SOURCE: “Leonardo da Vinci: A Quincentenary Tribute,” in The Indian Institute of Culture Transaction No. 14, June 1952, pp. 1-18.

In the following essay, Gangoly examines the variety of Leonardo's achievements within the context of the intellectual and spiritual movement of the Italian Renaissance.

It is in the fitness of things that this Institute should celebrate the fifth centenary of the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the great, towering figures of the Renaissance in Italy. While such a celebration is a duty, cast on every cultural institute in India, the performance of such a duty is by no means an easy task, as very few Indians (except those who have travelled abroad and studied the masterpieces of the great artist in the Museums of Europe) have any direct, first-hand acquaintance with the works of this great master.

Then, again, it is a legitimate question if an Indian, not...