Monday with a Mad Genius (4 page)

“When I travel through the streets, I am always gathering information,” Leonardo said. “I observe like a scientist. For instance, after years of observation, I now know there are ten different types of noses.”

“Really?” said Annie. She felt her nose.

“Yes,” said Leonardo, “straight, round, pointed, flat, narrow…. Of course that is from the
side.
If you look people straight in the face, you will find
eleven
types of noses.”

“No kidding,” said Jack.

Jack tried to get a good look at the noses they passed. He saw flat ones, round ones, straight ones … but many were hard to describe.

“My observations have also led me to conclude that there are many more types of
mouths
than noses,” said Leonardo. “But the
location
of every mouth is almost always the same. It is halfway between the base of the nose and the chin.”

“Really?” said Annie. She held up two fingers, trying to measure the distance between her nose, mouth, and chin. “I think you’re right, Leonardo.”

“I study people’s expressions and gestures,” said Leonardo. “I study their hands, their eyes, their hair. But to be a truly great artist, you must learn to combine your observations with your imagination.” Suddenly he stopped. “Look up, look up!”

Jack and Annie stopped and looked up.

“See the clouds?” said Leonardo.

A few billowy clouds dotted the sky.

“What do they look like to you?” asked Leonardo. “What sorts of things?”

Big white blobs
, thought Jack.

“The biggest one looks sort of like a castle,” said Annie.

“Good, good!” said Leonardo.

“And that little one looks like a dog’s head,” said Annie, “like a Scottie puppy.”

A Scottie puppy?
thought Jack. He squinted, trying to see a puppy.

“Excellent!” said Leonardo. “And you, Jack? What about that one?” He pointed at a long cloud. “What do you see?”

Jack studied it. “Uh … well, I guess it sort of looks like a boat,” he said.

“Wonderful!” said Leonardo. “I get ideas for my paintings from everything! I look at a watermark on a wall and see an old woman’s face. I look at a food stain on my tablecloth and see a horse! I study rain puddles and rocks and see oceans and mountains!”

“Oh, I do that kind of thing, too!” said Annie.

“I imagine that the very first drawing might have been a simple line drawn around the shadow of a man on the wall of a cave,” said Leonardo.

“Wow,” breathed Annie.

Pretty cool
, thought Jack. He liked Leonardo’s way of thinking.

“Listen now to the cathedral bells,” said Leonardo.

Jack listened. The bells played notes that went up and down:

Bong-bing-bong-bing.

Bong-bing-bong-bing.

“I hear the bells’ voices as if they were singing
to me,” said Leonardo. “Can you hear what they are saying?”

Well … no
, thought Jack. He just heard
bongs
and
bings.

“They’re saying:
You have much to do this Monday, Leonardo da Vinci! Get to work!
” Leonardo laughed. “So let us be on our way, my friends!” And the great genius took off, walking quickly through the streets of Florence.

J
ack and Annie hurried to keep up with Leonardo. “So where are we going?” Annie asked.

“To the palace of the great council,” said Leonardo. “I was hired to paint a fresco in the council hall. I have been working on it for months.”

“What’s a
fresco
?” asked Jack.

“It is a work of art painted onto a wall,” said Leonardo. “One must spread plaster on the wall and then paint very quickly before it dries.”

“Sounds like fun,” said Annie.

“Not for me,” said Leonardo. “I believe great art requires much thought. I like to paint slowly, and I change things as I go along. So for this fresco, I have invented a special oil paint that dries very slowly.”

“Does it work?” said Jack.

“Too well,” said Leonardo. “Now I have a new problem: Neither the plaster nor my oil paints have dried at all.”

“Oh, no,” said Annie.

“But today all will be well!” Leonardo said cheerfully. “I have a plan to speed up the drying process. This morning I will fix everything!”

Leonardo led Jack and Annie into a square with a large building. “There it is,” he said. “The palace of the great council.”

The palace looked like a fortress. It had rough-looking stone walls and a tower that rose high into the air.

“The palace is a very important place,” said
Leonardo. “It is where the governing council of Florence meets. Come along.” He opened one of the grand doors and guided Jack and Annie into a courtyard with a fountain. “This way to the council hall,” he said, “and the latest work of Leonardo da Vinci.”

Leonardo bounded up some steps and down a corridor. Jack and Annie hurried after him until he passed through another grand doorway and stopped.

