Leonardo da Vinci

Introduction

Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452–d. 1519) ranks alongside Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian as one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance. His influence and lasting fame rest not solely upon his innovative artistic oeuvre, but equally upon an extensive body of drawings, notes, reflections, treatises, and studies in almost all areas of knowledge. This very substantial artistic and written legacy, when read in conjunction with other contemporary source material, allows us to reconstruct a relatively detailed picture of Leonardo’s thinking, his creative oeuvre, and his intellectual development. We are today able to consult the surviving convolutes of Leonardo’s manuscripts, drawings, and studies in a number of different editions compiled with exemplary scholarship. In conjunction with modern findings on the handwriting, content, and sources of Leonardo’s writings, these convolutes remain the primary foundation for an understanding of the phenomenon that was Leonardo. The nature and extent of Leonardo’s authentic artistic oeuvre are meanwhile also largely established, not least on the basis of a large number of well-known primary sources. A number of recently discovered documents have led to the dates of certain paintings and drawings being revised, but they have also raised new questions, particularly concerning The Virgin of the Rocks and the Mona Lisa. Since the 1970s, scientific analysis and diagnostic scanning have on occasions yielded spectacular insights into paintings by Leonardo and his school. These discoveries have shed new light on the functioning and productivity of Leonardo’s workshop, but they have again raised new questions, such as the possibility that the master at times intervened directly on paintings by members of his workshop. Surprisingly intense and often very heated debate continues to surround the dating and attribution of autograph works by Leonardo, and of paintings by artists in his circle. The questions of interpretation and patronage that dominate the discussion of other artists play a noticeably less prominent role in Leonardo scholarship. By contrast, the relationship between Leonardo’s art and his science seems to be a perennial theme. Art historians have yet to reach a consensus as to whether these two spheres of Leonardo’s activity should be viewed as an inseparable whole. In almost every area of his interest, however, it is becoming increasingly apparent that we need to revise our perception of Leonardo as an isolated phenomenon, and that to situate his achievements within the context of the science and technology of his day is by no means to diminish his originality.

Bibliographies

The literature on Leonardo da Vinci (like that on Michelangelo, it should be said) has been researched and catalogued in substantially greater depth than is the case with most other artists in European art history. This begins with the bibliography Verga 1931, which brought together every single work of Leonardo scholarship then published, accompanied in many cases by a critical appraisal. The bibliographies Heydenreich 1952 and Brizio 1968 do the same, whereas Lorenzi and Marani 1982 lists only titles. Guerrini 1987, Guerrini 1990, and online searches of the Biblioteca Leonardiana in some cases include lists of contents and occasionally brief summaries as well. The e-Leo digital archive shares the same Biblioteca Leonardiana platform and can be accessed via numerous libraries.

Baroni, Costantino, et al. Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Reynal, 1967.
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First published in 1938 (Milan: Hoepli). Alongside numerous essays on wide-ranging aspects of Leonardo scholarship, this weighty tome also contains a bibliography of the most important new publications from the years 1931–1952, grouped by subject. See pp. 527–543.
Baroni, Costantino, et al. Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Reynal, 1967.
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Biblioteca Leonardiana.
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This online database is regularly updated and allows users to search by author, title, subject, and keyword. The results are shown in alphabetical order by author, and they contain abstracts and occasionally cross-references. The page also offers links to libraries, periodicals, and Leonardo research projects.
Biblioteca Leonardiana.
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Brizio, Anna Maria. “Rassegna degli studi Vinciani dal 1952 al 1968.” L’Arte 1 (1968): 107–120.
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Gives a very detailed overview of Leonardo scholarship between 1952 and 1968, with occasional commentaries on findings, current trends, and advances.
Brizio, Anna Maria. “Rassegna degli studi Vinciani dal 1952 al 1968.” L’Arte 1 (1968): 107–120.
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e-Leo: Archivio digitale di storia della tecnica e della scienza.
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A work in progress, the e-Leo digital archive aims to make Leonardo’s manuscripts, writings, and drawings available on the Internet. Various search functions are possible, including keyword indices and a glossary of Leonardo’s terminology.
e-Leo: Archivio digitale di storia della tecnica e della scienza.
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Guerrini, Mauro. “Bibliografia leonardiana.” Raccolta Vinciana 22 (1987): 389–573.
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The bibliography continues in Raccolta Vinciana 23 (1989): 307–376; 24 (1992): 335–384; 25 (1993): 473–522; 26 (1995): 369–401; and 27 (1997): 471–569. The bibliographies, arranged chronologically and alphabetically by author, list the entire body of writings by and on Leonardo, and include a brief overview of the contents of individual monographs, as well as an index of names and periodicals.
Guerrini, Mauro. “Bibliografia leonardiana.” Raccolta Vinciana 22 (1987): 389–573.
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Guerrini, Mauro. Biblioteca Leonardiana 1493–1989. 3 vols. Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 1990.
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Structured in a similar fashion to the Raccolta Vinciana bibliographies, this monumental database in print covers the entire body of writings by and on Leonardo. This vast undertaking is divided into titles of manuscripts and works by Leonardo (Vol. 1); indices of authors, titles of publications, periodicals (including daily newspapers) and concordances (Vol. 2); and a detailed subject index and a list of further sources (Vol. 3).
Guerrini, Mauro. Biblioteca Leonardiana 1493–1989. 3 vols. Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 1990.
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Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Leonardo-Bibliographie, 1939–1952.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 15 (1952): 195–200.
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This short bibliography is organized into six subject areas. In addition to summaries of individual titles, it offers an assessment of the latest trends in research of the day.
Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Leonardo-Bibliographie, 1939–1952.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 15 (1952): 195–200.
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Lorenzi, Alberto, Marani, Pietro C. Bibliografia Vinciana 1964–1979. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1982.
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Lists new publications from the period 1964–1979, organized alphabetically by author.
Lorenzi, Alberto, Marani, Pietro C. Bibliografia Vinciana 1964–1979. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1982.
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Verga, Ettore. Bibliografia vinciana. 2 vols. Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli, 1931.
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Verga’s bibliography, presented in chronological order, offers extensive, and often very precise, summaries of the individual titles, and it includes an index of subjects and names. Reprinted in 1970.
Verga, Ettore. Bibliografia vinciana. 2 vols. Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli, 1931.
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Collections of Primary Sources

The task of gathering together the very extensive and widely scattered body of source material relating to Leonardo’s life and work was begun even in the 16th century. The most important and comprehensive compilations of this kind are named here. They assemble the documents relating to Leonardo’s biography, his family, his individual commissions, the early history of his reception, and statements by the artist himself found sprinkled throughout his manuscripts. Poggi 1919 is still a very useful collection and commentary of primary sources, and it complements Vasari’s Life of Leonardo with further source material. Beltrami 1919 presents all the relevant primary sources on Leonardo in chronological order. Beltrami’s overview is updated and expanded in the most recent edition of the primary sources in Edoardo Villata (Villata 1999). In addition to these editions of texts in their Italian original, the anthology Schneider 2002 deserves mention as a useful German translation of sources.

Beltrami, Luca. Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci. Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1919.
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All the primary sources on Leonardo known in the author’s day are presented in chronological order, complemented by references to the artist in 15th- and 16th-century literature (from Bellincioni to Lomazzo), including Vasari’s Lives. It concludes with an index of names.
Beltrami, Luca. Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci. Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1919.
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Poggi, Giovanni, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: La vita di Giorgio Vasari nuovamente commentate e illustrata con 200 tavole. Florence: L. Pampaloni, 1919.
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The book is essentially an annotated edition of the two “Lives of Leonardo” by Giorgio Vasari (1550 and 1568). Poggi also cites and discusses the most relevant early sources on Leonardo, however. The plate section is effectively the first true catalogue raisonné of Leonardo’s paintings, with detailed commentaries and short summaries of selected titles from the literature.
Poggi, Giovanni, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: La vita di Giorgio Vasari nuovamente commentate e illustrata con 200 tavole. Florence: L. Pampaloni, 1919.
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Schneider, Marianne, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Eine Biographie in Zeugnissen, Selbstzeugnissen, Dokumenten und Bildern. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2002.
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This collection presents the most important primary sources and contemporary views on Leonardo in German translation, in chronological order and with detailed source references. The primary sources are complemented by a number of statements from Leonardo’s manuscripts.
Schneider, Marianne, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Eine Biographie in Zeugnissen, Selbstzeugnissen, Dokumenten und Bildern. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2002.
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Villata, Edoardo. Leonardo da Vinci: I documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee. Milan: Castello Sforzesco, 1999.
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The volume presents all the primary sources known at the date of publication (documents on Leonardo’s family, contracts, letters, etc.) in chronological order, together with all known contemporary statements on Leonardo. Each entry includes a selected bibliography of secondary titles. The book concludes with an index of names.
Villata, Edoardo. Leonardo da Vinci: I documenti e le testimonianze contemporanee. Milan: Castello Sforzesco, 1999.
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Individual Primary Sources

Leonardo was the first Renaissance artist whose life and works were written about in some detail by his immediate contemporaries. Particularly admired were his Last Supper (Pacioli 1889, Bandello 1934–1935, Benedettucci 1991, Giraldi 1554, Giovio 1970), his equestrian monument for Francesco Sforza (Pacioli 1889, Benedettucci 1991, Giovio 1970) and his Battle of Anghiari (Pacioli 1889, Benedettucci 1991, Giovio 1970). These early accounts, with their often anecdotal flavor, continue to inform our picture of Leonardo, even if many of their details are now considered exaggerated and some of their claims are disputed. This is the case with Beatis 1979 and its account of what the author saw in Leonardo’s workshop in 1517, and with the partly imprecise information contained in the Codice Magliabechiano (Frey 1892), which Vasari sought to integrate into his Life of Leonardo. The modern Vasari edition by Bettarini and Barocchi (Vasari 1966–1987) and the annotated German translation by Lorini and Feser (Vasari 2006) take full account of the problematic aspects of Vasari in their critical commentaries.

