The sun shone as brightly that day. The greatest thinker in the world rose from his slumber and beheld with romantic sigh the terracotta roof tiles before him. That beautiful orange, the orange that reflected the glow of the sun and promised freedom to the free-thinkers rushing to this city filled to the brim with heretics. The man pulled on a rose coloured tunic. It was not a common colour for a man to wear in his day; the fabric was expensive and the colour a rather daring shade for a man to step out in.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpb8bHE6atO
His breakfast was already on the table; a meal exempt of meat, for he was a most dedicated vegetarian. His assistant handed him a scrap of paper from the day before, almost like a to-do list. The scrawl on the top of the list instructed the man to go into town to visit his banker first, and visit the market second.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZz9eILK44
“Salai, I will be going into the city. I may not be at the workshop until later.” The man said to his assistant. The much younger man nodded and smiled. He had soft blonde curls and a round, almost angelic face that much pleased the older man. Salai was his model and muse when he had sapped others dry. Salai was his inspiration when all others failed him.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecZ6gJjq4z
The older man stood and made his way to the door. His hand on the door knob, he stopped and turned.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklLx20Z01L
“Don't go getting into too much mischief whilst I am gone.” He said. The order was genuine, but there was a twinkle in his eyes that implied that he could never be too angry at anything the younger man did. Salai nodded, a devilish smirk on his face.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuN75aik1m
“I never do, do I Leo?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFLi7Dr3Pt
The man, Leo, rolled his eyes and turned on his heels, leaving the house and the younger man behind him.
Leonardo looked at his list. He could hardly read the scrawl that was his own writing, but that mattered not, because all that did matter was that not a single other person other than he could read it at all; it was written backwards. He feared nothing more than the theft of his ideas, and even though the paper he held was not a page full of ideas and scribbles (it was a list of items he needed to acquire at the markets), it was a tough habit to break.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqzbEOERNJ
“Red pigment, cloth, wax, oil….” He murmured to himself, strolling through the streets of Florence. The sun was blinding and for a moment he stopped. He pulled the small notebook out of the belt around his waist, and the lifted the small pencil attached to the book with a piece of string and began scribbling more questions - how to explain to flight of a bird? How to explain the feeling of a sneeze? How to describe the colour of the sky?
This was the greatest thinker in the world. He was, one could say, the sun. Warming and welcoming, lighting the world with his art and with his science. His work was illuminating, his mind utterly unique. Leonardo was the sun that Florence revolved around.
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The greatest sculptor in the world woke up that morning and looked at the terracotta roof tiles and sighed. He was angry. The block of marble in his workshop made him irritable. It would not mould into the shapes he willed it to, it would not bend into the curve of a leg or the rise of a neck. It was utterly lifeless. He needed more marble, but he could not afford it.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdpGiFvVDV
He was a jealous, solitary man. He preferred the company of paint and marble to the company of others. He was competitive, and did not care for those he was compared to on a daily basis.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dFw4VzRcz
He bathed, but the water in his bath was luke-warm. He did not have the time to wait for it to heat up completely, nor did he have the time to wait for it to cool if it had been heated properly. He had errands to run, paint to buy, marble prices to negotiate, commissions to haggle for. He settled for the cold bath, submersing his head underneath the water. The silence comforted him and he welcomed it.
The spring air refreshed his face as he stepped out of his home and into the street below. The day was warm and the soft wind pleasant, but Michelangelo did not care much for such things. He was an indoors man. He preferred the four walls of his workshop over the wide open spaces of the outdoors. He did not have a strong curiosity or fascination with the outdoors like some others did. He had a short temper and his moods were temperamental. He was tired and his arms ached from beating the marble with his hammer too hard the day before.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisgaX9s8Wj
If Leonardo was the sun, Michelangelo was the moon. He was distant and remote.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEKW5JbxfO
And it was on this day, with one man blissfully optimistic and the other in a foul temper, that the two quarrelled in the square and set the world alight with gossip.
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Leonardo reached the Piazza Santa Trinita, half of his items ticked off his list. He saw a group of men squabbling and once they saw him, they called out to him.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHTYzbZXYe
“Leonardo, come!” One shouted. “Come and explain to us the meaning of this passage written by Dante. We cannot agree on its meaning!”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXSlRDdoJf6
Leonardo smiled, and was about to reply when he spied Michelangelo crossing the piazza in the other direction. Leonardo pointed to him.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkYSThMB6y
“There is Michelangelo, he’ll explain it for you.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH0m4fENAS
Hearing this, the other artist became unexplainably angry.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXuIicTjK0
‘Explain it yourself, Da Vinci, you who designed a horse cast out of bronze but abandoned it in shame! Those idiot Milanese believed you could deliver?!” He said in a burst of fury.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU9UfjjXimI
Leonardo became red in the face, with both anger and embarrassment. The casting aside of the bronze horse was something the artist was not proud to admit, although it was not entirely his fault. He was a gentle man, and did not like to argue. More so, he did not like to argue in public. He did not care for Michelangelo, and thought him immature and ignorant of the human form and of nature herself. Leonardo was older than the latter by several years and so being, chose to simply walk away.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlq4Pvz7sK5
Michelangelo remained standing in the piazza. He disliked Leonardo; ever since he was a child, all of Florence had loved Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, and desired for every artist to be like him. Michelangelo was no painter; he was a sculptor. More often than not, he was forced to pick up the paintbrush to make a living and he was loath to do it. He glared at Leonardo’s back as he left, a scowl on his own face. The group of men in the corner had abandoned their discussion of Dante, and were staring intently at the artist. One was scribbling away, describing every detail of this encounter. Michelangelo groaned internally and continued on, determined to buy the things he needed at the market and return back to his workshop as soon as possible.
