Leonardo Da Vinci's Note-Books - Arranged and Rendered Into English

Edward Mccurdy

Description

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• EAN13: 9781528760386
• Langue: English

Extrait

LEONARDO DA VINCI S NOTE-BOOKS
Arranged and rendered into English with Introductions
BY EDWARD M C CURDY, M.A.
N EW Y ORK : EMPIRE STATE BOOK COMPANY
1923
Copyright 1923 by Empire State Book Company
Royal Library, Turin
LEONARDO DA VINCI
( DRAWN BY HIMSELF )
AVANT PROPOS
There are many books of which it may be said that the world will survive their loss, and there are others so replete with inspiration that they should be in the hands of every student of human progress; for, when it is granted to us to become acquainted, even to a small extent, with the lives and efforts of those to whom the world is indebted, when we have placed before us the record of courageous struggle, of unwavering fortitude, we are often led to imitate and strive in accordance with the example set before us, and so bring to a successful termination what before promised to be defeat.
There is another advantage as well that comes from the study of these intimate records of a man s life: the broadening of the mental horizon as we strive to grasp the underlying motives that have produced such application, such devotion, to aims and ideals that, for the majority of us, have little or no drawing power. The very effort we make to understand the force that has commanded such self-sacrificing consecration to an end that has no attraction for us, brings us within the circle, and consequently, the influence of a new life, new vistas are open before us, and as we assimilate and grow we achieve one of the greatest things in life; we grow into further understanding of the infinite world of the human heart, we see things from a different angle; and the sympathies, once limited to a narrow sphere, have broadened out and embraced yet another truth. So in placing once more before the reading Public the Note Books of Leonardo da Vinci, we feel that we are performing a service for which that Public will feel grateful. The careful study of the work of one who stands out as one of the world s greatest intellects, whose prophetic vision was so keen that it has led to his being qualified as the forerunner of many aspects of modern scientific research, can only be of the greatest value to all those who are interested in tracing the advance of Human Achievement, and in particular, of studying those rare cases where the mind has leaped across the boundaries of the age in which it lived and worked.
E MPIRE S TATE B OOK C O .
January, 1923.
PREFACE
T HE manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci afford the chief existing proof of that extraordinary versatility with which he has been credited from the time of his earliest biographers downwards. They comprise the records and results of his studies in the theory of art and in various branches of mathematical and natural science, together with fragments of literary composition of a philosophical or imaginative character, and in addition much personal and biographical matter. The manuscripts in their present form consist of about twenty note-books and bound volumes or collections of loose sheets of various sizes, containing altogether more than four thousand pages. While on many of these there are only drawings or scientific diagrams with at most a few words of comment or explanation, others are covered with minute writing, which with the rarest exceptions is of the character known as left-handed from the fact of its direction across the page being from right to left, and which is therefore most easily read by the use of a mirror. The contents of these manuscripts, with the exception of such parts as are contained in the compilation known as Leonardo s Treatise on Painting , have up to the present time only been available to English readers in the edition selected and edited by Dr. Richter. The period of more than twenty years which has now elapsed since the appearance of that important work has witnessed the publication in extenso of all the manuscripts of Leonardo at Paris and Milan with facsimile reproductions and transcripts, whilst a part of those at Windsor which treat of anatomy and the small volume on the flight of birds have also appeared in a similar form; of the remainder of the Windsor manuscripts photographic facsimiles have been published. The quantity of material thus placed within reach of the student is the justification for a work of the scope of the present one. The above-mentioned editions have served as my text for the passages which I have taken from the Codice Atlantico, the Codice Trivulziano, the manuscripts at Paris and Windsor, and the volume on the flight of birds. In the case of the manuscript in the British Museum and those at South Kensington I have worked from the originals. In the passages from these and from the Windsor facsimiles I have added a footnote where I have ventured to adopt a reading somewhat different from that found in the text as printed by Dr. Richter. For seven passages taken from the manuscript in the possession of the Earl of Leicester, I have used the text given in Dr. Richter s work, and also for some six lines that occur in the Windsor manuscripts which I have not been able to locate in the facsimiles; whilst for two passages from sheets in the Christ Church Library at Oxford I am indebted to the texts in Mr. Sidney Colvin s Oxford Drawings .
