Leonardo, who derived his interest in moving figures from the tradition of the Florentine workshops, had an unprecedented understanding of body language. He brought a sense of palpable life to the human figure ("movement and breath" in the words of the art historian Vasari), seeing it as the vehicle of action, thought, and emotion. It is enough to think of either the Adoration or the Last Supper, both compositions based on a subtle range of emotional effects that animate the figures according to age, character, intention, and feeling. Although contemporary artists were also concerned with the theme of movement, their works exhibit no comparable skill in conveying a sense of inner meaning, whereas Leonardo was convinced that actions and gestures revealed a person's mental and emotional content. This very modern attitude was to be re-emphasized by the French philosopher Diderot in the age of Enlightenment.

 

Leonardo da Vinci, Study for the Madonna with the Cat, 1478-80,
British Museum, London.
Fascinated by the natural world, the ebb and flow of the life-force, Leonardo frequently chose subjects encountered at first hand in the course of everyday affairs.

Antonio del Pollaiuolo, engraving of the Battle of the Nudes, 1471-72, British Museum, London.
Leonardo's argument also extended to those human figures whose muscles were too blatantly defined, and whose movements appeared wooden and lacking energy. In his quest for the golden mean, Leonardo avoided any form of excess.

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Confirmation of the Franciscan Order, 1482-86, Santa Trinita, Florence.
A slow, precise, descriptive narrator, Ghirlandaio did not appeal to
Leonardo because of his regularity of style and the apparent lack of feeling of his figures.