Bandello, Matteo. “La prima parte de le Novelle del Bandello.” In Tutte le opera. 2 vols. By Matteo Bandello. Edited by Francesco Flora. Milan: Mondadori, 1934–1935.
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Bandello spent some time in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and this work provides an eyewitness account of Leonardo’s work on The Last Supper, and of the general esteem in which the artist was held. First published in 1554.
Bandello, Matteo. “La prima parte de le Novelle del Bandello.” In Tutte le opera. 2 vols. By Matteo Bandello. Edited by Francesco Flora. Milan: Mondadori, 1934–1935.
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Beatis, Antonio de. The Travel Journal of Antonio de Beatis: Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, France and Italy, 1517–18. Edited by John Hale. London: Hakluyt Society, 1979.
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In his diary entry for 10 October 1517, Antonio de Beatis reports visiting Leonardo’s workshop in Clos-Lucé, near Amboise. He mentions seeing three paintings by Leonardo: a St. John the Baptist, a Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and a female portrait, probably the Mona Lisa.
Beatis, Antonio de. The Travel Journal of Antonio de Beatis: Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, France and Italy, 1517–18. Edited by John Hale. London: Hakluyt Society, 1979.
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Benedettucci, Fabio, ed. Il libro di Antonio Billi. Anzio, Italy: De Rubeis, 1991.
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The section on Leonardo in this collection of short artist biographies was written between 1527 and 1530, and it mentions a number of his works (The Last Supper, an equestrian monument for Francesco Sforza, The Battle of Anghiari), albeit not always in any detail. It also mentions Leonardo’s universal interests, his restless mind, his powers of invention, and the technical problems he experienced in his painting.
Benedettucci, Fabio, ed. Il libro di Antonio Billi. Anzio, Italy: De Rubeis, 1991.
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Frey, Karl, ed. Il Codice Magliabechiano. Berlin: Grote’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1892.
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The early artist biographies compiled in the Codice Magliabechiano include the most extensive review of Leonardo’s oeuvre before Vasari. Almost all of Leonardo’s known works are mentioned here, as well as a number of lost ones and Leonardo’s wide spectrum of interests. Reprint: Farnborough Hampshire: Gregg International, 1969.
Frey, Karl, ed. Il Codice Magliabechiano. Berlin: Grote’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1892.
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Giraldi, Giovan Battista. Discorsi intorno comporre de I romanzi, delle commedie, e delle tragedie, e di altre maniere di poesie. Venice: Gabriel Giolito, 1554.
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Giraldi records the very detailed if somewhat anecdotal account of Leonardo offered by his father Cristoforo Giraldi, who had known Leonardo personally and had watched him working on The Last Supper in Milan. See pp. 193–196.
Giraldi, Giovan Battista. Discorsi intorno comporre de I romanzi, delle commedie, e delle tragedie, e di altre maniere di poesie. Venice: Gabriel Giolito, 1554.
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Giovio, Paolo. “Leonardo Vincii Vita.” In The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Edited by Jean Paul Richter, 2–3. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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First published in 1883. To be read with “Supplement to Paolo Giovio’s Leonardo Vincii Vita” (In The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci: Commentary. 2 vols. Edited by Carlo Pedretti, 11. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977) Giovio’s dialogue on famous men and women also includes two sections on Leonardo’s life and works. Giovio names several major works (The Last Supper, the Sforza monument, The Battle of Anghiari, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne) and Leonardo’s studies on anatomy, proportion, and optics. He also mentions Leonardo’s writings and his views as a teacher.
Giovio, Paolo. “Leonardo Vincii Vita.” In The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Edited by Jean Paul Richter, 2–3. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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Pacioli, Luca. Divina proportione: Die Lehre vom Goldenen Schnitt; Nach der venezianischen Ausgabe von 1509. Edited and translated by Constantin Winterberg. Vienna: C. Graeser, 1889.
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Pacioli was at the court of Milan with Leonardo and wrote, at times in detail, about the artist’s work on the Sforza monument and The Last Supper, and on Leonardo’s art-theoretical and scientific interests up to 1499.
Pacioli, Luca. Divina proportione: Die Lehre vom Goldenen Schnitt; Nach der venezianischen Ausgabe von 1509. Edited and translated by Constantin Winterberg. Vienna: C. Graeser, 1889.
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Vasari, Giorgio. Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori: Nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568. Edited by Rosanna Bettarini, with commentary by Paola Barocchi. 9 vols. Florence: SPES, 1966–1987.
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Vasari’s Lives of the Artists in the editions of 1550 and 1568 remain one of our most important sources on Leonardo’s life and works, even if many details are now considered highly anecdotal. This parallel edition of the two versions of 1550 and 1568 continues to set the editorial standard. See especially Volume 4, 1 (1976), pp. 15–38.
Vasari, Giorgio. Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori: Nelle redazioni del 1550 e 1568. Edited by Rosanna Bettarini, with commentary by Paola Barocchi. 9 vols. Florence: SPES, 1966–1987.
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Vasari, Giorgio. Das Leben des Leonardo da Vinci. Edited by Sabine Feser. Translated by Victoria Lorini Berlin: Wagenbach, 2006.
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This German translation of Vasari’s “Life of Leonardo” is accompanied by the most exhaustive commentary and the most extensive and detailed bibliographical apparatus to date, comparable only with Poggi 1919 (cited under Collections of Primary Sources).
Vasari, Giorgio. Das Leben des Leonardo da Vinci. Edited by Sabine Feser. Translated by Victoria Lorini Berlin: Wagenbach, 2006.
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Manuscripts, Critical Editions

Leonardo’s fame is based not solely on his artistic oeuvre but equally upon his surviving writings. No other artist of the early modern era left behind such an extensive, complex, and diverse corpus of written and often illustrated notes. This literary legacy takes the form of thousands of manuscript pages, bound into notebooks and books—in some cases by Leonardo himself, in other cases by later hands. The earliest critical scholarly editions of Leonardo’s manuscripts appeared in the 19th century. Only the most recent editions are mentioned below, however, starting with the facsimile editions, then the pure text editions. Many of Leonardo’s drawings also carry notes and were in some cases combined into codices after Leonardo’s death. These are listed under the heading Critical Editions of Drawings. The facsimile editions of Leonardo’s manuscripts, as a rule the same size as the original, are accompanied in their most recent editions by a critical transcription of the text and in some cases by a translation. To these must be added the twelve manuscripts in the Institut de France published between 1999 and 2007 with an English translation by John Venerella. The history of these text editions and their criteria are discussed in the individual editions themselves. Richter 1970, Pedretti 1977, and Pedretti 1965 (all cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies) give a detailed picture of the history of the printed editions. Useful and concise characterizations of Leonardo’s manuscripts are found in Pedretti 1972 (cited under Architecture and Theater Design) and Vecce 1998 (cited under Monographs). The most extensive collection of original manuscripts is that in the Institut de France in Paris (I manoscritti dell’Institut de France [Leonardo da Vinci 1986–1990]), while the largest single convolute is Il Codice Atlantico edited by Marinoni (Leonardo da Vinci 1973–1980). Other volumes of individual manuscripts include The Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci at the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid (Leonardo da Vinci 1974), Il Codice nella Biblioteca Trivulziana (Leonardo da Vinci 1980), The Codex Hammer/ Codex Leicester (Leonardo da Vinci 1987), Il Codice sul Volo degli uccelli nella Biblioteca Reale di Torino (Leonardo da Vinci 1976), I Codici Forster (Leonardo da Vinci 1992), and Il Codice Arundel 263 (Leonardo da Vinci 1998). Various Leonardo manuscripts and later editions and compilations can be accessed via numerous websites, including the e-Leo digital archive (cited under Bibliographies). An early compilation assembled in the 16th century by Francesco Melzi from Leonardo’s original manuscripts is the Libro di pittura (Codex Urbinas 1270 ) in the Biblioteca Vaticana, which exists in several manuscripts, printed editions, and translations, including the critical edition by Vecce and Pedretti, Libro di pittura (Leonardo da Vinci 1995). Almost all the manuscript versions and the three earliest printed editions of the Libro di pittura can be accessed via the website Leonardo Da Vinci and His Treatise On Painting (cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies). Analyses of the Libro della pittura are cited under Art Theory.

Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice Atlantico. 24 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1973–1980
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Facsimile edition. The Codex Atlanticus in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan is best known for its drawings of machinery, but it also testifies to Leonardo’s other interests, including mathematics, geography, and botany. It also contains small but largely disregarded sketches for paintings (Leda, The Battle of Anghiari) as well as a few notes. Alongside the full-size facsimile edition (EUR 35,000), several smaller-format editions have since appeared (3 vols., Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 2000).
Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice Atlantico. 24 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1973–1980
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Leonardo da Vinci. The Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci at the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid. 5 vols. Edited by Ladislaus Reti. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.
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The Codices Madrid I–II contain notes relating to diverse areas of knowledge. They caused excitement upon their discovery, above all due to a lengthy passage on the planned casting of the Sforza monument and a few remarks on painting, which were previously known only through copies by Leonardo’s pupil Francesco Melzi in the Codex Urbinas. Also important in the Codex Madrid II is the inventory of Leonardo’s personal library, which runs to 116 titles.
Leonardo da Vinci. The Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci at the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid. 5 vols. Edited by Ladislaus Reti. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.
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Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice sul Volo degli uccelli nella Biblioteca Reale di Torino. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1976 (Facsimile).
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Leonardo’s treatise on bird flight, written in 1505–1506 and housed in the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, is one of his few surviving manuscripts devoted to one sustained theme, even if it also strays into other areas, such as geometry.
Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice sul Volo degli uccelli nella Biblioteca Reale di Torino. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1976 (Facsimile).
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Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice nella Biblioteca Trivulziana. Edited by Anna Maria Brizio. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1980.
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The sheets of notes making up this codex in the Biblioteca Trivulziana in Milan date, for the most part, from 1487–1490. They are primarily devoted to Leonardo’s study of the Italian language (vocabulary lists) and his designs for the completion of Milan cathedral and other architectural drawings.
Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice nella Biblioteca Trivulziana. Edited by Anna Maria Brizio. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1980.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I manoscritti dell’Institut de France. 12 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1986–1990.
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Facsimile edition. The twelve manuscripts in the Institut de France in Paris (Mss. A–M) cover almost all Leonardo’s areas of interest. Those devoted to single themes are MS C, on light and shadow; MS A, with notes on painting; and MS D, with a treatise on the eye. The Codex Ashburnhamianus 2037 and Codex Ashburnhamianus 2038, sometimes cited separately, form part of the original MS A.
Leonardo da Vinci. I manoscritti dell’Institut de France. 12 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1986–1990.
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Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex Hammer [Codex Leicester]. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1987.
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Facsimile edition. The Codex Leicester—so-called after its first owner, the Earl of Leicester, and subsequently renamed the Codex Hammer after a change of ownership—has been in the collection of Bill and Linda Gates since 1994. The sheets of notes making up this codex date for the most part from 1508–1510 and primarily relate to Leonardo’s studies on hydrology, cosmology, astronomy, meteorology, and geology.
Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex Hammer [Codex Leicester]. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1987.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I Codici Forster. 3 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1992
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Facsimile edition. The Codex Forster in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London comprises three very small notebooks containing numerous notes and sketches by Leonardo on a variety of topics, including architecture, hydraulics, grammar, and fables.
Leonardo da Vinci. I Codici Forster. 3 vols. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1992
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Leonardo da Vinci. Libro di pittura. Edited by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce. 2 vols. Florence: Giunti, 1995.
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Although Leonardo never completed his planned book on painting, he left copious notes scattered throughout his writings. Francesco Melzi compiled the Libro di pittura on the basis of these writings. Amongst the numerous editions of the treatise on painting, this 1995 publication is the most reliable. Volume 1 also contains an introduction by Carlo Pedretti, who analyses the Libro di pittura itself, its compilation by Menzi and the history of its editions with exhaustive references to the literature.
Leonardo da Vinci. Libro di pittura. Edited by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce. 2 vols. Florence: Giunti, 1995.
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Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice Arundel 263. Edited by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce. Florence: Giunti, 1998.
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Facsimile edition. The Codex Arundel in the British Library in London takes its name from Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1586–1646), who acquired the manuscript in Italy or Spain. It is a collection of loose sheets that were only bound together after Leonardo’s death. It contains sketches and notes from every phase of Leonardo’s career and covering many of his areas of interest, including mechanics, optics, architecture, and bird flight.
Leonardo da Vinci. Il Codice Arundel 263. Edited by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce. Florence: Giunti, 1998.
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Leonardo da Vinci. The manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci in the Institut de France: Manuscripts A – M. Translated and annotated by John Venerella. 12 vols. Milan: Ente Raccolta Vinciana, 1999–2007.
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These editions of the manuscripts in the collection of the Institut de France in Paris provide a complete English translation of the texts as well as detailed commentaries on the text itself, on the history of the manuscripts and on unusual linguistic, and paleographical and codicological features, accompanied in places by a glossary of Leonardo’s terminology.
Leonardo da Vinci. The manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci in the Institut de France: Manuscripts A – M. Translated and annotated by John Venerella. 12 vols. Milan: Ente Raccolta Vinciana, 1999–2007.
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Manuscripts, Critical Studies

A thorough knowledge of Leonardo’s manuscripts is the basis for understanding his oeuvre. Their genesis, structure, complexity, and major themes are the subject of several fundamental works of Leonardo scholarship, including the now classic publications Solmi 1976 (cited under Writings and Language), Calvi 1982, Richter 1970, and Pedretti 1977, and Bambach 2009, which takes account of more recent findings. Since the publication of Calvi 1982, the precise chronology of the manuscripts has become a major area of scholarship, because Leonardo’s thinking and intellectual development can only be understood if his writings are read in the correct chronological order. A critical view of this intellectual development is found in Bittner 2003 (cited under Writings and Language), and a short but relevant linguistic and textual analysis is provided in Manni 2008 (cited under Writings and Language). A glossary of Leonardo’s terminology can also be found on the e-Leo Internet platform (cited under Bibliographies). Important commentaries on Melzi’s compilation of Leonardo’s Libro di pittura and on its history and distribution are found in Richter 1970 and Pedretti 1965, Pedretti 1977, on the website Leonardo Da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting, and in Pedretti’s introduction to the Libro di pittura (Leonardo da Vinci 1995, cited under Manuscripts, Critical Editions).

