by Shana Priwer
Since he had no wife, children, or other close relatives that we know about, Leonardo chose to leave the bulk of his estate to Melzi. Scholars believe that Leonardo left at least fifty (and perhaps as many as 120) complete notebooks to Melzi. Today, unfortunately, only twenty-eight survive in various versions. There aren't very many notes left from before 1500, so most of what's available are his writings from about 1500 up until his death in 1519. In addition to notes, there are also drafts of letters Leonardo composed as well as financial statements showing how much he was paid, or was owed, by various people.
After Leonardo's death in France, Melzi brought the pages back to Italy with him, keeping them with him until his death in 1570. There is some evidence that Melzi attempted to organize and excerpt some of Leonardo's writings, as well, including discussions that became A Treatise on Painting.
By the time of Leonardo's death, unfortunately, much of his fame and reputation had been forgotten. He died as a recluse in France and didn't produce much in his final years. His choice of heirs didn't help much in spreading the word of Leonardo's good name—Melzi was a minor noble, but of little importance. When the notebooks were discovered after his death, their value was not recognized. Because of Leonardo's mirror writing, they appeared to be gibberish to the untrained eye, and many people probably thought they were mere scribbles. Melzi's heirs didn't help the situation much either—they left the precious documents in an attic! They later gave away or sold many of the individual sheets, without any idea of what they were actually worth.
It was through these various blunders and ignorance that Leonardo's notebooks, sketches, and writings became scattered. Many were probably discarded, and some of the remaining pages show notes in other handwriting in various places—meaning someone else (a monk, perhaps) made their own notes on top of Leonardo's. Can you imagine doing your homework on top of the Mona Lisa? Tragically, only a small percentage of Leonardo's prolific written output was saved, and these pieces have been collected over the years in volumes called codices. Probably the pages with particularly interesting sketches were kept more often than the pages and volumes with only text.
In the end, many factors doomed Leonardo's prolific scientific output to obscurity: his secretiveness in recording his observations, the lack of publication, and his many incomplete projects. Because very little of Leonardo's work was ever published or shared, his discoveries actually had little impact on the progress of science. How would anyone have known what Leonardo was thinking if he never shared it with anyone? Scientific discovery and invention, in fields from military engineering to human anatomy, proceeded in the slow, steady pace typical of history—unfortunately, it proceeded without the benefit of Leonardo's great leaps of intellect. Maybe history just wasn't ready for Leonardo, but we'll never know because Leonardo gave so little of his work a chance to be studied!
Leonardo's notebooks were not studied in any systematic fashion until the nineteenth century, when some of the first translations were made. Historians tried to determine and restore the original order of the notes. It was also around this time that Leonardo's notebooks were first exhibited to the general public.
Because of his lack of influence on future generations of scientists, Leonardo is sometimes called the last of the ancient scientists (because of technological and political limitations, these scientists tended to work in isolation). Today, the progress of science is much more collaborative—scientific discoveries are all based on the theories that came before. A truly innovative thinker like Leonardo, who basically invented most of his work from the ground up, would have had a very different place in a modern scientific world!
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Decoding the codices
About 5,000 pages of Leonardo's notes still exist today. Originally written on loose sheets of paper, these notes have been bound into notebooks called “codices.” And what is a codex, you ask? It is, simply put, a collection of manuscripts. The word codex is a useful one to apply to Leonardo's books because they've been arranged into separate volumes; each codex has a name, and it's easy to identify which particular sheet belongs to which group. The modern arrangement of the codices is somewhat haphazard, though, and the current volumes probably bear no resemblance to the actual order in which Leonardo wrote them. He should have numbered his pages!