My intention has been to present Leonardo as a writer, and to include in this work all passages from the note-books of philosophical, artistic, or literary interest. From the mass of the scientific writings I have drawn very sparingly, selecting only a few passages which either possess a more general interest or which may serve to illustrate his method of exposition. I have not included any of those passages which are simply the memoranda of scientific or mathematical processes, or those of which the importance is entirely biographical. These latter chiefly consist of notes of Leonardo s movements and household expenses, details as to his various commissions, and fragments of letters relating to the same. I have also thought fit to exclude the passages purporting to be letters addressed to the Devatdar of Syria, as their actual character is a matter of some uncertainty, and their literary value slight, as compared with the importance of the biographical issue which they raise, and any adequate discussion of that issue would travel far beyond the purpose of the present work. I have not included any of the allegories about animals which are found in MS. H of the Paris manuscripts, because they are merely extracts made by Leonardo from early bestiaries with at most verbal alterations; so also I have omitted the notes on armour and on methods of warfare in MS. B, as being derived in like manner from the De re militari of Roberto Valturio. These facts may serve to suggest some of the difficulties of selection. The manuscripts were Leonardo s note-books, and as such they contain much unoriginal matter-some of it no doubt still unidentified-taken from various books which he read.
In the work of translation, trying at times to avoid the Charybdis of a too literal interpretation, I may have grounded my barque on the hidden reefs of Scylla which lie in the outer seas; but for the most part I have kept to the shallows.
The illustrations have been prepared from negatives specially taken for the purpose by Mr. Emery Walker. They have been chosen primarily with the intention of showing the degree of exactitude which characterised Leonardo s study of natural phenomena. I am indebted to Dr. W. S. Handley for the description of such of them as are of an anatomical character; and for repeated help in the deciphering of various difficult passages of the text I have to thank Mr. J. A. Herbert, of the Manuscripts Department of the British Museum.
CONTENTS
P REFACE
L IST OF P LATES
I NTRODUCTION
A R ECORD OF THE M ANUSCRIPTS
P ROEM
B OOK I. L IFE
B OOK II. N ATURE
B OOK III. A RT -
1. P AINTING , P OETRY, AND S CULPTURE
2. T HE P RECEPTS OF THE P AINTER
3. P ERSPECTIVE, AND L IGHT AND S HADE
4. L ANDSCAPE
B OOK IV. F ANTASY -
F ABLES
P ROPHECIES
LIST OF PLATES
( The originals with the exception of the frontispiece are all to be found in the Royal Library at Windsor )
L EONARDO DA V INCI, BY HIMSELF , Royal Library, Turin
1. S TUDY OF A S KULL IN S ECTION , TO SHOW THE BONY CAVITIES OF THE FACE
This plate represents a skull sawn through in the median plane. The extreme front portion of the right half of the skull has been removed by a saw-cut at right angles to the median plane, so as to display the bony cavities or air spaces (frontal sinus, and maxillary antrum) which are present in the facial bones. The section also displays the nasal duct through which the tears pass down to the nasal cavity. On the left are seen typical teeth from the upper jaw: incisor, canine, bicuspid, and molar, with a full and accurate description appended. A transcript of the text is to be found in I Manoscritti di L. da V. Dell Anatomia, Fogli B , pp. 249-50.
2. S TUDIES OF THE D ELTOID M USCLE OF THE S HOULDER IN VARIOUS ASPECTS
This plate is concerned almost entirely with the deltoid muscle of the shoulder, which is represented from various aspects and in various positions of the arm. The little drawing in the centre below the middle of the page is not related to the one above it, and represents a dissection of the omo-hyoid muscle arising, as Leonardo believed, from the clavicle. The text contains the passages on the nature and number of the veins, which are to be found on pp. 79 and 80, also an account of the various movements of the neck, and explanations of the letters which occur on the smaller of the drawings. For transcript, see I Manoscritti di L. da V. Dell Anatomia, Fogli A , pp. 67-69.
3. S TUDIES IN THE