Bambach, Carmen. Un’eredità difficile: I Disegni ed I manoscritti di Leonardo tra mito e documento. Lettura Vinciana 47. Florence: Giunti, 2009.
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Bambach takes a comprehensive look at the history of Leonardo’s manuscripts and drawings, their order (or disorder) and structure, and offers an overview of the relevant scholarship.
Bambach, Carmen. Un’eredità difficile: I Disegni ed I manoscritti di Leonardo tra mito e documento. Lettura Vinciana 47. Florence: Giunti, 2009.
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Calvi, Gerolamo. I Manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci: Dal punto di vista cronologico, storico e biografico. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Busto Arsizio, Italy: Bramante, 1982.
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First published in 1925. In this groundbreaking study, Calvi scrutinizes the handwriting, language, and material contents of Leonardo’s manuscripts in order to arrive at a reliable chronology of Leonardo’s handwriting and writings. Calvi’s analysis of Leonardo’s early manuscripts is particularly illuminating with regard to Leonardo’s intellectual development. The new edition of 1982 includes a concordance of the old and new page numbering of the Codex Atlanticus and an index of names and places.
Calvi, Gerolamo. I Manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci: Dal punto di vista cronologico, storico e biografico. Edited by Augusto Marinoni. Busto Arsizio, Italy: Bramante, 1982.
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Leonardo da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting.
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The website, an ongoing project under the authorship of Francesca Fiorani, aims to allow digital access to all manuscripts, printed editions, and translations of the Libro di pittura.
Leonardo da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting.
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Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo da Vinci on Painting: A Lost Book (Libro A) Reassembled from the Codex Vaticanus Urbinas 1270 and from the Codex Leicester. London: P. Owen, 1965.
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This work is a reconstruction of a lost Leonardo manuscript on painting, the Libro A, as it was called by Leonardo himself. At the same time, however, Pedretti offers a study of the structure of Leonardo’s manuscripts in general, as well as the chronology of the Libro di Pittura (Leonardo da Vinci 1995, cited under Manuscripts, Critical Editions), whose texts are taken in part from manuscripts still extant and in part from lost manuscripts (such as the Libro A).
Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo da Vinci on Painting: A Lost Book (Libro A) Reassembled from the Codex Vaticanus Urbinas 1270 and from the Codex Leicester. London: P. Owen, 1965.
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Pedretti, Carlo. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. Vol. 1, Commentary. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
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In his very important and extensive commentary on Richter 1970, Pedretti offers his own detailed remarks upon individual subject areas and upon Leonardo’s manuscripts, as well as further-reaching observations on the manuscripts and their character and chronology. He also makes corrections and a number of major additions to Richter’s transcriptions, and he references the relevant literature in each subject area.
Pedretti, Carlo. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. Vol. 1, Commentary. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
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Richter, Jean Paul, ed. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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First published in 1883. The most important anthology of Leonardo’s writings to date also includes a very useful appraisal of the chronology, structure, and contents of Leonardo’s manuscripts. First and foremost, however, it is a compilation of texts from Leonardo’s manuscripts, grouped into twenty-two subject areas.
Richter, Jean Paul, ed. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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Writings and Language

No other artist of the early modern era was also such a prolific author as Leonardo da Vinci. Valuable testaments to vernacular Italian literature in their own right, his writings are also of great documentary importance for Leonardo scholarship, since they shed light on his linguistic and intellectual development, his level of education, and his literary interests. Groundbreaking in this regard is Calvi 1925, study on the structure and chronology of Leonardo’s manuscripts. Marinoni 1944–1952 and Marinoni 1991 provide detailed analysis of Leonardo’s literary writings and education. The literary sources most important for Leonardo and his thinking, and their influence upon his writings, are examined in Solmi 1976, while Leonardo’s relationship with the humanists of his day is discussed in Dionisotti 1962. Zwijnenberg 1999 locates Leonardo more generally within the intellectual and technical culture of his day. Bittner 2003 offers a critical view of Leonardo’s literary writings and their structure.

Bittner, Jörg. Zu Text und Bild bei Leonardo da Vinci: Eine mediengeschichtliche Kritik des Einsatzes verbaler und visueller Darstellungsmittel in der italienischen Renaissance. Frankfurt and New York: Peter Lang, 2003
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Bittner goes against mainstream scholarship in arguing that Leonardo’s writings and his major works of art are not necessarily mutually interdependent, and that Leonardo’s theory and art production served the same end, namely an emancipation of art and artist. Unlike most modern scholarship, Bittner also comments and analyzes the structural deficits and contradictions in Leonardo’s writings and theories.
Bittner, Jörg. Zu Text und Bild bei Leonardo da Vinci: Eine mediengeschichtliche Kritik des Einsatzes verbaler und visueller Darstellungsmittel in der italienischen Renaissance. Frankfurt and New York: Peter Lang, 2003
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Calvi, Gerolamo. I Manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci dal punto di vista cronologico, storico e biografico. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1925.
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Calvi’s study of Leonardo’s manuscripts and their palaeographical characteristics also yields important findings on Leonardo’s early biography, his language and his linguistic studies. Calvi’s publication, which starts from a detailed examination of the original sources and thereby attempts to establish a chronology of Leonardo’s notes and manuscripts, is also the point of departure for modern Leonardo philology. (Reprint: Calvi 1982, cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies.)
Calvi, Gerolamo. I Manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci dal punto di vista cronologico, storico e biografico. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1925.
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Dionisotti, Carlo. “Leonardo uomo di lettere.” Italia medioevale e umanistica 5 (1962): 183–216.
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The article explores Leonardo’s well-known claim to be an omo sanza lettere against the backdrop of the rivalries between the poets, musicians, and visual artists at the court of Milan. Particularly important in this context was the polemic of the Milan literati, who stressed the primacy of texts over art works.
Dionisotti, Carlo. “Leonardo uomo di lettere.” Italia medioevale e umanistica 5 (1962): 183–216.
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Manni, Paola. Percorsi nella lingua di Leonardo: Grafie, forme, parole. Lettura Vinciana 48. Florence: Giunti, 2008.
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Manni starts with a summary of some of the research already conducted into Leonardo’s language and writings. She then proceeds to situate some of Leonardo’s texts, on the basis of their handwriting, style, vocabulary, and grammar, within the context of linguistic development in 15th-century Florence. Alongside early examples from the Codex Atlanticus, she also illustrates her arguments with reference to the Codex Madrid I, only rediscovered in 1967.
Manni, Paola. Percorsi nella lingua di Leonardo: Grafie, forme, parole. Lettura Vinciana 48. Florence: Giunti, 2008.
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Marinoni, Augusto. Gli appunti grammaticali e lessicali di Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Milan: E. Bestetti, 1944–1952.
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Marinoni makes clear that Leonardo sought to further his own learning in certain areas—by attempting to master Latin as well as Italian, for example. Marinoni’s publication is of outstanding importance for an understanding of Leonardo’s level of education, and it shows that the artist can be located between two poles: Renaissance humanism, which presupposed a knowledge of Latin, and a new literary culture in which Italian began to play an increasingly significant role.
Marinoni, Augusto. Gli appunti grammaticali e lessicali di Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Milan: E. Bestetti, 1944–1952.
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Marinoni, Augusto. Leonardo da Vinci: Scritti letterari. Milan: Rizzoli, 1991
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First published in 1952. The book, which takes the form of an annotated anthology, brings together essays (some of them previously published) on Leonardo’s literary writings, including his fables and predictions, on his Latin studies, and on his library. The author thus paints a picture of Leonardo’s literary writings and his efforts to further his education.
Marinoni, Augusto. Leonardo da Vinci: Scritti letterari. Milan: Rizzoli, 1991
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Solmi, Edmondo. Scritti Vinciani: Le fonti dei manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci e altri studi. Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1976.
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First published 1908–1911. Solmi identifies numerous original sources of which Leonardo had direct or indirect knowledge, and upon which he built his own ideas, and which he indeed also cited in some of his manuscripts. Solmi’s work is thus an important contribution to our understanding of Leonardo’s literary and scientific learning and his level of education. The 1976 edition also contains a critical appraisal of Solmi’s work by Eugenio Garin and additional studies.
Solmi, Edmondo. Scritti Vinciani: Le fonti dei manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci e altri studi. Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1976.
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Zwijnenberg, Robert. The Writings and Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci: Order and Chaos in Early Modern Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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In contrast to the more philologically oriented studies Calvi 1925 and Marinoni 1944–1952, which base themselves on a detailed analysis of Leonardo’s manuscripts, Zwijnenberg seeks to situate Leonardo more generally within the intellectual culture of his day. He looks at where Leonardo stood with regard to thinkers such as Nicholas of Cusa and engineers such as Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Mariano Tacola.
Zwijnenberg, Robert. The Writings and Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci: Order and Chaos in Early Modern Thought. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Critical Editions of Drawings

The drawings of Leonardo, and in part, too, those of his circle, are today available in lavish volumes setting exemplary standards of scholarship. The modern facsimile editions combine full-scale reproductions with a scholarly introduction, individual commentaries on the drawings, and comprehensive bibliographies. The most important collection of Leonardo drawings is that in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, whose holdings have been published in Keele and Pedretti 1978–1980 and Pedretti and Roberts 1982–1987. Keele and Pedretti 1978–1980 contains drawings and notes alike. The facsimile editions devoted to the Leonardo drawings in the Galleria degli Uffizi (Leonardo da Vinci 1985), the Biblioteca Reale di Torino (Leonardo da Vinci 1990), and the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia (Leonardo da Vinci 2003), as well as the collections in France (Leonardo da Vinci 2008), the United States (Pedretti and Trutty-Coohill 1993) and Great Britain (Leonardo da Vinci 2010), mostly contain drawings. With the exception of a handful of individual sheets, all of Leonardo’s drawings are thus available in benchmark editions.