Perhaps the person most responsible for this erratic mess was Pompeo Leoni, a sculptor at the royal court of Spain in the seventeenth century. Leoni collected many of Leonardo's writings, but while trying to organize them, he cut and pasted pages from various notebooks and sections of Leonardo's writings, organizing them into separate volumes arranged into artistic, technical, and scientific sections. It messed up the original order, but at the same time provided us with a convenient cataloging system. From Leoni's efforts sprang the “Codex Atlanticus,” and the so-called Windsor collection. Both of these codices are notable because they consist mainly of drawings and sketches that Leoni cut out of other places in Leonardo's writings. When Leoni died, some of the manuscripts were brought back to Italy, while others remained in Spain.
The “Codex Atlanticus” is currently located in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. This volume contains hundreds of sheets of Leonardo's original notes, most of which date from between 1480 and 1518. The codex was donated to the library in 1637, but was taken to Paris along with other notebooks of Leonardo's when Napoleon conquered Milan in 1796. What a war prize! There, the notebooks were kept in the National Library of Paris and the Institute of France. In 1851 the “Codex Atlanticus” was returned to Italy, but twelve other manuscripts remained in France at that point. Primarily, the “Codex Atlanticus” contains the technical, mechanical, and scientific drawings from different notebooks, while the artistic, natural, and anatomical drawings are part of the collection at Windsor.
About 400 pages of the “Codex Atlanticus” are currently available online, although only in Italian at the moment! The site is www.ambrosiana.it/ita/ca_principak.asp.
Diving into the dusty library stacks isn't always a thrill, but the folks in Madrid are glad they did! Some of Leonardo's most valuable writings remained safe but unknown in the Biblioteca Nacional, in Madrid, until they were found by chance in 1966. These documents are now known as the “Madrid Codices.” The two volumes include work on mechanics, dating from 1490 to 1496, and geometry, from 1503 to 1505.
Leonardo's other codices are located all over the world. Currently housed in the British Library is the “Codex Arundel,” 238 sheets that were removed from various notebooks, forming a hodgepodge of drawings and notes. Leonardo started the collection in 1508, while he was living in Florence. While most of the contents come from around 1508, other pages were written at different points in Leonardo's life. The subjects include everything from mechanical designs to studies on the flight of birds. In this volume Leonardo also wrote that he had begun collecting various comments and sketches in one central location, which he wished to later reorganize according to subject. Of course, he never actually got around to finishing this project.
Parts of the “Codex Arundel” are currently available online from the British Library, in a shockwave format that allows you to turn pages and translate text, at this site: www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation.html.
A more minor codex, called the “Codex Trivulzianus,” currently makes its home in the Biblioteca Trivulziana at the Sforza Castle in Milan. This selection of fifty-five sheets contains Leonardo's notes on architecture and various religious themes, as well as literary notes. These early works are thought to date from between 1487 and 1490. Another minor codex, called “On the Flight of Birds,” is in the possession of the Biblioteca Reale in Turin. Consisting of seventeen pages, dating from about 1505, Leonardo used this codex to make a rigorous study of the details of flight, including wind and air resistance.
The only codex that is currently in the United States is the “Codex Leicester,” written between 1504 and 1510. Software giant Bill Gates paid $30 million to purchase th
e “Codex Leicester” in 1995. Bet you didn't realize they even were for sale! This seventy-two-page codex consists of double-sided sheets of linen paper, and its main topics include studies of water, rocks, light, and air. Like most of Leonardo's works, it was done in Leonardo's signature mirror writing. The “Codex Leicester” was one of the few manuscripts not inherited originally by Melzi and, at the moment, is the only manuscript of Leonardo's that is privately owned.
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Say cheese!
