Rare chance to see Da Vinci's Codex Leicester on display
338 views · Published 3 November 2018 · 6:19 · Indexed 3 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(29 Oct 2018) LEADIN There's a rare chance to see Leonardo Da Vinci's famed Codex Leicester - scientific writings covering his theories on nature, light and astronomy - in Italy. The exhibition is part of the 500th anniversary celebrations to mark the death of the Renaissance artist. STORYLINE: Arguably one of the most important manuscripts in the world, the Codex Leicester by Leonardo da Vinci will be offered up in digital displays at the Aula Magliabechiana of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy starting tomorrow (30th October 2018). The study of water is at the heart of the document that Da Vinci created in the first decade of the 16th century. This exhibition is part of a raft of celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, who was born in Vinci - a little city near Florence – on April 15th, 1452 and died on May 2nd, 1519 in Cloux (now Clos-Lucé), France. Leonardo is known worldwide as a painter thanks to masterpieces such as the Gioconda (Mona Lisa) and the Last Supper - but this exhibition highlights his scientific research. During the Renaissance, Leonardo was known for his talent as an architect, inventor, engineer and observer of nature and astronomy. "The Codex Leicester is an extraordinary document as to Leonardo's scientific and engineering research. The primary subject is water and in fact in his thoughts about water he's extremely modern, in fact he touches subjects which right now are again on the minds of astrophysicists, the question of the origin of water, Leonardo hypothesized that there would be water on the moon based on his observation," says Eike D. Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries. The Leicester Codex is a 72-page manuscript composed of 18 sheets of paper, each of them folded in half and written on both sides. "The main topic is water. It is, of course, the complex form of water, not just the water one can see flowing in a river. It's the movement of water, its cohesion, the pressure it creates on containers, its molecular structure, the reflection of light on the surface of the water, moving or still, the waves, the whirlpools, it's a 360-degree complexity," says Paolo Galluzzi, curator of the exhibition and director of the Galileo Museum of Florence. Alongside water, the Leicester Codex investigates other scientific topics such as the luminosity and material nature of the moon, the history of Earth and its transformation. "During Leonardo's generation, the borders between art and science weren't as clear as we see them today. A lot of his artists colleagues studied maths, just think about Piero della Francesca, who was a very important surveyor, they studied statics because they built innovative buildings, and therefore the context was very different," says Galluzzi. The exhibit includes other Codex sheets, such as the "Codex on the Flight of Birds" - that dates back to around 1505 - from the Biblioteca Reale of Turin, and some documents belonging to the "Codex Atlanticus" (Atlantic Codex in English) from the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which was written between 1476 and 1519 and deals with a wide range of topics, such as astronomy, philosophy and engineering. Galluzzi explains that Leonardo's codices - rediscovered centuries after his death - highlighted his genius. Hand-written in Italian - Leonardo used to write from right to left - so digesting his manuscripts is no easy feat. But visitors will have the chance to browse through them with the help of digital screens, while the original codex sheets are preserved inside showcases as Schmidt explains. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5f99c0b9c1c2375acc42941d581e255b
