No one, except perhaps Lionardo, could draw like that, and Lionardo would not have allowed his linear scheme to impose itself so remorselessly upon the mind.
VI Just at this point of his development, Michelangelo was brought into competition with Lionardo da Vinci, the only living rival worthy of his genius.

During the year 1503 Piero Soderini determined to adorn the hall of the Great Council in the Palazzo Vecchio with huge mural frescoes, which should represent scenes in Florentine history.
Documents regarding the commencement of these works and the contracts made with the respective artists are unfortunately wanting.

But it appears that Da Vinci received a commission for one of the long walls in the autumn of that year.

We have items of expenditure on record which show that the Municipality of Florence assigned him the Sala del Papa at S.Maria Novella before February 1504, and were preparing the necessary furniture for the construction of his Cartoon.

It seems that he was hard at work upon the 1st of April, receiving fifteen golden florins a month for his labour.