Keele, Kenneth David, and Carlo Pedretti. Leonardo da Vinci: Corpus of the Anatomical Studies in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 3 vols. London: Johnson Reprint, 1978–1980.
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The Corpus of the Anatomical Studies is today considered a milestone among printed editions of Leonardo’s drawings and manuscripts. It consists of facsimiles of Leonardo’s anatomical and physiological studies, arranged in chronological order from 1483 to 1513, accompanied by a comprehensive scholarly commentary and a positioning of Leonardo’s studies within the history of anatomy.
Keele, Kenneth David, and Carlo Pedretti. Leonardo da Vinci: Corpus of the Anatomical Studies in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 3 vols. London: Johnson Reprint, 1978–1980.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nel Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe della Galleria degli Uffizi a Firenze. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1985.
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Alongside thirty-nine drawings by pupils, the publication comprises eleven undisputed autograph drawings by Leonardo, including a number of very early sheets bearing relatively early examples of Leonardo’s hand-writing.
Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nel Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe della Galleria degli Uffizi a Firenze. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Florence: Giunti Barbéra, 1985.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nella Biblioteca Reale di Torino. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Disegni d’architettura militare di Leonardo da Vinci, Ms. Saluzzo 312. Florence: Giunti, 1990.
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The modest collection of individual sheets from the former royal Savoy collection in Turin is reproduced in twenty-three facsimiles and analyzed in the scholarly depth associated with the Giunti series. The Biblioteca Reale’s holdings consist primarily of artistic drawings, such as those for a Hercules project, studies on proportion and anatomy, and the red chalk drawing of an elderly bearded man whose attribution is disputed but which is considered by some to show a self-portrait of Leonardo.
Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nella Biblioteca Reale di Torino. Edited by Carlo Pedretti. Disegni d’architettura militare di Leonardo da Vinci, Ms. Saluzzo 312. Florence: Giunti, 1990.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nel Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe delle Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Edited by Carlo Pedretti, Giovanna Nepi Scirè, and Annalisa Perissa Torrini. Florence: Giunti, 2003.
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The volume includes twenty-six (for the most part undisputed) autograph drawings by Leonardo, among them a number of designs relating to important paintings (Adorations, The Battle of Anghiari, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne) and Leonardo’s famous “Vitruvian man” study of the human proportions, together with forty-six drawings by artists from Leonardo’s sphere and later copies of drawings by Leonardo.
Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nel Gabinetto dei Disegni e Stampe delle Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia. Edited by Carlo Pedretti, Giovanna Nepi Scirè, and Annalisa Perissa Torrini. Florence: Giunti, 2003.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nelle collezioni pubbliche in Francia. Edited by Pietro C. Marani, et al. Florence: Giunti, 2008.
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The publication presents all the Leonardo drawings housed in seven French collections, primarily, of course, in the Louvre. Best-known are the sketches for Leonardo’s Virgin and Child with St, Anne and the cartoon thought to show a portrait of Isabella d’Este.
Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nelle collezioni pubbliche in Francia. Edited by Pietro C. Marani, et al. Florence: Giunti, 2008.
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Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nelle collezioni della Gran Bretagna. Edited by Martin Kemp and Juliana Barone. Florence: Giunti, 2010.
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The most recent of the Giunti facsimile editions of Leonardo’s drawings brings together eighty-four original drawings by Leonardo and fifty-five drawings from his circle. It also includes an analysis of Leonardo’s methods as a draughtsman, comparisons with the techniques of artists in his sphere, and remarks on early collectors of his drawings. Leonardo the draughtsman is thus presented in the context of the drawing practiced by his artist contemporaries.
Leonardo da Vinci. I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia nelle collezioni della Gran Bretagna. Edited by Martin Kemp and Juliana Barone. Florence: Giunti, 2010.
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Pedretti, Carlo, and Jane Roberts, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: The Drawings and Miscellaneous Papers of Leonardo da Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 2 vols. London: Johnson Reprint, 1982–1987.
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Volume 1 of The Drawings and Miscellaneous Papers (Landscapes, Plants and Water Studies ) is devoted to Leonardo’s studies on landscapes, plants, the flow of water, and monumental maps, while Volume 2 (Horses and other Animals) is devoted to his many studies of animals, here organized into six groups, including horses, equestrian monuments (Sforza and Trivulzio monuments), The Battle of Anghiari, and allegories. Volumes 3 and 4 have yet to be published.
Pedretti, Carlo, and Jane Roberts, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: The Drawings and Miscellaneous Papers of Leonardo da Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 2 vols. London: Johnson Reprint, 1982–1987.
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Pedretti, Carlo, and Patricia Trutty-Coohill, eds. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and his Circle in America. Florence: Giunti, 1993.
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The drawings attributed to Leonardo and his circle housed in various collections in the US tend to be somewhat overlooked by Leonardo scholars. This compilation includes fifteen that are here attributed to Leonardo himself, amongst them important studies for The Virgin of the Rocks and The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, but also a number of sheets whose attribution is disputed.
Pedretti, Carlo, and Patricia Trutty-Coohill, eds. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and his Circle in America. Florence: Giunti, 1993.
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Drawings, Collected Volumes, Critical Studies, and Prints

Alongside the lavish and often very expensive printed editions of Leonardo’s drawings are other collected volumes of his graphic works, usually with an introductory essay, which by their very nature are more accessible than single facsimile editions of Leonardo’s original manuscripts. The standard introduction to Leonardo as a draughtsman is still the annotated anthology Popham 1994, in conjunction with the more comprehensive commentaries with bibliographical references accompanying the groupings of Leonardo’s drawings in Zöllner and Nathan 2011. The commentaries in Clark and Pedretti 1969 on the holdings in the Royal Library in Windsor Castle likewise remain as significant as ever for our understanding of Leonardo as a draughtsman. The exhibition catalogues Bambach 2003 and Viatte and Forcione 2003 (both cited under Exhibition Catalogues) can also be read as critical studies on Leonardo as a draughtsman. The same applies to Bambach 1999 (cited under Composition) and Bambach 2009 (cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies). The most complete overview of prints based on designs by Leonardo remains Leonardo e l‘incisione (Alberici and Chirico de Biasi 1984).

Alberici, Clelia, and Mariateresa Chirico de Biasi, eds. Leonardo e l‘incisione: Stampe derivate da Leonardo e Bramante dal XV al XIX secolo. Milan: Electa, 1984.
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The most comprehensive collection and commentary to date of prints made after pictorial inventions and paintings by Leonardo, with examples from the late 15th to the 19th centuries. These reveal, inter alia, the fluctuating popularity of different motifs over the course of the centuries.
Alberici, Clelia, and Mariateresa Chirico de Biasi, eds. Leonardo e l‘incisione: Stampe derivate da Leonardo e Bramante dal XV al XIX secolo. Milan: Electa, 1984.
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Clark, Kenneth, and Carlo Pedretti, eds. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 3 vols. London: Phaidon, 1969.
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First published in 1935. Prior to the appearance of the three-volume Corpus of the Anatomical Studies (Keele and Pedretti 1978–1980, cited under Critical Editions of Drawings) and the two-volume Drawings and Miscellaneous Papers (Pedretti and Roberts 1982–1987, cited under Critical Editions of Drawings), this was the standard edition of the Leonardo drawings in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Clark’s analyses of individual drawings, his proposed datings and his introductions to Leonardo’s major themes are in most cases still valid today. The three-volume publication consequently remains an important introduction to Leonardo as a draughtsman.
Clark, Kenneth, and Carlo Pedretti, eds. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle. 3 vols. London: Phaidon, 1969.
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Popham, Arthur E. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Introduced by Martin Kemp. London: Pimlico, 1994.
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First published in 1946. Popham’s book, which has passed through numerous editions, remains the standard anthology of Leonardo’s most important drawings, grouped into nine subject areas and accompanied by an introductory essay still well worth reading today. The new edition also features an introduction by Martin Kemp and a revised and updated bibliography.
Popham, Arthur E. The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Introduced by Martin Kemp. London: Pimlico, 1994.
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Zöllner, Frank, and Johannes Nathan. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519: The Complete Paintings and Drawings. Cologne: Taschen, 2011.
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First published in 2003. The second part of this monograph presents the 663 most important Leonardo drawings (including a number of illustrated manuscript pages) grouped into sixteen subject areas, each prefaced by an introduction and with suggestions for further reading.
Zöllner, Frank, and Johannes Nathan. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519: The Complete Paintings and Drawings. Cologne: Taschen, 2011.
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Anthologies

Even in the presence of the latest scholarly editions of Leonardo’s original manuscripts, anthologies remain an indispensable tool of research. They have the advantage of allowing relationships between manuscripts to be kept in view and their contents to be grouped and presented by theme. The most comprehensive anthologies are Richter 1970, Lücke 1952, and MacCurdy 1977, which also structure the material via a complex system of indices. Pedretti 1977 complements Richter 1970 with important extra material. More recent is the somewhat less comprehensive Kemp and Walker 1989.

Kemp, Martin, and Margaret Walker, eds. Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Leonardo da Vinci with a Selection of Documents Relating to His Career as an Artist. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.
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This anthology of texts in English translation with short commentaries focuses primarily upon Leonardo’s writings on painting, accompanied by important documents relating to his career (contracts, letters).
Kemp, Martin, and Margaret Walker, eds. Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Leonardo da Vinci with a Selection of Documents Relating to His Career as an Artist. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.
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Lücke, Theodor, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Tagebücher und Aufzeichnungen. Leipzig: Paul List Verlag, 1952.
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First published in 1940. Alongside Richter 1970, this compilation of individual passages from Leonardo’s manuscripts in German translation is the most extensive of the anthologies of Leonardo texts. It is divided into forty-nine sections and also offers a very detailed index of subjects and keywords.
Lücke, Theodor, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Tagebücher und Aufzeichnungen. Leipzig: Paul List Verlag, 1952.
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MacCurdy, Edward, ed. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. London: Jonathan Cape, 1977.
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First published in 1938. MacCurdy’s anthology is divided into fifty subject areas. A particular feature of this compilation is that, within the individual sections, Leonardo’s texts are ordered more or less as they appear in his original writings.
MacCurdy, Edward, ed. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. London: Jonathan Cape, 1977.
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Pedretti, Carlo. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. Vol. 1, Commentary. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
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Pedretti’s commentary on Richter 1970 follows the latter’s structure, but it offers corrections and additions to Richter’s transcriptions, introduces cross-references to other manuscripts and to the secondary literature, and most especially attempts to date precisely the individual quotations from the original manuscripts. It also includes sections on the history of the manuscripts, concordances, and indices of names and subjects.
Pedretti, Carlo. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. Vol. 1, Commentary. Oxford: Phaidon, 1977.
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Richter, Jean Paul, ed. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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First published in 1883. Richter’s compilation of texts from Leonardo’s manuscripts, grouped into twenty-two subject areas with a total of 1,566 paragraphs, is still the standard anthology of Leonardo’s writings. It offers a transcription of the texts accompanied by an English translation. It also discusses the structure and history of the original manuscripts. The 1970 edition is the most complete and includes an index of names and subjects compiled by Ernst Gombrich. Richter’s work is substantially complemented in Pedretti 1977.
Richter, Jean Paul, ed. The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Oxford: Phaidon, 1970.
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Serials and Collected Essays

A number of periodicals devoted to Leonardo, or simply carrying his name, have existed for several decades. The most important and most serious of these are the Raccolta Vinciana, the Achademia Leonardi Vinci and the Leonardo da Vinci Society Newsletter. Mention should also be made of the proceedings of the Lettura Vinciana conference inaugurated in 1960, which are in each case published the following year. Among the many, often very wide-ranging volumes of collected essays on Leonardo are the five volumes of Farago 1999, which largely reprint the most important contributions to Leonardo scholarship of recent years.

Achademia Leonardi Vinci: Journal of Leonardo Studies & Bibliography of Vinciana. 1988–.
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The journal publishes bibliographies and important specialist articles on all aspects of Leonardo’s life and work, including those dealing with Leonardo’s reception in the 19th and 20th centuries. It also carries news of particular discoveries and events within the sphere of Leonardo scholarship.
Achademia Leonardi Vinci: Journal of Leonardo Studies & Bibliography of Vinciana. 1988–.
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Farago, Claire, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Selected Scholarship. 5 vols. New York: Garland, 1999.
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Farago unites a thoughtful selection of Leonardo studies previously published elsewhere. Volume 1 consists of essays on Leonardo’s biography and on earlier scholarship. Volumes 2 and 3 contain studies on Leonardo’s most important artistic projects, grouped by career phase. Volume 4 is wholly devoted to Leonardo’s literary oeuvre and his art theory. Volume 5 contains essays on Leonardo’s scientific studies in the areas of perspective and optics, light and shadow, anatomy and physiognomy, mechanics, and botany.
Farago, Claire, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Selected Scholarship. 5 vols. New York: Garland, 1999.
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Leonardo da Vinci Society Newsletter. 1992–.
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The newsletter is primarily an organ of communication and announces and reviews events of interest to Leonardo scholars rather than publishing detailed articles. Pertinent new discoveries are also presented and discussed.
Leonardo da Vinci Society Newsletter. 1992–.
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Lettura Vinciana. Florence: Guinti, 1960–.
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Publication series accompanying the annual Lettura Vinciana, with contributions on all aspects of Leonardo’s works.
Lettura Vinciana. Florence: Guinti, 1960–.
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Raccolta Vinciana. 1905–.
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The journal, whose founding more or less marked the start of systematic Leonardo research, publishes bibliographies and important specialist articles on all aspects of Leonardo’s life and work.
Raccolta Vinciana. 1905–.
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Catalogues Raisonnés

Even if the catalogue raisonné seems to have fallen rather out of fashion as a method, this genre of book is still a useful means of approaching Leonardo’s oeuvre as a painter. One of the first detailed catalogues raisonnés of Leonardo’s paintings can be found in Poggi 1919. This was followed over the years by others, with the focus falling above all on questions of dating, stylistic criticism, provenance, and attribution. They include the comprehensive catalogues Ottino della Chiesa 1967 and Marani 1989. Somewhat less exhaustive are Goldscheider 1959 and Wasserman 1984. Greater attention to questions of interpretation and an extensive critical appraisal of Leonardo scholarship are found in Zöllner 2011.