Leonardo put down his basket and raised his hands. “My fresco,” he said.

“Oh, man,” breathed Jack.

They were in an enormous room with tall, arched windows and vast white walls. Several young men stood on a wooden platform on the far side of the room. On the wall above them was a giant painting of a battle scene. It showed a tangle of men on horseback, fighting over a flag.

The men in the painting seemed to be in a fury as they slashed at each other with their swords. Their faces were twisted, their mouths snarling. Even their horses looked wild and angry.

“The city has paid me to paint a scene from a battle once fought to defend Florence,” said Leonardo. “They wanted me to paint a scene of glory. But I believe war is a beastly madness. I hope my painting shows that.”

“Oh, it does,” said Annie.

Jack nodded. It was the scariest painting he’d ever seen.

“Zorro!” called Leonardo.

One of the young men on the platform climbed
down a ladder and jumped to the floor. He was a sturdy-looking teenager with a red face and wavy black hair.

“Are things any better this morning?” asked Leonardo.

“No, the paint is still very damp to the touch,” said Zorro.

“Then let us proceed with our plan,” said Leonardo. “Did the pots arrive from the blacksmith?”

“Yes, over there,” said Zorro. He pointed at two large iron pots beneath the platform.

“And you brought the wood?” said Leonardo.

“Yes,” said Zorro. He pointed to a pile of wood stacked against a wall.

Leonardo set down his basket and headed over to the platform.

“What’s the plan, Leonardo?” asked Annie as she and Jack followed him.

“My apprentices and I will fill the pots with wood and lift them onto the platform,” said
Leonardo. “Then we will light fires in them. The heat of the fires will quickly dry the fresco.”

“How can we help?” asked Jack.

“Bring us some kindling,” said Leonardo.

“No problem!” said Jack. He put down his bag, and he and Annie hurried to the wood stack.

“
Kindling?
” she said.

“Small pieces of wood,” said Jack. “They catch fire first and help get the big pieces started.”

Jack and Annie picked sticks and twigs from the wood stack. They carried the kindling back to Leonardo, and he dumped it into the iron pots. Zorro brought over some logs. Then he and Leonardo hooked the handles of the pots to a system of ropes and pulleys.

“Pull!” Leonardo shouted.

The apprentices on the platform pulled on the ropes. The heavy pots swung into the air.

“Steady! Steady!” Leonardo shouted.

The apprentices slowly hauled up the pots. Then they pulled them onto the platform and placed them in front of the fresco.

“Light the fires!” shouted Leonardo.

Zorro lit a candle from a torch burning at the entrance of the hall. He carried the candle up the ladder and used its fire to light the kindling. Soon the wood in the pots began to blaze.

“Bring more wood!” Leonardo shouted. “Bring more wood!”

Jack and Annie hurried back to the woodpile. They gathered bigger pieces of wood and rushed back to the ladder. Apprentices lifted the wood up to the platform and added it to the fires in the pots.

Soon flames were shooting high into the air, warming the fresco. Standing with Leonardo below the platform, Jack and Annie stared up at the battle scene. The room grew hotter and hotter.

With the fires blazing above and smoke curling through the air, Jack felt like he was in the middle of the battle himself. He could hear the clanging swords, neighing horses, and shouting men. He could feel the “beastly madness” of war that Leonardo had talked about.

Suddenly Jack heard
real
shrieks—Leonardo’s apprentices were all yelling.

“It is
dripping
, Master!” one cried.

“The paint is running!” shouted another.

Jack looked back at the fresco. The helmets of the warriors were melting down over their furious faces.

“AHHH!” cried Leonardo with a look of horror. “Kill the fires! Kill the fires!”

T
he panic of the battle scene seemed to spread through the big room. Leonardo’s apprentices looked around wildly, as if they didn’t know what to do.

“Water from the fountain!” Leonardo roared. “Hurry!” He ran out of the room. His apprentices rushed after him.

“We have to help, too!” Jack said to Annie. They took off after the others, following them down the stairs to the courtyard.

The apprentices were filling buckets with
water from the fountain. “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” Leonardo shouted.

Jack and Annie grabbed two of the full buckets and clumsily followed the others back up the
stairs. “This is like—like Edo!” Jack said to Annie, remembering their recent trip to old Japan.