Portrait painting is in a whole other league from landscapes or religious scenes. Since you're trying to paint a real live person (most of the time), the painting actually has to look like that person! While caricatures are popular today, especially on boardwalks or street fairs, Renaissance royalty didn't want to see themselves with giant noses and ears. The artist had to have the skill to create a reasonable likeness. Then, of course, there was the difficulty of being the subject. He or she had to stay still for extremely long periods of time. Also, remember that portraiture is not the same as photography. The goal isn't just to create a mirror image of the original; the artist also has to capture some aspect of the subject's spirit, in addition to selecting a proper pose and background. Should the subject be nude or clothed, dressed to the nines or in everyday garb, sitting or standing, holding a favorite pet or other object, seated by a window or lying in a bed? The artists of the Renaissance had to go back and forth with the subject, making compromises but also ensuring the final painting was a good one. That's a pretty huge checklist—which is why portrait artists were few and far between.
Leonardo's Mona Lisa is a hallmark of portraiture because it captures the subject's essence so unforgettably. Leonardo's technical painting abilities helped him make her appear unfathomably real, but her eyes, mouth, and other facial features also give her a mystery rarely captured in a painting. But Lisa's portrait may not be as true to life as it seems. Modern-day historians have aligned the Mona Lisa with Leonardo's own self-portraits, showing that the features line up nearly precisely. Maybe this suggests that Leonardo included a bit of himself in his historic work!
In addition to the Mona Lisa, Leonardo created other portraits of women, including Ginevra de'Benci of 1480 and La Belle Fenonniere of 1495. He did paint male portraitures as well, but not nearly as many. One well-known male study was the Portrait of a Musician from 1483, which is also one of his best-preserved paintings. Ironically, we know very little about it—we don't even know who the person in the picture was! Some historians believe it to be Ludovico Sforza (see number 21) while others think it is Franchino Gaffario, Milan's most famous choirmaster.
Beauty cannot always be imitated, and the haunting beauty of the Mona Lisa was not to be repeated, though Leonardo's works are all originals. He made chalk studies of other wealthy individuals, some of which he probably planned to copy and paint later. Lack of interest (or perhaps the unavailability of the subject) seems to have prevented drawings such as these from reaching completion. While unfortunate, it's hardly surprising to see even more unfinished works from Leonardo.
In addition to portraits, Leonardo also sketched wanderers and gypsies. One of the most unusual of these portraitures is his Grotesque Head chalk drawing of 1504. He did a number of pen-and-ink caricatures in the 1490s, most of which show distorted facial features and hair. Biographer Vasari has addressed this dimension of Leonardo's work, noting that Leonardo was very interested in odd people and would often follow them, committing their features to memory. His original Grotesque Head image is nearly life-sized and seems to have set a trend; other painters around Europe soon began creating their own versions of grotesque portraits. It is possible that these drawings provided one of the earliest foundations for modern-day political cartoons.
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It's like looking in a mirror
While Leonardo was busy with bigger (and better?) tasks, he did create several self-portraits over the course of his life that, in a prephotographic world, gave viewers some insight into his more personal side. Who isn't curious about what the great genius actually looked like? Fortunately, it's not such a mystery.
Not all of Leonardo's self-portraits are pretentious and formal. One of Leonardo's best-known self-portraits, dating to about 1512, contains his own annotations and was done in red chalk on paper. In this drawing, he has a full, flowing white beard and is clearly getting on in his years. Leonardo may have created several other sketches of himself, though it's a bit tricky to confirm that he actually drew them. One example is a sketch named Old Man Sitting. It's most likely from the late 1400s and appears to be Leonardo sitting along the bank of the River Loire.
Another example is Profile of a Warrior in Helmet, a silverpoint drawing Leonardo prepared in 1472. Given the time period in which Leonardo created this work, it is possible that this drawing was actually one of Verrocchio's models; it resembles similar figures in Verrocchio's bronzes and doesn't really look much like Leonardo. Some historians, though, believe that it was actually a self-portrait.
In addition to these standalone self-portraits, Leonardo also included himself in several of his most famous paintings. He was clever enough to sneak himself in as a bystander—the patrons probably never even knew Leonardo was in the paintings. One of the best examples is his Adoration of the Magi, into which most historians think he painted himself as one of the shepherds. The figure in question is in the bottom right corner of the painting, and the shepherd is facing away from the main crowd. Just another indication of Leonardo's slightly devilish sense of humor!
