The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (94 page)

1373.

On Wednesday at seven o'clock died Ser Piero da Vinci on the 9th of
July 1504.

[Footnote: This and the previous text it may be remarked are the
only mention made by Leonardo of his father; Nos. 1526, 1527 and No.
1463 are of the year 1504.]

1374.

Begun by me, Leonardo da Vinci, on the l2th of July 1505.

[Footnote: Thus he writes on the first page of the MS. The title is
on the foregoing coversheet as follows:
Libro titolato
disstrafformatione coe
(cioe)
d'un corpo nvn
(in un)
altro sanza
diminuitione e acresscemento di materia.
]

1375.

Begun at Milan on the l2th of September 1508.

[Footnote: No. 1528 and No. 1529 belong to the same year. The text
Vol. I, No. 4 belongs to the following year 1509 (1508 old style);
so also does No. 1009.— Nos. 1022, 1057 and 1464 belong to 1511.]

1376.

On the 9th of January 1513.

[Footnote: No. 1465 belongs to the same year. No. 1065 has the next
date 1514.]

1377.

The Magnifico Giuliano de' Medici left Rome on the 9th of January
1515, just at daybreak, to take a wife in Savoy; and on the same day
fell the death of the king of France.

[Footnote: Giuliano de Medici, brother to Pope Leo X.; see note to
Nos. 1351-1353. In February, 1515, he was married to Filiberta,
daughter of Filippo, Duke of Savoy, and aunt to Francis I, Louis
XII's successor on the throne of France. Louis XII died on Jan. 1st,
and not on Jan. 9th as is here stated.— This addition is written in
paler ink and evidently at a later date.]

1378.

On the 24th of June, St John's day, 1518 at Amboise, in the palace
of…

[Footnote:
Castello del clli
. The meaning of this word is obscure;
it is perhaps not written at full length.]

Miscellaneous Notes.

The incidental memoranda scattered here and there throughout the
MSS. can have been for the most part intelligible to the writer
only; in many cases their meaning and connection are all the more
obscure because we are in ignorance about the persons with whom
Leonardo used to converse nor can we say what part he may have
played in the various events of his time. Vasari and other early
biographers give us a very superficial and far from accurate picture
of Leonardo's private life. Though his own memoranda, referring for
the most part to incidents of no permanent interest, do not go far
towards supplying this deficiency, they are nevertheless of some
importance and interest as helping us to solve the numerous
mysteries in which the history of Leonardo's long life remains
involved. We may at any rate assume, from Leonardo's having
committed to paper notes on more or less trivial matters on his
pupils, on his house-keeping, on various known and unknown
personages, and a hundred other trifies—that at the time they must
have been in some way important to him.

I have endeavoured to make these 'Miscellaneous Notes' as complete
as possible, for in many cases an incidental memorandum will help to
explain the meaning of some other note of a similar kind. The first
portion of these notes (Nos. l379—l457), as well as those referring
to his pupils and to other artists and artificers who lived in his
house (1458—1468,) are arranged in chronological order. A
considerable proportion of these notes belong to the period between
1490 and 1500, when Leonardo was living at Milan under the patronage
of Lodovico il Moro, a time concerning which we have otherwise only
very scanty information. If Leonardo did really—as has always been
supposed,—spend also the greater part of the preceding decade in
Milan, it seems hardly likely that we should not find a single note
indicative of the fact, or referring to any event of that period, on
the numerous loose leaves in his writing that exist. Leonardo's life
in Milan between 1489 and 1500 must have been comparatively
uneventful. The MSS. and memoranda of those years seem to prove that
it was a tranquil period of intellectual and artistic labour rather
than of bustling court life. Whatever may have been the fate of the
MSS. and note books of the foregoing years—whether they were
destroyed by Leonardo himself or have been lost—it is certainly
strange that nothing whatever exists to inform us as to his life and
doings in Milan earlier than the consecutive series of manuscripts
which begin in the year 1489.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the notes regarding
his pupils are few and meagre. Excepting for the record of money
transactions only very exceptional circumstances would have prompted
him to make any written observations on the persons with whom he was
in daily intercourse, among whom, of course, were his pupils. Of
them all none is so frequently mentioned as Salai, but the character
of the notes does not—as it seems to me—justify us in supposing
that he was any thing more than a sort of factotum of Leonardo's
(see 1519, note).

