«Risistere alla furia de' cavagli e degli omini d'arme»: A lost book for a "condottiere" by Leonardo da Vinci.
In 1584, Lomazzo mentioned a sketchbook Leonardo had compiled for the "condottiere" Gentile de' Borri, a fencing master in Milan at the time of his long stay at the Sforza court (1482-1499): this lost manuscript, whose unique surviving pages have been tentatively identified in a couple of sheets preserved in Venice, was focused on the theme of the most reliable military techniques, to be followed by both infantry and cavalry in battle. In Lomazzo's description (fitting also with other comparable sheets), such draft would have featured consistent references to the political context (mainly, Sforza's military alliance with the German Emperor), together with a peculiar comparison between the human and animal identities, almost as a prelude to Machiavelli's Art of War.