Goldscheider, Ludwig. Leonardo da Vinci: Life and Work, Paintings and Drawings. London: Phaidon, 1959.
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Goldscheider’s complete catalogue of paintings contains short and useful analyses of individual works, and it references the most important sources and secondary literature.
Goldscheider, Ludwig. Leonardo da Vinci: Life and Work, Paintings and Drawings. London: Phaidon, 1959.
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Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo. Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence: Cantini, 1989.
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Marani’s catalogue follows on from Poggi 1919 and Ottino della Chiesa 1967 and discusses in depth questions of provenance, dating, style, and attribution. Particularly useful is a catalogue of thirteen works that are either lost or were never painted by Leonardo himelf, but were executed by pupils and followers on the basis of the master’s designs.
Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo. Catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence: Cantini, 1989.
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Ottino della Chiesa, Angela. L’opera completa di Leonardo pittore. Milan: Rizzoli, 1967.
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The catalogue raisonné by Ottino della Chiesa goes into greater depth than its predecessors. It describes provenance, refers in some cases to the findings of technical analyses, names preliminary drawings for individual paintings, and examines questions of attribution and dating in detail. Less attention, on the other hand, is given to aspects of interpretation. The discussion and reproduction of paintings by Leonardo’s school is particularly useful.
Ottino della Chiesa, Angela. L’opera completa di Leonardo pittore. Milan: Rizzoli, 1967.
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Poggi, Giovanni, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: La vita di Giorgio Vasari nuovamente commentata. Florence: L. Pampaloni, 1919.
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In the commentaries accompanying the Plate section, Poggi discusses Leonardo’s individual paintings in terms of their sources, the current state of scholarship, and related preliminary drawings.
Poggi, Giovanni, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: La vita di Giorgio Vasari nuovamente commentata. Florence: L. Pampaloni, 1919.
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Wasserman, Jack. Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Harry N. Abrahams, 1984.
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First published in 1975. The value of Wasserman’s catalogue lies above all in the fact that he adopts a comparatively critical approach to the areas of attribution and dating and exercises great restraint when it comes to interpretation.
Wasserman, Jack. Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Harry N. Abrahams, 1984.
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Zöllner, Frank. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519. Vol. 1, The Complete Paintings and Drawings. Cologne: Taschen, 2011.
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First published in 2003. Provenance, dating, style, and attribution are all discussed in the catalogue section, together with questions of interpretation. The most important positions within earlier Leonardo scholarship and all those of more recent authors are referenced and appraised. The most important documents relating to Leonardo’s life are cited in the biographical main text (and in the original language in the appendix). The 2011 edition has updates relating to current research.
Zöllner, Frank. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452–1519. Vol. 1, The Complete Paintings and Drawings. Cologne: Taschen, 2011.
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Monographs

Due to their masterly grasp of the immense volume of primary material, even much older Leonardo monographs, such as Müntz 1898 and Seidlitz 1909, are still well worth reading today. Their biographical orientation is also found in the more recent Vecce 1998 and Nicholl 2004. The very close look at Leonardo’s life offered by these publications makes them an ideal complement to other monographs focusing upon the reciprocal relationship between Leonardo’s art and his science, such as Heydenreich 1953 and Kemp 2006, and upon Leonardo’s intellectual development and personality (Arasse 1998). Marani 1999 paints an exhaustive picture of Leonardo as an artist.

Arasse, Daniel. Leonardo da Vinci: The Rhythm of the World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1998.
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First published in 1997 in Paris. Like Heydenreich 1953, Arasse orients himself less toward Leonardo’s artistic biography than toward his intellectual development, which he traces through Leonardo’s copious notes. He discusses the artist’s education and social status, as well as psychological aspects of Leonardo’s life, in particular in the late phase of his career. The analyses of individual works are based on a highly knowledgeable appraisal of Leonardo scholarship.
Arasse, Daniel. Leonardo da Vinci: The Rhythm of the World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1998.
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Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1953.
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First published in 1942. Heydenreich concentrates upon the question of whether and to what extent a reciprocal relationship exists between art and science in Leonardo’s oeuvre. He argues that the “whole” Leonardo and his most important ideas can only fully be seen within the context of this relationship. The appendix provides a useful list of all Leonardo’s paintings and designs for paintings, including some that are documented in only the barest outline in the sources.
Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. Leonardo da Vinci. 2 vols. Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1953.
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Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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First published in 1981. Although Kemp orients his monograph toward Leonardo’s life, he thereby tracks Leonardo’s intellectual development in the example of some of the artist’s major themes (perspective, anatomy, light and shadow, movement). Kemp elucidates Leonardo’s most important ideas and interests, and he follows these with detailed, context-based, and very balanced interpretations of Leonardo’s most important groups of works. The updated new edition includes a selection of recent scholarly titles.
Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo: Una carriera di pittore. Milan: Federico Motta, 1999.
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The monograph unites several previously published essays by Marani on different aspects of Leonardo’s artistic career, and in particular on the role played by contemporary as well as antique sculpture for Leonardo’s design process. It also includes a number of new chapters in which Marani offeres detailed analyses of individual Leonardo paintings in the light of recent findings, including those yielded by restoration campaigns.
Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo: Una carriera di pittore. Milan: Federico Motta, 1999.
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Müntz, Eugène. Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1898.
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The monograph not only offers a very detailed analysis of Leonardo’s life and work, but it also addresses Leonardo’s role as a scientist, a topic that would become a regular theme of Leonardo scholarship throughout the 20th century. Also includes a very extensive list of autograph drawings, grouped by location.
Müntz, Eugène. Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Thinker, and Man of Science. 2 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1898.
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Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind. London: Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin, 2004.
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The monograph, which looks at the whole of Leonardo’s entire career, is based above all on a very detailed knowledge of the primary sources and specialist studies. By its very nature as a biographical study, it covers Leonardo’s life in more detail than Heydenreich 1953 and Arasse 1998, with their more specific focus. Nicholl’s evaluation of the secondary literature is also more reliable and extensive than that in Vecce 1998.
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind. London: Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin, 2004.
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Seidlitz, Woldemar von. Leonardo da Vinci: Der Wendepunkt der Renaissance. 2 vols. Berlin: Julius Bard, 1909.
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This chronological account of Leonardo’s life and work is firmly rooted in the sources and reflects an extensive knowledge of Leonardo scholarship. Seidlitz devotes a separate section to a detailed analysis of Leonardo’s treatise on painting, and another to Leonardo’s achievements as a scientist. The monograph can be accessed via a very thorough index.
Seidlitz, Woldemar von. Leonardo da Vinci: Der Wendepunkt der Renaissance. 2 vols. Berlin: Julius Bard, 1909.
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Vecce, Carlo. Leonardo. Rome: Salerno, 1998.
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The biographical monograph is based above all on a very detailed knowledge of the primary sources, but it is somewhat selective in its reference to Leonardo scholarship. It does not always distinguish between facts and suppositions (e.g., with regard to Leonardo’s trips to Rome). This is particularly true of the otherwise very useful chronology of Leonardo’s life and works at the end of the book. Also useful is the appendix with information on Leonardo’s manuscripts.
Vecce, Carlo. Leonardo. Rome: Salerno, 1998.
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Exhibition Catalogues

An ever-growing number of Leonardo exhibitions have added substantially to our knowledge in recent years. The largest of these were the exhibitions of drawings by Leonardo and his school, including those in 2003 in New York and Paris (Bambach 2003 and Viatte and Forcione 2003), which covered every area of his activities and his chronological development as an artist. The 1989 exhibition of drawings in the Hayward Gallery (Kemp and Roberts 1989) was smaller in scale and concentrated upon Leonardo’s key themes. The major Leonardo exhibitions in London (Syson and Keith 2011) and Paris (Delieuvin 2012) also showed a large number of Leonardo’s paintings. These two shows, together with the two 2003 exhibitions in New York and Paris, represented the sum of decades of specialist research. Mention should also be made of the exhibitions devoted to individual paintings, usually in conjunction with the conclusion of a restoration campaign (see Pictorial Technique), and the exhibition catalogues on Engineering and Technology.

Bambach, Carmen, ed. Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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The 138 catalogue numbers together present a chronological panorama of Leonardo’s artistic development and forms of expression in the medium of drawing. Leonardo’s autograph drawings are situated at the beginning within the context of works by his fellow students and by artists of his teachers’ generation, and at the end within the context of drawings by his own pupils and imitators.
Bambach, Carmen, ed. Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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This exhibition catalogue focuses on Leonardo’s designs for a St. Anne composition and the variations on this composition by the hand of other artists. The catalogue unites variants and copies of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne by Leonardo’s pupils and followers. It thereby becomes clear that Leonardo ran a highly productive workshop whose members reproduced the master’s paintings and designs in ever-new variations. Most sections of the catalogue also reference the entire body of earlier Leonardo scholarship.
Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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Kemp, Martin, and Jane Roberts, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Scientist, Inventor. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.
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Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery in London. The 118 autograph drawings in the exhibition provide the starting point for a discussion of major themes and leitmotifs within Leonardo’s oeuvre, which are treated in great detail in the catalogue entries. Key focus falls upon Leonardo’s interests in the growth and decay of organic life, and the dynamic forces of natural phenomena, and the ways in which they can be measured.
Kemp, Martin, and Jane Roberts, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: Artist, Scientist, Inventor. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989.
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Syson, Luke, with Larry Keith, eds. Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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The catalogue brings together analyses of the most important autograph paintings from Leonardo’s first Milanese period, and analyses of paintings—both autograph and disputed—that were traditionally assigned to other phases of Leonardo’s career. These include the St. Jerome, the New York version of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, and a version of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, whose attribution to Leonardo is supported in the catalogue. New dates are proposed for a number of Leonardo’s drawings, albeit often with unconvincing arguments. The catalogue also analyzes numerous paintings by artists in Leonardo’s circle.
Syson, Luke, with Larry Keith, eds. Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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Viatte, Françoise, and Varena Forcione, eds. Léonard de Vinci: Dessins et manuscrits. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2003.
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The Paris exhibition also included a number of manuscripts from the Institut de France. The catalogue, like the original exhibition, follows the chronology of Leonardo’s life while at the same time orienting itself towards specific themes and certain major commissions. Interesting cross-references thus arise between the detailed commentaries of the individual drawings and other works and themes within Leonardo’s oeuvre. The catalogue also contains important essays on the sorts of paper used by Leonardo and on the provenance of the drawings.
Viatte, Françoise, and Varena Forcione, eds. Léonard de Vinci: Dessins et manuscrits. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2003.
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Autograph Paintings

Leonardo’s activity as a painter resulted in a relatively small number of finished works. The focus of Leonardo scholarship has nevertheless always fallen more strongly upon this painterly oeuvre than upon the artist’s many other spheres of activities, even though, strictly speaking, these occupied far more of his time. A comprehensive discussion of Leonardo’s autograph paintings can be found in the Catalogues Raisonnés and in the more recent Monographs, which also examine the historical circumstances in which the works were painted. For more on this last aspect, see also Patronage. The following subsections primarily discuss studies devoted to individual paintings. They include several exhibition catalogues, the majority published to mark the conclusion of restoration campaigns.