Leonardo's quotations from books and his lists of titles supply
nothing more than a hint as to his occasional literary studies or
recreations. It was evidently no part of his ambition to be deeply
read (see Nrs. 10, 11, 1159) and he more than once expressly states
(in various passages which will be found in the foregoing sections)
that he did not recognise the authority of the Ancients, on
scientific questions, which in his day was held paramount.
Archimedes is the sole exception, and Leonardo frankly owns his
admiration for the illustrious Greek to whose genius his own was so
much akin (see No. 1476). All his notes on various authors,
excepting those which have already been inserted in the previous
section, have been arranged alphabetically for the sake of
convenience (1469—1508).

The passages next in order contain accounts and inventories
principally of household property. The publication of these—often
very trivial entries—is only justifiable as proving that the
wealth, the splendid mode of life and lavish expenditure which have
been attributed to Leonardo are altogether mythical; unless we put
forward the very improbable hypothesis that these notes as to money
in hand, outlay and receipts, refer throughout to an exceptional
state of his affairs, viz. when he was short of money.

The memoranda collected at the end (No. 1505—1565) are, in the
original, in the usual writing, from left to right. Besides, the
style of the handwriting is at variance with what we should expect
it to be, if really Leonardo himself had written these notes. Most
of them are to be found in juxtaposition with undoubtedly authentic
writing of his. But this may be easily explained, if we take into
account the fact, that Leonardo frequently wrote on loose sheets. He
may therefore have occasionally used paper on which others had made
short memoranda, for the most part as it would seem, for his use. At
the end of all I have given Leonardo's will from the copy of it
preserved in the Melzi Library. It has already been printed by
Amoretti and by Uzielli. It is not known what has become of the
original document.

Memoranda before 1500 (1379-l413).

1379.

Find Longhi and tell him that you wait for him at Rome and will go
with him to Naples; make you pay the donation [Footnote 2:
Libro di
Vitolone
see No. 1506 note.] and take the book by Vitolone, and the
measurements of the public buildings. [3] Have two covered boxes
made to be carried on mules, but bed-covers will be best; this makes
three, of which you will leave one at Vinci. [4] Obtain
the………….. from Giovanni Lombardo the linen draper of Verona.
Buy handkerchiefs and towels,…. and shoes, 4 pairs of hose, a
jerkin of… and skins, to make new ones; the lake of Alessandro.
[Footnote: 7 and fol. It would seem from the text that Leonardo
intended to have instructions in painting on paper. It is hardly
necessary to point out that the Art of illuminating was quite
separate from that of painting.]

Sell what you cannot take with you. Get from Jean de Paris the
method of painting in tempera and the way of making white [Footnote:
The mysterious looking words, quite distinctly written, in line 1:
ingol, amor a, ilopan a
and on line 2:
enoiganod al
are
obviously in cipher and the solution is a simple one; by reading
them backwards we find for
ingol
: logni-probably
longi
,
evidently the name of a person; for
amor a
:
a Roma
, for
ilopan
a
:
a Napoli
. Leonardo has done the same in two passages treating
on some secrets of his art Nos. 641 and 729, the only other places
in which we find this cipher employed; we may therefore conclude
that it was for the sake of secrecy that he used it.

There can be no doubt, from the tenor of this passage, that Leonardo
projected a secret excursion to Naples. Nothing has hitherto been
known of this journey, but the significance of the passage will be
easily understood by a reference to the following notes, from which
we may infer that Leonardo really had at the time plans for
travelling further than Naples. From lines 3, 4 and 7 it is evident
that he purposed, after selling every thing that was not easily
portable, to leave a chest in the care of his relations at Vinci.
His luggage was to be packed into two trunks especially adapted for
transport by mules. The exact meaning of many sentences in the
following notes must necessarily remain obscure. These brief remarks
on small and irrelevant affairs and so forth are however of no
historical value. The notes referring to the preparations for his
journey are more intelligible.]

salt, and how to make tinted paper; sheets of paper folded up; and
his box of colours; learn to work flesh colours in tempera, learn to
dissolve gum lac, linseed … white, of the garlic of Piacenza; take
'de Ponderibus'; take the works of Leonardo of Cremona. Remove the
small furnace … seed of lilies and of… Sell the boards of the
support. Make him who stole it, give you the … learn levelling and
how much soil a man can dig out in a day.

