LEONARDO DA VINCI: Studies for the "The battle of Anghiari" in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts.

 In 1503 Piero Soderini, gonfaloniere of the Signoria of Florence commissioned Leonardo to decorate the Hall of the ground council of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The fresco depicted the victory of the Florentines over the Milanese army led by Niccoló Paccinino. The two drawings from the Esterhazy collection now in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts are among the most important surviving documents of the destroyed painting. The to drawings were first published by Paul Mueller Waelde, who "cleaned'' them prior to photography. This unnecessary; cleaning caused a chiefly and finely grounded "Red Chalk Head" - more sensitively formed, than Leonardo’s manner - which resulted doubts about the authenticity of both drawings. In Hungary they were introduced first in 1906 in the first Hungarian art periodical "Muvészet" ("Art") published on the occasion of the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. In this issue the heads got reddish-brown tone resulting a completely false impression which caused misunderstanding in the later art-historical literature.

Leonardo began the work in October 1503 but made a little progress by May 1504. So the Signoria drew up another – more rigorous – contact requiring him to complete a cartoon (now lost) by February. This cartoon, at least for one part must have been ready by March 1505, while in March Leonardo has already been working on the fresco of the Council Chamber. A note in the Madrid Codex, discovered by A.M. Brizio dated 6 June 1505 suggests, that Leonardo did not begin his work at this very moment. After the well-known failure with the new painting technique he gave up the work and left Florence in 1506. The cartoon for the fresco disappeared at an unknown date and the slowly deteriorating unfinished fresco gave place to Vasari’s newly painted ones around 1570. Thus the precise location of the original fresco cannot be determined evidently. Due to the conflicting accounts of the contemporary sources scholars have been supposed previously, that the picture was painted on the east wall. Due to the modern technical analyse however earlier fresco fragments have been found on the west wall. These traces made J.R. Spancer and H.T. Newton convinced, that the "Battle of Anghiari" was to be found here not at the east wall.

From the description in the Codex Atlanticus, attributed to Machiavelli and from early compositional sketches it can be deduced, that Leonardo planned the different episodes of the battle either in a continuing cycle or in large panoramic compositions. Out of this composition Leonardo managed to complete only the central part depicting the struggle for the Milanese banner. The one-time image of the completed part of the fresco could be reconstructed on the basis of old descriptions and of numerous copies. Among these latter the most famous is the engraving of P.P. Rubens (at the Louvre in Parirs), a re-work of an authentic copy of the fresco by an unknown 16^th-century Italian master. The connection between this drawing and the original has been determined for a long time. The half figure of a soldier wearing a helmet and carrying a spear on the reverse of the "Red Chalk Head" must have belonged to a Florentine warrior mostly hidden by the struggling figure on horse wearing a big helmet or the right side of Rubens’s sketch. Leonardo might have planned a larger role for this figure, emphasizing his facial features. It is possible, that originally this figure was intended to wear the profile of the "Red Chalk Head". After changing the conception his features were taken over by his comrade on the horse in the foreground. Similar warrior-figure appears or one of Leonardo’s earlier sketches. A horseman fleeing with the broken flag is to be found first in a little pen-drawing of the British Museum, then again in a sketch from Venice (Galleria dell’Accademia, inv. 216) he is seen already in fight, his left hand grasps the Milanese banner and with his right he sways a battle ax.

Two other warriors hitting with their weapons also appear here. In the third sketch from Venice (Galleria dell’Accademia, inv. 215) the distance between the two warriors in the foreground diminished, thus the main characters of the composition had been ready at this level of development. This composition appears on the engraving of Lorenzo Zacchia from 1558, which was also made after the original Leonardo-cartoon. Another copy showing the unfinished fresco is the Tavola Doria (1503-06(?), oil on panel) painted by an unknown artist after Leonardo left Florence.

Presumably, the studies on the Budapest sheets were completed at an advanced level of composition, when the arrangement of the central group was already established The had at left, shown in three-quarter profile (on sheet inv.1774), is to be found on the left side of Rubens' copy. He is the ''old soldier with the red hat'' mentioned by Vasari, whowas defending the Milanese flag. The had at right shown in profile belongs to the figure in the background of Rubens’ copy, whose figure is to be found on the verso of sketch inv. 1774. The "Red Chalk Head'' on the recto of the same sheet belongs to the Florentine soldier attaching from the right foreground. According to Rubens’ engraving Leonardo built the composition on the two horseman intercising the picture-plane diagonally. The strictly closed group of four horses and seven warriors was built on a wide base, where the area left by the horses was being filled by three foot-soldiers.

What we can see after all is that the four soldiers are the variations of the Sforza-monument. The kneeling soldier of the enemy defending himself with a shield is well-known from the Sforza-plans, as well as the legs of the horses bending in a sharp angle. The horses are hugger

the case of the Anghiari battle, they lack the calligraphic lines of the Sforza horses. What we can see are big and angular head-forms, widely glittering eyes and broad mouths. While the actions of the Sforza-plans are usually taking place paralel to the picture-plane, here the figures are moving back and forth from the picture-plane to such a degree, that show-s a completely new concept of plastic effect.

Leonardo started both studies in red chalk. A slightly brownish tone of the "Black Chalk Head" shows, that he stressed the most important features in red chalk. Later he might have changed to black chalk so this way he could emphasize more the head lit frontally with rays coming from the right. The use of the effects of red and black chalk within the same composition also appears in the case of two horse studies (Windsor, Royal Library, nos. 12334 and 12336), that also should be connected to the Battle of Anghiari.

Both sheets must have been achieved at the same time as Leonardo’s cartoon, between May 1504 and February 1505. The smaller drawing in black chalk is probably a revision of an earlier studies (Venice, Accademia, No. 215 and 216) in which he tried to catch the facials of a new warrior type he also mentioned his treatise. This head-type and physiognomy of the "Old Roman warrior" is similar to the type of the Roman soldier-emperor ''Galba", often used by artists in Verrocchio’s circle and in the drawings of Leonardo for the expression of the warrior’s furor, the ''pazzia bestialissima". In C. Gould’s opinion, the "Black Chalk Head" in three quarter profile is Leonardo' s self portrait and it is his humor, that he depicted himself on the enemy's side.

It must be mentioned moreover, that Michelangelo also took part in the decoration of the Great Hall. His fresco should have been painted on the left side of the Eastern wall. The monumental fresco was never realized. The cartoon for it was disappeared in the sixteenth century, only a copy by Sebastiano Sangallo (around 1542, Holkham Hall, Norfolk; grisailles on panel) and some drawings (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Vienna, Albertina furthermore in London, Dublin, Florence and Rotterdam) remained. Michelangelo versus Leonardo depicted the scene of the "Call for the Battle", the moment before the outbreak of the war-fright. The emphasis of the trapezoid-form composition built up by males nudes is being layed on the right side with the group of five warriors composing a square form (while on the left side three figures are composing a pyramid). This symmetry was broken up in the middle section to a mannieristic whirl. The closely packed composition of muscular nudes similar to marble statues was very important in his development from the motives of the Battle of Centaurs to the monumental composition of the Last Judgement in the Cappella Sistina in Rome.