The da Vinci Genius on Paper

In 2009, the Sacrestia del Bramante, part of the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (1463-97) that holds the famous Last Super (1494-98), exhibits the project of Codice Atlantico (Atlantic Code). Without a doubt, the sacristy, commissioned by Duca Ludovico il Moro (1452- 1508) in the late Qattrocento dedicated to the famous Sforza family of the city, is monument incognito within the bustling capital of the Lombardia. The size of the sacristy, an unusually small dimension, is likely due to the relations of the location within the city at the time. The elegantly decorated vaulted ceiling in a night scene motif with bright golden stars, heavily panelled perimeter wall covering with inserted landscape scenes, and geometric pavement identify the relevance of the sacristy in relation to Santa Maria delle Grazie. The contrast between the interiors and the exhibition, though both produced within the Italian Renaissance, provide a literal play of importance between the da Vinci drawings and the value of the location itself.

The Codice Atlantico is the largest collection in the world of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings and studies, conserved by the Veranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan, one of the first public libraries of the world. The 1119 pages identify the ‘intellectual life of Leonardo’ within a period of 40 years (1478-1519). Touring the interiors, examining the selected pages, evidently a minor portion of the entire collection, suddenly Leonardo’s mind comes to life; a menta filled with mathematical achievements that range from astronomy and optics, to gastronomy and recipes, to literal projects in hydraulic pumps and machinery of war.

One of the most interesting facts involved in the accumulation of the pages lies in the ambition that began in the Cinquecento under the writer Pompeo Leoni who strived to collect as much of Leonardo’s intellectual exemplars and studies; appropriately called ‘Atlantico’ for their variety, interest, and diversity from what was typical of the time. In 1637, Marchese Galeazzo Arconati, through inheritance, donated the collection to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in order to be convinced and certified of their preservation. Such details only but strengthen the importance of the da Vinci ambition and interests that were highly appreciated in his own lifetime and continued throughout the centuries to be an imperative archetype of the period to which is accredited to the beginning of modern European culture, a time when Italy itself launched Europe and the West into a new era.


Visitors have the pleasure to entire a private location to literally stand a foot away from the pages that allow anther type of perception of the time. Corresponding individuals, Uomini Universali, are rare in history, and, even for those that do not study it can, by the relation of time, evaluate their isolation and conscious separation from other. Perhaps in the identification process of certain painters and assuming their importance over others can be debatable, an argument to which art historians enjoy disputing. However, the preference and setting apart the da Vinci’s of the past is less of a challenge, an argument not worth initiating and confirmed by the Codice Atlantico.

Bibliography

1. ‘Sacrestia del Bramante’ in Biblioteca Ambrosiana online, 2012. (http://www.leonardo-ambrosiana.it/la-sacrestia-del-bramante/), date accessed 26/1/2015
2. ‘Il Codice Atlantico’ in Biblioteca Ambrosiana online, 2012, (http://www.leonardo-ambrosiana.it/il-codice-atlantico/), date accessed 26/1/2015
3. Galbiati, Giovanni. Dizionario Leonardesco: Repaertorio Generale delle Voci e Cose Contenute nel Codice Atlantico’ (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1939), (http://193.206.220.110/imm/PDFProvider.php?pdf=./000/000/336/336482/336482_00001z.jpg), date accessed 26/1/2015