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Detailed record for Arundel 263
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| Author |
Leonardo da Vinci |
| Title |
Notebook ('The Leonardo Codex') |
| Origin |
Italy, Central (Florence, Milan, Rome) and France, Central (Amboise) |
| Date |
between 1478 and 1518 |
| Language |
Italian |
| Script |
Handwriting of Leonardo da Vinci (mirror writing) |
| Artists |
Leonardo da Vinci |
| Decoration |
Numerous diagrams. |
| Dimensions in mm |
c. 205 x 290 (unbound bifolia) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 283 |
| Form |
Paper codex |
| Binding |
Unbound |
| Provenance |
Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician.
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667.
The Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 2).
Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831. |
| Notes |
Part of the project 'Turning the Pages' (visit http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/leonardo/accessible/introduction.html). [Note, the double-pages in 'Turning the Pages are artificial arrangements].
'This is to be a collection without order, drawn from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place according to the subjects of which they treat' (Leonardo da Vinci). Leonardo is describing how, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli in Florence, in the year 1508, he began the collection of short treatises, notes and drawings, which now makes up the Leonardo Notebook in the British Library. The manuscript, in Italian, is written in Leonardo's characteristic 'mirror writing', left-handed and moving from right to left. The Notebook was not originally a bound volume, but was put together after Leonardo's death from loose papers of various types and sizes. Many of the pages were written in 1508; others come from different periods from Leonardo's life (1452-1519), covering practically the whole of his career. It includes notes for a book on the physical properties and geographical effects of water, and a broad range of other material encompassing Leonardo’s other interests in art, science and technology over a period of four decades, from the description of a prehistoric sea monster (c. 1478-80) to architectural projects for the royal residence at Romarantin in France (dating to about 1517/1518). The range of subjects - from mechanics to the flight of birds - demonstrates Leonardo's almost compulsive intellectual curiousity about scientific and technical matters. |
| Select bibliography |
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part I: The Arundel Manuscripts, p. 79.
Leonardo da Vinci, Il Codice Arundel 263 nella British Library, ed. by Carlo Pedretti, 2 vols (Florence: Giunti, 1998) [Faksimile with further bibliography].
Philip Howard, The British Library: A Treasure House of Knowledge (London: Scala Publishers, 2008), no. 41. |
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ff. 155v-156
Mirror writing |
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