Codex Arundel

The Codex Arundel ( signature of the British Library Arundel 263 ) is a bound collection of sheets of notes, sketches and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 ), mainly from the years 1480-1518 The codex contains a series of essays. on various subjects including mechanics and geometry.

Name

Was named the Codex by the Earl of Arundel, who acquired it in the early 17th century in Spain.

Content

The manuscript contains 283 leaves, usually in the form of about 22 cm × 16 cm; only a few leaves are empty. The Code is a collection of Leonardo's manuscripts from a period of almost 40 years, from 1480 to 1518, which covers almost his entire artistic life.

The Code contains short essays, notes and drawings from a variety of topics such as mechanics, geometry, and the flight of birds. From Leonardo's text shows that he collected the pages with the intent to publish them if necessary. Usually, Leonardo began a new page for each topic and subtopic, so that the continuous sequence of leaves formed a closed discussion of the topic and its individual aspects.

This arrangement is gone later lost through bookbinding because the sheets were put together in a different order. The separation of topics into several sections can now appear randomly arrange the pages.

History

Little is known about the early history of the Code. After Leonardo da Vinci's death in 1519 all his records passed into the hands of his pupil Francesco Melzi (around 1491/92 - 1570 ). His heirs broke up the estate of Leonardo. The manuscripts were sold as individual leaves, and the precious material was scattered.

The manuscript was purchased in the 30s of the 17th century by Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel ( 1585-1646 ), art collector and politician. The Royal Society was there in 1667 by Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk ( 1628-1684 ) presented. The manuscript was first cataloged in 1681, as a scientific and mathematical manuscript.

The British Museum acquired the Code in 1831 by the Royal Society, along with over five hundred other manuscripts from the Arundel Collection. It was cataloged by the British Museum in 1834 and is now under the signature Arundel 263 in the holdings of the British Library.

In 2007 the manuscript was digitized as part of the project "Turning the Pages" at the British Library and made available as digitized in an online version.