discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to
the torso. The jointed panel was eventually purchased by Pope Pius IX.,
and added to the Vatican Collection.

In March 1480 Leonardo was commissioned to paint an altar-piece for
the monks of St. Donato at Scopeto, for which payment in advance was
made to him. That he intended to carry out this contract seems most
probable. He, however, never completed the picture, although it gave
rise to the supremely beautiful cartoon of the "Adoration of the
Magi," now in the Uffizi (No. 1252). As a matter of course it is
unfinished, only the under-painting and the colouring of the figures
in green on a brown ground having been executed. The rhythm of line,
the variety of attitude, the profound feeling for landscape and an
early application of chiaroscuro effect combine to render this one of
his most characteristic productions.

Vasari tells us that while Verrocchio was painting the "Baptism of
Christ" he allowed Leonardo to paint in one of the attendant angels
holding some vestments. This the pupil did so admirably that his
remarkable genius clearly revealed itself, the angel which Leonardo
painted being much better than the portion executed by his master.
This "Baptism of Christ," which is now in the Accademia in Florence
and is in a bad state of preservation, appears to have been a
comparatively early work by Verrocchio, and to have been painted
in 1480-1482, when Leonardo would be about thirty years of age.

To about this period belongs the superb drawing of the "Warrior," now
in the Malcolm Collection in the British Museum. This drawing may have
been made while Leonardo still frequented the studio of Andrea del
Verrocchio, who in 1479 was commissioned to execute the equestrian