BEELDEN IN VEELVOUD

(zum meinen Vergnügen}- Kandinsky had learned in Munich that the figurative
belonged to che past, rather than to modern art. In this regard then
the novel could not have been of much direct use.
Nevertheless the homage paid to Leonardo by Merczhkovsky and many
other Russian and European Symbolists may weli have arouscd Kandinsky's
curiosity about Leonardo's own texts and drawings of the delugc.19
While we do not know which publications and reproductions hè consulted,
we can discern a few likely candidates.
TKXTS BY AND ABOUT LEONARDO
Since the middle of the nineteenth century a new historica] and aesthetic
image had emerged of Leonardo as aseer of genius, a sort of mystical magician.
Initially an invention of French authors, the 'new' Leonardo also
made an appearance in the works of English and German writers from the
late i86os onwards. Tn England Walter Pater in particular represemed chc
new Europe-widc interpretation of Leonardo. In his famous and influential
essay of 1869 hè dcscribed Da Vinci's art from a modern aesthetic point
of view and the person of the artist in a historical, if somewhat unconvcntional
fashion. According to Pater, Leonardo's artistry, which hè found
both rnysterious and modern, could only have originated from chc brain of
a profane genius far ahead of his time.20 Pater saw him as the personification
of the greac upheaval that supposedly occurred in around 1500; hè
was 'the sorcerer or magician, possessed of curious secrets and a hidden
knowledge, living in a world of which hè alonc possessed the key'.21 This
was the Leonardo for whom the Symbolists feit such admiracion.
The veritable deluge of works on Leonardo all elaborated on this interpretation.
Among them was a book of 1892 by Gabriel Séailles, that received
great acclaim at the time, Léonard de Vind; l'artiste et ie savant. Essai de biographie
psychologique. Séailles devoted a large part of the chapter, 'Le savanc
et l'artiste: la science dans l'art. — Les procédés et les ceuvres' to Leonatdo's
own remarks on the depiction of a deluge and the accompanying "Windsor
drawings.
Séailles accounted for the rnysterious power of the lacter by referring to
Leonardo's exceptional combinacion of true obsetvation of nature and understanding
of the spirit (I'esprit) that was present in all creation. He saw
these drawings as outstanding examples of Leonardo's genius. Like Walter
Pater, hè mentioned Leonardo's exceptional fascination with the movements
of water, which hè had observed so intensely that his drawings of
eddying whirlpools and rolling, buffeting and breaking wavcs suggest that
Leonardo had done his deluge from direcc experience. Rather than a trueto-Ufe
rendering, realistic chough the details are, one of the deluge drawings
reminded him of the vision of a poet such as Dante.
KANDINSKY S COMPLETION OF LEONARDO S DELUGE 459