One of history’s greatest inventors, Leonardo da Vinci, came up with ambitious ideas that were centuries ahead of their time, filling his notebooks with designs for flying machines, armored vehicles, bridges, hydraulic systems, and mechanical devices. While many of his designs were never built during his lifetime, his detailed sketches were fortunately preserved. And now, a new online platform called Leonardotheka reunites two historic collections of the Italian polymath’s writings and drawings for the first time in over 400 years.
The online archive—created by the Museo Galileo in Florence in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, and the Biblioteca Leonardiana in Vinci—brings together the Codex Atlanticus, the largest surviving collection of da Vinci’s writings, preserved by the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, and around 550 drawings held in the Royal Collection Trust.
The two collections were originally part of a large folio made by da Vinci between the mid-1470s and his death in 1519. They were separated centuries ago by Italian sculptor and collector Pompeo Leoni, who reorganized da Vinci’s notebooks after acquiring them. Some sheets were even cut apart, leaving drawings and notes scattered among institutions for hundreds of years.
After 10 years of collaborative effort, Leonardotheka brings together many of da Vinci’s most famous inventions, including a flying machine, a perpetual wheel, and the Archimedean screw. You can explore these pages in detail, learn about da Vinci’s drawing and writing techniques, and view digitally reconstructed and restored manuscripts that reveal how they originally looked.
“Leonardotheka 2.0 offers scholars worldwide unprecedented opportunities to explore the vast and invaluable wealth of information contained within Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscripts,” said Paolo Galluzzi, former director of Museo Galileo and the creator of Leonardotheka. “This innovative tool marks the beginning of a new and highly promising era of research into the artistic, scientific, and literary legacy of the genius of Vinci.”
Check out Leonardotheka here.
Two historic collections of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings and drawings have been reunited online through a new platform called Leonardotheka.
The incredible archive brings together many of da Vinci’s most famous inventions sketched between the mid-1470s and his death in 1519.
Leonardotheka 2.0: Website
Source: Multiple Leonardo da Vinci collections to be displayed on new online platform
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