, is the original study for the head of the
principal figure in the fresco painting of the "Last Supper." In
spite of decay and restoration it expresses "the most elevated
seriousness together with Divine Gentleness, pain on account of
the faithlessness of His disciples, a full presentiment of His own
death, and resignation to the will of His Father."



THE COURT OF MILAN

Ludovico, to whom Leonardo was now court-painter, had married Beatrice
d'Este, in 1491, when she was only fifteen years of age. The young