Early Florentine Period, 1469–1482/1483

As in the case of many other artists of the 15th century, art historians are still trying to distinguish Leonardo’s early oeuvre (Madonna with the Carnation, Munich; The Baptism of Christ, Florence; The Annunciation, Florence) from that of the generation of his teachers. A very thorough examination of Leonardo’s beginnings as an artist and of the larger part of the paintings produced while he was still in Florence is found in Brown 1998, which also discusses the workshop environment that provided the backdrop to Leonardo’s training. This comprehensive publication is complemented by the studies on individual paintings in Natali 1998a, Natali 1998b, Natali et al. 2000, and Syre and Schmidt 2006, produced in conjunction with exhibitions and restoration campaigns. Ost 1975 situates St. Jerome within the Florentine workshop tradition, Fletcher 1989 identifies the patron who commissioned Ginevra de’ Benci, and Lisner 1981 offers an iconographical analysis of the Adoration of the Magi.

Brown, David Alan. Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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This important study illuminates Leonardo’s beginnings in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. It shows the young Leonardo’s initial orientation towards the technique and pictorial formulae of his teacher and the works of other artists in Verrocchio’s sphere, and his subsequent emanicipation from their precepts, particularly evidenced by his nature studies.
Brown, David Alan. Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
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Fletcher, Jennifer. “Bernardo Bembo and Leonardo’s Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci.” The Burlington Magazine 131 (1989): 811–816.
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The most authoritative recent study of Leonardo’s portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci is still the 1989 article by Jennifer Fletcher. She convincingly argues that the painting was commissioned by Bernardo Bembo, whose motto appears in a modified form on the reverse of the portrait. Bembo probably ordered the painting during his second stay in Florence, 1478–1480. It was intended for Ginevra, with whom he maintained a platonic friendship; the painting is thus not a bridal portrait.
Fletcher, Jennifer. “Bernardo Bembo and Leonardo’s Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci.” The Burlington Magazine 131 (1989): 811–816.
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Lisner, Margrit. “Leonardos Anbetung der Könige: Zum Sinngehalt und zur Komposition.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 44 (1981): 201–242.
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Lisner analyzes the composition of Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi (1481–1482) in painstaking detail, and then examines its content and meaning from an iconographical point of view. She considers that Leonardo has depicted the moment at which the second king, Melchior, presents his gift of frankincense, a motif that establishes an important link between the altarpiece and the Eucharist. She also analyses the symbolism of the trees and the ruined palace of King David in the background.
Lisner, Margrit. “Leonardos Anbetung der Könige: Zum Sinngehalt und zur Komposition.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 44 (1981): 201–242.
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Natali, Antonio. “Lo sguardo degli angeli: Tragitto indiziario per il ‘Battesimo di Cristo’ di Verrocchio e Leonardo.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 42 (1998a): 252–273.
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Natali’s article draws conclusions partially identical to the essays in the exhibition catalogue of the same title and the same year. Here, however, the author also proposes that the painting was commissioned by Simone di Michele Cione, possibly a relation of Verrocchio.
Natali, Antonio. “Lo sguardo degli angeli: Tragitto indiziario per il ‘Battesimo di Cristo’ di Verrocchio e Leonardo.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 42 (1998a): 252–273.
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Natali, Antonio, ed. Lo sguardo degli angeli: Verrocchio, Leonardo e il “Battesimo di Cristo.” Milan: Silvana, 1998b.
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This exhibition catalogue essentially confirms and complements the information provided by Vasari and the opinions of earlier art historians regarding Leonardo’s collaboration with Verrocchio on the picture. Leonardo’s contribution to the painting can be seen in a dynamic conception of the angel, a softer modelling of Christ’s flesh, and an emphasis upon the rocky nature of the landscape.
Natali, Antonio, ed. Lo sguardo degli angeli: Verrocchio, Leonardo e il “Battesimo di Cristo.” Milan: Silvana, 1998b.
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Natali, Antonio, Daniel Arasse, and Roberto Bellucci, eds. L‘Annunciazione di Leonardo: La montagna sul mare. Milan: Silvana, 2000.
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The publication takes a fresh look at Leonardo’s Annunciation of c. 1473–1475 on the basis of technical analyses and diagnostic scanning and a revision of previous scholarship. X-rays have revealed a number of pentimenti as well as a modification to the perspective construction in the right-hand middle ground, which is laid out in a much simpler fashion in an underdrawing. The relatively bold perspective suggests that the painting was destined to be displayed at a height.
Natali, Antonio, Daniel Arasse, and Roberto Bellucci, eds. L‘Annunciazione di Leonardo: La montagna sul mare. Milan: Silvana, 2000.
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Ost, Hans. Leonardo-Studien. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1975.
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The first part of this stuy is devoted to Leonardo’s St. Jerome and analyzes its kinship with models of kneeling figures that were widespread in Florentine workshops at that time. The second part of the book takes a Fall of Phaeton drawing by Leonardo as the starting point for a discussion of his possible activity as a sculptor in Medici Florence, and thus also of his reception of Antiquity. The book also examines Leonardo’s critical attitude towards the Christian faith and the clergy.
Ost, Hans. Leonardo-Studien. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1975.
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Syre, Cornelia, and Jan Schmidt, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: Die Madonna mit der Nelke. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2006.
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Catalogue of an exhibition held at Alte Pinakotek, Munich, 15 September–3 December 2006. The catalogue sheds light on several aspects of the Munich Madonna with the Carnation (c. 1472–1475): the provenance of the panel and the controversy surrounding its attribution to Leonardo; the iconography of the representation; the perspective construction and the scored underdrawings for the two arcade windows in the background; and the findings yielded by technical investigations and diagnostic scanning techniques.
Syre, Cornelia, and Jan Schmidt, eds. Leonardo da Vinci: Die Madonna mit der Nelke. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2006.
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First Milanese Period, 1482/1483–1499

In 1482 or 1483, Leonardo left Florence for Milan, by all appearances because he hoped to find employment as a court artist, or at least to carry out commissions for the court of Ludovico Sforza, in particular his large-scale project for an equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza. This ambitious project is discussed in the relevant publications listed under Patronage, Monographs, and Catalogues Raisonnés, and in the London exhibition catalogue Syson and Keith 2011). The complex and still unresolved problem of the legal dispute over the completion and payment of the two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks is summarized in Cannell 1984. The important question of the iconography of the Franciscan Virgin of the Rocks is examined in Snow-Smith 1987. More recent findings on Cecilia Gallerani are presented in Shell and Sironi 1992 (with a discussion of newly discovered archival material) and Fabjan, et al. 1998. Leonardo’s Last Supper—in the 1800s, still the most famous of his paintings—is examined thoroughly and from every angle in Möller 1952. Gilbert 1974 concentrates on iconographical aspects of The Last Supper, as does Brambilla Barcilon and Marani 1999, which also discusses the restoration and technical aspects of the wall painting.

Brambilla Barcilon, Pinin, and Pietro C. Marani. Leonardo. L’ultima cena. Milan: Electa, 1999.
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The book was published to mark the most recent, very extensive restoration of The Last Supper. The articles discuss the conservation campaign and the results of technical investigations, the history of the painting, and possible political, dynastic ambitions invested in the painting by its patron, Ludovico Sforza. The publication also examines the three newly-restored lunettes above The Last Supper, in which these same Sforza ambitions find expression.
Brambilla Barcilon, Pinin, and Pietro C. Marani. Leonardo. L’ultima cena. Milan: Electa, 1999.
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Cannell, William S. “Leonardo da Vinci, ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’: A Reconsideration of the Documents and a New Interpretation.” Gazette de Beaux-Arts 104 (1984): 99–108.
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Leonardo’s first securely documented commission in Milan was for The Virgin of the Rocks, of which two versions were eventually produced. Disagreements over how much money the artists were due upon completion of the first version, and over the painting of a second version, resulted in a protracted, extensively documented legal dispute. Cannell’s article attempts to make sense of the often contradictory correspondence and writings through which this saga was played out.
Cannell, William S. “Leonardo da Vinci, ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’: A Reconsideration of the Documents and a New Interpretation.” Gazette de Beaux-Arts 104 (1984): 99–108.
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Fabjan, Barbara, Pietro C. Marani, and David Bull. Leonardo: La dama con L’ermellino. Rome: Silvana, 1998.
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The book was published to coincide with the exhibition of Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine in Rome, Milan, and Florence, and it brings together all the material relating to the portrait and its sitter. It discusses the tradition of Milanese portraiture, Cecilia Gallerani’s biography and dress, the symbolism of the ermine, and Leonardo’s painting technique. An introduction gives a brief overview of the history of the Czartoryski Collection, in which the portrait has been housed since the 18th century.
Fabjan, Barbara, Pietro C. Marani, and David Bull. Leonardo: La dama con L’ermellino. Rome: Silvana, 1998.
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Gilbert, Creighton. “Last Suppers and their Refectories.” In The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion. Edited by Charles Trinkaus and Heiko A. Abermann, 371–407. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1974.
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Gilbert’s important essay demonstrates that Leonardo’s Last Supper, like other examples of this genre that were not expressly designed for sacred interiors, possesses no Eucharistic symbolism but aims to convey the moment of betrayal.
Gilbert, Creighton. “Last Suppers and their Refectories.” In The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion. Edited by Charles Trinkaus and Heiko A. Abermann, 371–407. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1974.
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Möller, Emil. Das Abendmahl des Leonardo da Vinci. Baden-Baden: B. Grimm, 1952.
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Möller’s monograph on The Last Supper (c. 1495–1497) is still the most comprehensive publication on Leonardo’s wall painting. Möller analyzes the relevant documentary sources, Leonardo’s preliminary studies, and the surviving copies. He also takes a critical look at Ludovico Sforza’s art patronage and at the painting’s state of preservation.
Möller, Emil. Das Abendmahl des Leonardo da Vinci. Baden-Baden: B. Grimm, 1952.
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Shell, Janice, and Grazioso Sironi. “Cecilia Gallerani: Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine.” Artibus et Historiae 13.25 (1992): 47–66.
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On the basis of archival documents and published sources, the two authors analyze the biography of Cecilia Gallerani, for a long time Ludovico Sforza’s favourite mistress, and her role at the court of Milan. Leonardo probably executed his painting of Cecilia Gallerani as a mistress portrait around 1489–1490.
Shell, Janice, and Grazioso Sironi. “Cecilia Gallerani: Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine.” Artibus et Historiae 13.25 (1992): 47–66.
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Snow-Smith, Joanne. “Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks (Musée du Louvre): A Franciscan Interpretation.” Studies in Iconography 11 (1987): 35–94.
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The study demonstrates that the rocky landscape background in the two versions of Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks is decisively influenced by considerations of Franciscan iconography.
Snow-Smith, Joanne. “Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks (Musée du Louvre): A Franciscan Interpretation.” Studies in Iconography 11 (1987): 35–94.
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Syson, Luke, with Larry Keith, eds. Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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The catalogue brings together analyses of the most important autograph paintings from Leonardo’s first Milan period, together with further paintings—both autographed and disputed—that were assigned in the earlier literature to other phases of Leonardo’s career. These include the St. Jerome, traditionally dated to the period before 1483, the New York version of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, traditionally dated to after 1500, and a rediscovered version of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, previously assigned to the years as from 1502 (see Workshop Paintings and Controversial Attributions).
Syson, Luke, with Larry Keith, eds. Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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From Milan, 1499, to Mantua, Venice, and Florence, 1500–1507

When French troops marched into Milan in the autumn of 1499 and seized power from Ludovico Sforza, a new phase in Leonardo’s artistic career began. According to the still controversial thesis put forward in Wasserman 1971, Leonardo began the Burlington House Cartoon for the French king while still in Milan. There followed a brief intermezzo, during which Leonardo developed contacts with new patrons, including Isabella d’Este in Mantua, whose great interest in Leonardo is examined in Ames-Lewis 2012 (cited under Patronage). New commissions followed, beginning in 1501, in Florence. These included the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. The identity of the female sitter and her place within the tradition of Renaissance portraiture are the subject of important contributions in Shell and Sironi 1991, Zöllner 1993, Scailliérez 2003, and Schlechter 2008. Also in Florence, Leonardo received the commission for the Battle of Anghiari, whose political iconography is discussed in Rubinstein 1991 and Zöllner 1998.

