FEATURES – Codex on paper (2 tomes), 210 x 150 mm, 700 pp.
ORIGIN – Italy.
CHRONOLOGY – 15th century – 16th century: 1490-1505 ca.
FORMER OWNERS – Giovanni Francesco Melzi or Francesco de Melzi (1491-1570), favorite pupil of Leonardo da Vinci; Orazio Melzi; Pompeo Leoni (1531-1608); Juan de Espina (1568-1642); Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665).
GENRE – Treatises / Secular books; Mathematics / Geometry.
CONTENTS – The manuscript is one of the major engineering treatises of its time. It includes studies of mechanics, statics and geometry; a section dedicated to the construction of fortifications; the transcription of some military engineering studies by Francesco di Giorgio Martini; a project for the construction of the equestrian monument to Francesco I Sforza (never built); a list of 116 books that Leonardo da Vinci was consulting while writing the codex.
LANGUAGE – Italian.
SCRIBE – Leonardo da Vinci.
ARTIST – Leonardo da Vinci.
STYLE – Renaissance.