Codex Trivulcianus

The Codex Trivulzianus ( Italian Codice Trivulziano ) is a bound collection of sheets with notes, sketches and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).

Surname

The manuscript was given the name Codex Trivulzianus by Marchese Carlo Trivulzio (1710–1784 or 1715–1789), who acquired it in 1750.

content

The codex contains 55 sheets of approximately 14 cm × 20.5 cm. The work originally comprised 62 pages. It is dated to about the period 1487 to 1490. Leonardo wrote the text in his characteristic mirror writing and provided it with numerous drawings and sketches.

The manuscript consists mostly of long lists of Latin vocabulary, some of which Leonardo could have taken from Roberto Valturio's book De Re Militari . In some places the Latin words are provided with Italian translations. It is possible that Leonardo tried to improve his vocabulary and compile technical terms through these lists.

The manuscript also contains studies of military installations and sacred architecture. A number of drawings are dedicated to the Milan Cathedral . Leonardo designed constructions to support a dome. However, he was unable to implement his plans.

history

Most of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts and drawings were kept in his villa near Vaprio d'Adda by his pupil and heir Francesco Melzi (around 1491/92 - around 1570) after his death . His son Orazio Melzi inherited the documents in 1570. The Codex Trivulzianus, like other manuscripts by Leonardo da Vinci, was given by Orazio Melzi to the sculptor Pompeo Leoni (1533-1608), who sold them to Count Galeazzo Arconati. In 1637 the work was donated to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The Codex appears for the last time in the records of the Ambrosiana Library in 1674, in a list from the Arconati donation.

It disappeared from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana between 1674 and 1750. In 1750 Carlo Trivulzio bought the manuscript from a certain Gaetano Cacchia, to which a note on the back of the cover indicates: “This little manuscript belonged to Mr. Gaetano Cacchia, knight from Novara , but based in Milan. He died in the parish of St. Damien in 1782, the day of January 9th. I, Carlo Trivulzio, bought it from Cacchia around 1750, [...] given in exchange for a silver watch that I bought two years earlier for sixteen guilders [...] "

The Codex Trivulzianus was from the city of Milan acquired in 1935 and the library is now in the inventory of the castle Castello Sforzesco . It is usually not open to the public.

literature

Emma Dickens (Ed.): The da Vinci Universe - The Notebooks of Leonardo . Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-548-36874-3 , from 2007: ISBN 978-3-548-36874-0 .
Theodor Lücke (Ed.): Leonardo da Vinci: Diaries and records . 3rd edition, Paul List Verlag, Leipzig 1953.
Martin Kemp : Leonardo . C. H. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-406-53462-1 .
Charles Nicholl : Leonardo da Vinci - The biography . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-10-052405-8 .
Jean Paul Richter (Ed.): The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci . 2 volumes, Dover Publications Inc., Dover 1970, Volume 1: ISBN 0-486-22572-0 , Volume 2: ISBN 0-486-22573-9 . Online version of the first edition in 1883 at www.gutenberg.org , English.

Web links

Commons : Codex Trivulzianus - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Charles Sotheran: The Trivulzio Collection . G. A. Leavitt & Co., New York 1888, p. VI
↑ Mirella Ferrari, Marco Navoni (ed.): Nuove ricerche su codici in scrittura latina dell'Ambrosiana. Vita e Pensiero . Milan 2007, p. 111
↑ ^a ^b Simona Cremante: Leonardo da Vinci, Artist-Scientist-Inventor . Giunti Editore, Florence / Milan 2005, p. 486
↑ Matthew Landrus: Leonardo da Vinci's Giant Crossbow . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, p. 74
↑ Nicholl, pp. 276-279
^ ^A ^b Carlo Pedretti, Catherine Frost: Leonardo, art and science . Giunti Editore, Florence / Milan 2000, p. 106
^ Carlo Pedretti : Leonardo da Vinci on Painting . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1964, p. 110 .

[SotheranVI-1] Charles Sotheran: The Trivulzio Collection . G. A. Leavitt & Co., New York 1888, p. VI

[Ferrari111-2] Mirella Ferrari, Marco Navoni (ed.): Nuove ricerche su codici in scrittura latina dell'Ambrosiana. Vita e Pensiero . Milan 2007, p. 111

[Cremante486-3] Simona Cremante: Leonardo da Vinci, Artist-Scientist-Inventor . Giunti Editore, Florence / Milan 2005, p. 486

[Landrus74-4] Matthew Landrus: Leonardo da Vinci's Giant Crossbow . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, p. 74

[Nicholl276-5] Nicholl, pp. 276-279

[PedrettiFrost106-6] A ^b Carlo Pedretti, Catherine Frost: Leonardo, art and science . Giunti Editore, Florence / Milan 2000, p. 106

[Pedretti110-7] Carlo Pedretti : Leonardo da Vinci on Painting . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1964, p. 110 .