1380.

This was done by Leone in the piazza of the castle with a chain and
an arrow. [Footnote: This note must have been made in Milan; as we
know from the date of the MS.]

1381.

Callias of Rhodes, Epimachus the Athenian, Diogenes, a philosopher,
of Rhodes, Calcedonius of Thrace, Febar of Tyre, Callimachus the
architect, a master of fires. [Footnote: Callias, Architect of
Aradus, mentioned by Vitruvius (X, 16, 5).—Epimachus, of Athens,
invented a battering-enginee for Demetrius Poliorketes (Vitruvius X,
16, 4).—Callimachus, the inventor of the Corinthian capital (Vitr.
IV, I, 9), and of the method of boring marble (Paus. I, 26, 7), was
also famous for his casts in bronze (Plin. XXXIV, 8, 19). He
invented a lamp for the temple of Athene Polias, on the Acropolis of
Athens (Paus. I, 26, 7)—The other names, here mentioned, cannot be
identified.]

1382.

Ask maestro Lodovico for 'the conduits of water'. [Footnote:
Condotti d'acqua. Possibly a book, a MS. or a map.]

1383.

… at Pistoja, Fioravante di Domenico at Florence is my most
beloved friend, as though he were my [brother]. [Footnote: On the
same sheet is the text No. 663.]

1384.

On the 16th day of July.

Caterina came on 16th day of July, 1493.

Messer Mariolo's Morel the Florentin, has a big horse with a fine
neck and a beautiful head.

The white stallion belonging to the falconer has fine hind quarters;
it is behind the Comasina Gate.

The big horse of Cermonino, of Signor Giulio. [Footnote: Compare
Nos. 1522 and 1517. Caterina seems to have been his housekeeper.]

1385.

Any one who spends one ducat may take the instrument; and he will
not pay more than half a ducat as a premium to the inventor of the
instrument and one grosso to the workman every year. I do not want
sub-officials. [Footnote: Refers perhaps to the regulation of the
water in the canals.]

1386.

Maestro Giuliano da Marliano has a fine herbal. He lives opposite to
Strami the Carpenters. [Footnote: Compare No. 616, note. 4.
legnamiere (milanese dialect) = legnajuolo.]

1387.

Christofano da Castiglione who lives at the Pieta has a fine head.

1388.

Work of … of the stable of Galeazzo; by the road of Brera
[Footnote 4: Brera, see No. 1448, II, 13]; benefice of Stanghe
[Footnote 5:Stanghe, see No. 1509.]; benefice of Porta Nuova;
benefice of Monza; Indaco's mistake; give first the benefices; then
the works; then ingratitude, indignity and lamentations.

1389.

Chiliarch—captain of 1000.

Prefects—captains.

A legion, six thousand and sixty three men.

1390.

A nun lives at La Colomba at Cremona; she works good straw plait,
and a friar of Saint Francis. [Footnote:
La Colomba
is to this day
the name of a small house at Cremona, decorated with frescoes.]

1391.

Needle,—Niccolao,—thread,—Ferrando, -lacopo
Andrea,—canvas,—stone,—colours, —brushes,—pallet,—sponge,—the
panel of the Duke.

1392.

Messer Gian Domenico Mezzabarba and Messer Giovanni Franceso
Mezzabarba. By the side of Messer Piero d'Anghiera.

1393.

Conte Francesco Torello.

1394.

Giuliano Trombetta,—Antonio di Ferrara, —Oil of …. [Footnote:
Near this text is the sketch of a head drawn in red chalk.]

1395.

Paul was snatched up to heaven. [Footnote: See the facsimile of this
note on Pl. XXIII No. 2.]

1396.

Giuliano da Maria, physician, has a steward without hands.

1397.

Have some ears of corn of large size sent from Florence.

1398.

See the bedstead at Santa Maria. Secret.