His self-portraits weren't just limited to paintings, either. In 1496 Leonardo illustrated a mathematics book for Fra Luca Pacioli (1445–1517), a mathematician who wrote several books on geometry, arithmetic, and proportions (see number 53). Leonardo may also have included a self-portrait of himself in the book Divina Proportione (see number 53).
While Leonardo enjoyed painting himself, he also extended this privilege to others, and at various points in his life, Leonardo posed as a portrait model. Verrocchio probably based his 1466 sculpture of David on a young Leonardo. Raphael likely used Leonardo as the model for Plato in his 1510 painting The School of Athens. Also around this time it is thought that Leonardo's student and companion Francesco Melzi drew a red-chalk image of Leonardo, as he would have appeared in his final years. Because the quality in this drawing is so high, it is thought that Melzi may have actually traced over a self-portrait Leonardo created a few years earlier.
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Write to the point
When it comes to ancient arts, nothing goes back further than storytelling, and Leonardo dabbled in fiction writing, gracing us with a number of short stories. We're not even sure Leonardo wrote them all himself; some might be stories that friends of Leonardo wrote in his name, or stories Leonardo simply wrote down after hearing someone else tell them. Many of these stories are still told today, and most people don't even know they came from Leonardo da Vinci; they are simply known as Italian folk tales, beloved by children and adults alike.
Leonardo wrote at least thirty stories. Not bad for someone who wasn't even an author! As with his notes and sketches, he illustrated most of his stories. One of his first was a fable called “The Testament of the Eagle.” As the story goes, an old eagle nearing his deathbed calls his children together and tells them that he is approaching the end of his life. He then describes how he intends to die: by flying so close to the sun that it will burn his feathers, thus sending him into the ocean. He will then rise from the water and begin life anew. Such is the life cycle of the eagle, at least in Leonardo's version!
Another of his famous fables was that of “The Spider and the Grapes.” A clever spider, who sees how bees and flies feast on the sweet grapes of the vineyard, decides to spin its web right next to the grapes. Flies will get stuck in the web, and the spider will have a meal. One day, the vineyard owner cuts down this particular grape stem. The flies are rescued from their certain doom, while the spider is punished for his trickery. Like
most of Leonardo's stories, there is a definite moral here: Preying on the innocent can lead to no good.
“The Mouse and the Cat” is another fable about intelligent animals. A mouse is trapped in its hole by a stalking weasel. While the mouse pleads with the weasel to leave, a cat, which has been lying in wait, pounces and devours the weasel. Thinking the coast is now clear, the mouse celebrates by rushing out of his hole—only to be promptly eaten by the same cat. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend!
A final fable that was close to Leonardo's heart is “The Goldfinch.” A mother goldfinch returns to her nest one day to find all her babies missing. She eventually discovers them caged and hanging outside a farmhouse window. Try as she might, she can't open the cage. The next day she returns to feed her babies through the bars. But they die soon after because their mother has fed them poisonous berries. Her final words: “Better death than loss of freedom.” Perhaps Leonardo felt that if artists couldn't be free to design as they wished, then they shouldn't produce art at all?
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Bringing down the house
Music was a very important part of the Renaissance, and as a child Leonardo showed interest in a diverse range of musical activities. Apparently, he was a good singer and liked to spend evenings entertaining friends and relatives. Singing was a well-respected pastime during the Renaissance; most educated people could either sing or play a musical instrument.
Besides singing, Leonardo taught himself to play the lyre, a stringed instrument that had been around since at least ancient Greece (though it was probably invented in Asia). A lyre looks a bit like a rounded harp and consists of a hollow body with two semicircular arms connected by a crossbar. Strings start at this crossbar, go over a bridge, and terminate at the opposite end of the lyre. They came in different sizes and with different numbers of strings, usually four, seven, or ten.