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not quite satisfactory; still they cannot be considered to give
evidence of a want of taste or of any other defect in Leonardo s
architectural capacity. They were no doubt intended exclusively for
his own instruction, and, before all, as it seems, to illustrate the
features or consequences resulting from a given principle.
I have already, in another place, [Footnote 1: Les Projets
Primitifs pour la Basilique de St. Pierre de Rome, par Bramante,
Raphael etc.,Vol. I, p. 2.] pointed out the law of construction for
buildings crowned by a large dome: namely, that such a dome, to
produce the greatest effect possible, should rise either from the
centre of a Greek cross, or from the centre of a structure of which
the plan has some symmetrical affinity to a circle, this circle
being at the same time the centre of the whole plan of the building.
Leonardo's sketches show that he was fully aware, as was to be
expected, of this truth. Few of them exhibit the form of a Latin
cross, and when this is met with, it generally gives evidence of the
determination to assign as prominent a part as possible to the dome
in the general effect of the building.
While it is evident, on the one hand, that the greater number of
these domes had no particular purpose, not being designed for
execution, on the other hand several reasons may be found for
Leonardo's perseverance in his studies of the subject.
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