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“You looked tired, Leo.” Salai said, pulling out his maestro’s chair as the older man entered.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlzwLmuK1Q
“Michelangelo is causing trouble again.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUhYaV2qo9
“I heard.” Salai said, raising his eyebrows. “I heard he commented on your status as a bastard.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5B2CZlbRa
Leonardo laughed.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmPIo1F7bg
“The gossip travels fast in this city, does it not? It also travels falsely. He insulted me, but he did not go that far, although I am sure he says it behind my back.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28FZiGvqhQ
“He is too scared to say it to your face.” Salai laughed. Leonardo smiled. He was still angry, but Salai aided his temper.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqvFnPtUyq
“He needs a Salai, Salai. Someone to calm his tempers.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonFxtSRHn0
“I do think that if he had a Salai of his own his temper would worsen!” Salai exclaimed. “Do not let him bother you Leonardo.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EM911vvOt
“He does not bother me, he angers me. He is ignorant of the human form; his sculpture of David is anatomically a disaster. His paintings show muscles in the wrong places and a whole host of other things. Do not defend him Salai,” He said, when he saw his assistants mouth open. “Do not say that he does not know. Do I not make my work public? Has he not the resources to find out for himself?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuATWVNwCiy
Salai nodded, finding it easier to agree with his maestro on this than to argue.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkarx1ZQDXY
“Come Leonardo, your soup is getting cold.”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KQjM8OuNC
Leonardo smiled.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNkhs4NENR
“Thank you, Salai. What would I do without you?”704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkipgVXRm2
“You would be wealthier for a start!” Salai said laughing and Leonardo nodded.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bKOKxSspS
“Indeed I would!”
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Michelangelo stormed into his workshop. He was furious. The few assistants he employed knew when to avoid him, and they dutifully dropped their tools and disappeared outside.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxasQS5z5Iq
The artist ran his fingers through his hair, sighing heavily. He muttered angrily to himself, looking out of the window. The old man still thought he was the most skilled man in the universe, and Michelangelo thought him full of himself. His thirst for knowledge was, to Michelangelo, incessantly annoying.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqshGOuXvVn
He knew that the news of their argument would spread across the city like wildfire. It would be in Milan soon, then Rome, then Naples. The name of Leonardo was never far from anyones lips, and increasingly so the name Michelangelo was attached to it, along with the words quarrel and public.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HIDLR0HQE
He sat at his table, knowing that the old man was back at his workshop now, with his apprentices around him, fawning over him and he over them. Everyone was aware that Salai was more than his assistant. Everyone knew that Leonardo was a sodomite. Michelangelo grimaced and his hands turned into fists. He was the only soul in Florence, in Italy, that did not worship the ground Leonardo da Vinci walked on. He hated it.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hzDGBjibf
Michelangelo picked up his chisel and his hammer and started work on the marble once more. Leonardo sat down to his soup, hunched over his notebook, scribbling numbers and lines in his distinctive style. The quiet of the workshop, and the hustle of Leonardo’s apartments.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuJ9ZMImOb
The two artists would never reconcile their differences or put aside their rivalry. They were as different, one might say, as night and day.
Authors Note: I absolutely love this encounter between Da Vinci and Michelangelo. The rivalry between them is so interesting. Even now, if you pick up any book about Leonardo, there is a chapter or a section on Michelangelo and vice versa. I think their rivalry was important, clearly, because we still focus on it today.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwAWqah8ys
A note on the facts: I got all of this from Charles Nicholl's biography of Leonardo called The Flights of the Mind. There is no exact date for when this had taken place, but the estimation is that it was Spring 1504. Personally, I believe Michelangelo thought Leonardo was being sarcastic and so took the comment as an insult - perhaps it was, we shall never know. However, I am firmly more of a Da Vinci fan, and if sides had to be chosen, I must be on his. However I did try to portray Michelangelo fairly and I hope I have done so.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmMBJLTiTg
A note on Salai: Salai was a nickname for Giovanni Giacomo, which means 'little devil'. Leonardo had taken Salai on as a pupil when he was a boy - there are notes written by Leonardo regarding Salai stealing from him or other pupils, but I do not think they are angry. I think he had an affection for him, and could never be too angry with him.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEcnvHLLJ7
Also a note on Leonardo's sexuality: towards the end, I have written that all of Florence know that Salai and Leonardo have a romantic relationship and that Leonardo is a sodomite. The general consesus is that Da Vinci was gay, and that he had a soft spot for Salai. It is also true that Da Vinci was arrested and imprisoned for sodomy, but the charges were later dropped.704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALrqFjqMhK
Also (last one, I promise) that Leonardo was eating soup was an allusion to the 'cooling of the soup' story, which is my absolute favourite anecdote regarding Da Vinci - on a page of his notes, his notes are finished with an 'etc' and an explanation is given as to why he cannot finish his work at that moment - simply because his soup is getting cold!704Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6aVkERzk0