Rubinstein, Nicolai. “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence.” In Musagetes: Festschrift für Wolfgang Prinz. Edited by Ronald G. Kecks, 275–285. Berlin: Mann, 1991.
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Rubinstein looks at the history of the decoration of the Great Council Chamber in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence. He discusses the political iconography of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari, which together with a wall painting by Michelangelo, an altarpiece by Fra Bartolomeo, and a Salvator statue by Andrea Sansovino made up the artistic decoration of the council chamber.
Rubinstein, Nicolai. “Machiavelli and the Mural Decoration of the Hall of the Great Council of Florence.” In Musagetes: Festschrift für Wolfgang Prinz. Edited by Ronald G. Kecks, 275–285. Berlin: Mann, 1991.
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Scailliérez, Cécile. Léonard de Vinci: La Joconde. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003.
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The book gives an overview of Mona Lisa scholarship and the portrait’s position within the history of the genre, and discusses the history of the Mona Lisa in the Museé du Louvre.
Scailliérez, Cécile. Léonard de Vinci: La Joconde. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2003.
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Schlechter, Armin. “Ita Leonardus Vincius facit in omnibus suis picturis: Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa und die Cicero-Philologie von Angelo Poliziano bis Johann Georg Graevius.” IASL Online, 29 April 2008.
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The author discusses a note, written by Agostino Vespucci, in the margin of the so-called Heidelberg Cicero, an early printed edition of Cicero’s letters housed in Heidelberg University Library. The note, dated to October 1503, references Leonardo’s painting style, the Mona Lisa, a painting or cartoon showing The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and The Battle of Anghiari. This marginal note is important for clarifying the identity of the Mona Lisa.
Schlechter, Armin. “Ita Leonardus Vincius facit in omnibus suis picturis: Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa und die Cicero-Philologie von Angelo Poliziano bis Johann Georg Graevius.” IASL Online, 29 April 2008.
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Shell, Janice, and Grazioso Sironi. “Salaì and Leonardo’s Legacy.” The Burlington Magazine 133 (1991): 95–108.
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The authors analyze the recently discovered inventory of the posthumous estate of Leonardo’s pupil Salai. Drawn up in 1525, the inventory documents the existence and provenance of several Leonardo paintings, including a Virgin and Child with St. Anne, a Leda and the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. The article also looks in depth at the history of the Mona Lisa.
Shell, Janice, and Grazioso Sironi. “Salaì and Leonardo’s Legacy.” The Burlington Magazine 133 (1991): 95–108.
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Wasserman, Jack. “The Dating and Patronage of Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon.” Art Bulletin 53.3 (1971): 312–325.
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On the basis of later sources, the author attempts to make the case that the Burlington House Cartoon goes back to a commission from the French king Louis XII and was executed in 1499 at the end of Leonardo’s first Milan period.
Wasserman, Jack. “The Dating and Patronage of Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon.” Art Bulletin 53.3 (1971): 312–325.
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Zöllner, Frank, “Leonardo’s Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 121 (1993): 115–138.
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Based on archival material relating to Francesco del Giocondo’s family history and on a comparison of the Mona Lisa with Early Netherlandish and Florentine portrait tradition, the article attempts to position the Mona Lisa within the history of its genre.
Zöllner, Frank, “Leonardo’s Portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 121 (1993): 115–138.
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Zöllner, Frank. La Battaglia di Anghiari di Leonardo da Vinci fra mitologia e politica. Lettura Vinciana 37. Florence: Giunti, 1998.
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This Lettura Vinciana analyses the overall decoration of the Florentine Republic’s Grand Council Chamber, and in particular the political iconography of The Battle of Anghiari. The author thereby focuses upon the iconographical tradition of Mars, the god of war, and its significance for Leonardo’s official patrons. The publication concludes with a detailed discussion of Leonardo’s design drawings for The Battle of Anghiari and all known copies of the lost wall painting.
Zöllner, Frank. La Battaglia di Anghiari di Leonardo da Vinci fra mitologia e politica. Lettura Vinciana 37. Florence: Giunti, 1998.
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Second Milanese Period, 1508; Rome, 1513; France, 1516–1519

Unlike Leonardo’s oeuvre from the opening years of the 16th century, which was hallmarked by a succession of new pictorial inventions, very few new paintings are documented for the last decade before the artist’s death. After his second Florentine stay, Leonardo evidently continued to work on the still unfinished Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and probably, too, on the Mona Lisa begun in 1503. Schapiro 1956 remains important for our understanding of the iconography of the The Virgin and Child with St. Anne. All aspects of this painting and its reception in the 16th century are discussed in the exhibition catalogue Delieuvin 2012. Barolsky 1989 looks at the iconography of Leonardo’s St. John the Baptist, the dating of which remains much disputed. The study Weil-Garris Posner 1974 focuses on Leonardo’s activities as a painter in Rome. Further discussion of Leonardo’s activities as a painter in the final years of his life are found in Arasse 1998 (cited under Monographs) and Zöllner 2011 (cited under Catalogues Raisonnés).

Barolsky, Paul. “The Mysterious Meaning of Leonardo’s Saint John the Baptist.” Source. Notes in the History of Art 8.3 (1989): 11–15.
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Barolsky argues in his primarily iconographical study that Leonardo’s Saint John the Baptist in the Louvre, with its pointing gesture and the contrast between the pale figure and the dark background, thematizes the first verse of the Gospel of St. John, in which John is characterized as a witness to God’s light.
Barolsky, Paul. “The Mysterious Meaning of Leonardo’s Saint John the Baptist.” Source. Notes in the History of Art 8.3 (1989): 11–15.
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Schapiro, Meier. “Leonardo and Freud: An Art-Historical Study.” Journal of the History of Ideas, 17.2 (1956): 147–178.
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Schapiro’s study is, strictly speaking, a critical examination of Sigmund Freud’s misinterpretations of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa and Virgin and Child with St. Anne, but goes much further. Schapiro identifies possible interpretations of the Louvre Virgin and Child with St. Anne on the basis of traditional St. Anne iconography. He also points to the literary topoi underlying the dream by Leonardo that was wrongly interpreted by Freud.
Schapiro, Meier. “Leonardo and Freud: An Art-Historical Study.” Journal of the History of Ideas, 17.2 (1956): 147–178.
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Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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The exhibition catalogue unites and analyses all the drawings by Leonardo relating to his Virgin and Child with St. Anne compositions, together with the Burlington House Cartoon, the Louvre Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and numerous copies made after a lost Virgin and Child with St. Anne cartoon and after Leonardo’s painting in the Louvre. The catalogue thereby shows that Leonardo was working as a generator of ideas for compositions that were then translated into painting by his pupils during his own lifetime.
Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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Weil-Garris Posner, Kathleen. Leonardo and Central Italian Art. New York: New York University Press, 1974.
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The study is devoted to Leonardo’s influence upon Roman art in the period after c. 1514. The author focuses in particular upon the impact of Leonardo’s late style (his “dark manner”) and his sfumato on Raphael and the painters in his circle in Rome.
Weil-Garris Posner, Kathleen. Leonardo and Central Italian Art. New York: New York University Press, 1974.
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Workshop Paintings and Controversial Attributions

Numerous paintings based directly on Leonardo’s designs were produced by members of his circle, both during his lifetime and in the decade after his death. Suida 2001 and, somewhat less comprehensively, Marani 1987 analyze all the paintings from every phase of Leonardo’s career that were either produced in the master’s sphere or directly within his own workshop. Those of his Milan period are discussed in Syson and Keith 2011 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues), and those dating from 1500 onwards in Delieuvin 2012 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues). Certain school paintings are attributed by some art historians wholly or in part to Leonardo himself, including a version of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, rediscovered in 2011. Heydenreich 1964 still offers the most comprehensive study of this pictorial invention by Leonardo; additional analyses are found in Snow-Smith 1982 and in the London catalogue Syson and Keith 2011. This catalogue also looks at the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, only documented as from 1501, and attributes one version here to Leonardo himself. The history of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder is also examined in detail in Kemp 1992. Leonardo’s designs for a Leda and its interpretation by his pupils are the subject of the exhibition catalogue Regoli, et al. 2001.

Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi.” Raccolta Vinciana 20 (1964): 83–109.
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Heydenreich looks first at the pictorial tradition and iconography of the Salvator Mundi, before turning to Leonardo’s treatment of the theme. From a very detailed analysis of the numerous surviving Salvator Mundi paintings based on Leonardo’s design, he concludes that Leonardo himself supplied simply a cartoon, probably after 1502, which provided the basis for the variants produced by his workshop.
Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi.” Raccolta Vinciana 20 (1964): 83–109.
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Kemp, Martin, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: The Mystery of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1992.
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Published in conjunction with an exhibition in Edinburgh, this book takes a detailed look at the genesis of Leonardo’s pictorial invention of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. It also discusses the sources, provenance, and latest scientific analyses of the two finest variants of the composition, including the results of diagnostic scanning, which offer an insight into painting practices in Leonardo’s workshop.
Kemp, Martin, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: The Mystery of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder. Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1992.
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Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo e i leonardeschi a Brera. Florence: Cantini, 1987.
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The publication offers an introductory essay on the Leonardeschi and individual analyses of the substantial body of paintings from Leonardo’s circle today housed in the Brera in Milan. It also includes a comprehensive bibliography and a place-name index of the works by Leonardo’s school in museums around the world.
Marani, Pietro C. Leonardo e i leonardeschi a Brera. Florence: Cantini, 1987.
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Regoli, Gigetta dalli, Romano Nanni, and Antonio Natali, eds. Leonardo e il mito di Leda: Modelli, memorie e metamorfosi di un’invenzione. Milan: Silvana, 2001.
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This catalogue covers all aspects of the Leda composition, of which Leonardo designed at least two variants: a kneeling version and a standing version. The catalogue examines the pictorial tradition of the Leda theme since Antiquity and its revival in the Renaissance and by Leonardo. It also discusses questions of iconography, composition and painting technique and puts forward the thesis that Leonardo intended to paint a version of Leda for Isabella d’Este’s studiolo.
Regoli, Gigetta dalli, Romano Nanni, and Antonio Natali, eds. Leonardo e il mito di Leda: Modelli, memorie e metamorfosi di un’invenzione. Milan: Silvana, 2001.
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Snow-Smith, Joanne. The Salvator Mundi of Leonardo da Vinci. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982.
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The author, drawing upon extensive material, suggests that Leonardo produced a Salvator Mundi painting between 1507 and 1513 for the French king Louis XII, and that this original is identical with the version housed in the collection of the Marquis de Ganay in Paris.
Snow-Smith, Joanne. The Salvator Mundi of Leonardo da Vinci. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982.
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Suida, William. Leonardo e i Leonardeschi. Edited by Maria Teresa Fiorio. Vicenza, Italy: OD Pozza, 2001
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First published in German as Leonardo und sein Kreis (Munich: Bruckmann, 1929). The study of the Leonardeschi by Suida is still the most exhaustive treatment of the subject, even if some of his attributions and datings are no longer accepted. Following a detailed review, in chronological order, of Leonardo’s autograph paintings and other artistic projects, the book makes a thorough study of Leonardo’s Lombard pupils and their works. Leonardo’s impact on other art landscapes is also discussed.
Suida, William. Leonardo e i Leonardeschi. Edited by Maria Teresa Fiorio. Vicenza, Italy: OD Pozza, 2001
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Sculpture

Although not a single sculpture unanimously attributed to Leonardo has come down to us, Leonardo’s activity as a sculptor remains a constant theme in the literature. This is primarily due to the two highly ambitious projects for equestrian monuments that are very well documented in Leonardo’s notes and drawings: the equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza that Leonardo commenced on behalf of Ludovico Sforza, and the monument for Gian Giacomo Trivulzio that never got past the planning stage. These two unfinished schemes are the subject of essays in Ahl 1995 and Heydenreich 1965. An overview of Leonardo’s sculptural projects and their influence upon other artists and upon methods of bronze casting is found in the anthology Radke 2009. Weil-Garris Brandt 1999 discusses the significance of sculpture per se for Leonardo’s training and work as an artist.

Ahl, Diane Cole, ed. Leonardo da Vinci’s Sforza Monument Horse: The Art and The Engineering. Proceedings of the symposium held 18–19 April 1991, at Lafayette College and Lehigh University, and at the Dent Project Studio, Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 1995.
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The nine essays in this anthology cover almost every major aspect of the Sforza monument, including its political context, Leonardo’s design drawings, the history of the equestrian monument as a genre dating right back to Antiquity, and technical aspects of bronze casting, which in the case of the Sforza monument posed a particular challenge in view of its intended size.
Ahl, Diane Cole, ed. Leonardo da Vinci’s Sforza Monument Horse: The Art and The Engineering. Proceedings of the symposium held 18–19 April 1991, at Lafayette College and Lehigh University, and at the Dent Project Studio, Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 1995.
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Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Bemerkungen zu den Entwürfen Leonardo’s für das Grabmal Gian Giacomo Trivulzios.” In Studien zur Geschichte der europäischen Plastik: Festschrift Theodor Müller zum 19. April 1965. Edited by Kurt Martin, 179–194. Munich: Hirmer, 1965.
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Heydenreich looks at how Leonardo, with his designs for the Trivulzio monument, sought to marry the concept of an equestrian monument with a tomb monument, and thereby drew upon Roman triumphal iconography and contemporary ideas on this subject. Heydenreich also presents a detailed chronology of Leonardo’s designs for the Trivulzio monument.
Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. “Bemerkungen zu den Entwürfen Leonardo’s für das Grabmal Gian Giacomo Trivulzios.” In Studien zur Geschichte der europäischen Plastik: Festschrift Theodor Müller zum 19. April 1965. Edited by Kurt Martin, 179–194. Munich: Hirmer, 1965.
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Radke, Gary M., ed. Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
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The anthology assembles eight essays on Leonardo’s training as a sculptor, on his individual projects in the field of sculpture, and on the significance of these projects for the development of bronze-casting techniques in the 16th century.
Radke, Gary M., ed. Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
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Weil-Garris Brandt, Kathleen. Leonardo e la scultura. Lettura Vinciana 38. Florence: Giunti, 1999.
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This Lettura Vinciana is devoted less to Leonardo’s unrealized projects as a sculptor than to his sculptural thinking, which finds expression not just in his drawings and paintings but also in his art theory. Starting from the fact that Leonardo was apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio, and thus received his training as an artist in a very successful sculptor’s workshop, the author examines the importance of sculptural thinking for Leonardo’s artistic development.
Weil-Garris Brandt, Kathleen. Leonardo e la scultura. Lettura Vinciana 38. Florence: Giunti, 1999.
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Architecture and Theater Design

Although Leonardo frequently turned his attention to architectural projects, he was active as a conceptual thinker and urban planner rather than as an executive architect, and his ideas were at times somewhat utopian. This can be seen in the architectural solutions for churches that Leonardo began designing at an early stage of his career, which form the subject of the detailed study Heydenreich 1929. Marani 1984 takes an in-depth look at the designs for military installations and fortifications that make up the largest part of Leonardo’s architectural drawings. The most comprehensive overview of Leonardo as architect is found in Pedretti 1986. Pedretti 1972 presents a detailed and extensive analysis of Leonardo’s architectural designs for the French king. Leonardo’s largely vain attempts to find employment as an architect in Milan in the 1480s are discussed in Schofield 1989 and Schofield 1991. The artist’s role as a designer of stage sets, court festivities, and allegorical automata—an area of activity not insignificant for his career—is comprehensively explored in Angiolillo 1979. Leonardo’s architectural ideas and his few documented commissions as an architect are inseparable from his interest in engineering, a point illustrated by several exhibitions. Thus the exhibition catalogue Galluzzi 1987 (cited under Engineering and Technology) contains a number of articles on individual architectural and urban planning projects by Leonardo, and on his architectural thinking.

Angiolillo, Marialuisa. Leonardo: Feste e teatri. Naples, Italy: Società Editrice Napoletana, 1979.
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The author starts by demonstrating Leonardo’s familiarity with the tradition of sacred plays in Florence, and with the machinery used in performances, before focusing on his extensive activities at the court of Milan as an arranger of festivities and theatrical performances. She also discusses the mechanical lion that Leonardo designed for the entreé of the French king into Lyon in 1515.
Angiolillo, Marialuisa. Leonardo: Feste e teatri. Naples, Italy: Società Editrice Napoletana, 1979.
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Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. Die Sakralbau-Studien Leonardo da Vinci’s: Untersuchungen zum Thema; Leonardo da Vinci als Architekt. Leipzig: C. & M. Vogel, 1929.
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Heydenreich looks in chronological order at Leonardo’s architectural drawings, focusing in particular upon the studies for churches that Leonardo made during his first Milanese period, but also upon his drawings for other sacred buildings, including Pavia Cathedral. Although none of these designs were ever built, the fact that Leonardo was eyewitness to the two biggest cathedral construction projects of his day (Florence and Milan) makes his studies for churches highly significant.
Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich. Die Sakralbau-Studien Leonardo da Vinci’s: Untersuchungen zum Thema; Leonardo da Vinci als Architekt. Leipzig: C. & M. Vogel, 1929.
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Marani, Pietro C. L’architettura fortificata negli studi di Leonardo da Vinci, con il catalogo completo dei disegn. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1984.
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This comprehensive study is devoted to Leonardo’s designs for military fortifications, which make up a large part of his architectural drawings. Marani’s chronological examination of Leonardo’s projects and drawings for defensive installations is complemented by an analysis of Leonardo’s theoretical writings on military architecture. Leonardo’s studies of fortification architecture are reproduced in full in an appendix.
Marani, Pietro C. L’architettura fortificata negli studi di Leonardo da Vinci, con il catalogo completo dei disegn. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 1984.
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Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo da Vinci: The Royal Palace at Romorantin. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1972.
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Pedretti’s study is devoted to Leonardo’s architectural plans for a vast royal palace in Romarantin, his most important project during his three years at the court of François I. Pedretti assembles all the widely scattered drawings and notes relating to the project, above all from the Codex Atlanticus and Codex Arundel. The book also contains an annotated bibliography on the topic of Leonardo as architect and a useful list with brief summaries of Leonardo’s manuscripts.
Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo da Vinci: The Royal Palace at Romorantin. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1972.
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Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo: Architect. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986.
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Pedretti’s book is the most comprehensive study on the subject of Leonardo as architect. He takes account of a wealth of notes and sketches that exhibit a connection with architectural projects of all kinds. He also discusses Leonardo’s early engagement with the construction of Florence cathedral, his plans for church buildings and urban redevelopments in Milan, the many small-scale projects of his later years, and his last major project, the royal palace for François I in Romorantin.
Pedretti, Carlo. Leonardo: Architect. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986.
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Schofield, Richard. “Amadeo, Bramante and Leonardo and the Tiburio of Milan Cathedral.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 2 (1989): 68–100.
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The article documents how Leonardo—like Bramante—was ultimately unable to secure the commission for the completion of the cupola (tiburio) of Milan cathedral, which went instead to established local architects.
Schofield, Richard. “Amadeo, Bramante and Leonardo and the Tiburio of Milan Cathedral.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 2 (1989): 68–100.
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Schofield, Richard. “Leonardo’s Milanese Architecture: Career, Sources and Graphic Techniques.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 4 (1991): 111–157.
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The author arrives at the conclusion that Milanese patrons were interested in Leonardo primarily as a surveyor, cartographer, and source of new ideas for the military, and that Leonardo, who did not enjoy the same official status as local architects and engineers attached to the city and the court of Milan, can have worked at best as an architectural advisor. The author also argues that Leonardo’s letter of application to Ludovico Sforza was only written in 1485–1486.
Schofield, Richard. “Leonardo’s Milanese Architecture: Career, Sources and Graphic Techniques.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 4 (1991): 111–157.
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Engineering and Technology

Research into the sphere of Leonardo’s interest in technology and his designs for machines falls into three main areas: their roots in contemporary 15th-century engineering; the visual and written sources of Leonardo’s technological inventions; and practical reconstructions of his designs with a view to seeing if they would actually work. Leonardo developed his interest in engineering and in the technological advances of his day while still an apprentice in Florence. In the later phases of his career, too, Leonardo seems to have been almost permanently engaged on engineering-related tasks. Hart 1925 situates Leonardo’s technological interests within their contemporary context. His conclusions are complemented by the findings of more recent scholarship, in particular regarding engineering in Florence and Siena in the 15th century. These findings also filter through into the catalogues Galluzzi 1991 and Galluzzi 1996, and in the essay Long 2004. The link between Leonardo’s technical investigations and his views on architecture is established in Galluzzi 1987. Rosheim 2006 and Taddei 2007 visualize and explain the mechanical devices designed by Leonardo and reconstruct them—at times with much hypothesizing—on the basis of Leonardo’s drawings.

Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Engineer and Architect. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1987.
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Originally published as an exhibition catalogue, this book devotes itself in equal measure to Leonardo’s work as an engineer and as an architect. It thereby looks at Leonardo’s technical and architectural studies and also at machines reconstructed on the basis of his designs. In-depth essays set out Leonardo’s ideas as an engineer and architect, exploring the idea that Leonardo’s activities were chiefly engineering-related, and that the majority of his income was earned in this area.
Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Engineer and Architect. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1987.
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Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Prima di Leonardo: Cultura delle macchine a Siena nel Rinacimento italiano. Milan: Electa, 1991.
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The exhibition catalogue makes it clear that a number of Leonardo’s technical drawings go back to earlier sources, and in particular to studies by Sienese engineers. This includes his designs for a parachute, the so-called air screw, and the mechanism for raising columns into an upright position.
Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Prima di Leonardo: Cultura delle macchine a Siena nel Rinacimento italiano. Milan: Electa, 1991.
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Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Renaissance Engineers: From Brunelleschi to Leonardo da Vinci. Florence: Giunti, 1996.
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This book devotes itself first of all to engineering in Italy in the first half of the 15th century. Against this backdrop, it then examines the extent to which Leonardo’s achievements as an engineer and architect were part of a longer-standing tradition. It also shows that Leonardo was able to see firsthand the latest construction techniques being used by the builders of Florence Cathedral; that his interests in engineering are inseparable from contemporary architectural practice; and that his technical expertise allowed him to adopt a self-confident position vis-à-vis the humanist establishment.
Galluzzi, Paolo, ed. Renaissance Engineers: From Brunelleschi to Leonardo da Vinci. Florence: Giunti, 1996.
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Hart, Ivor B. The Mechanical Investigations of Leonardo da Vinci. London: Chapman & Hall, 1925.
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Hart situates Leonardo’s “mechanical investigations” within the context of other 15th-century technological advances, such as the development of surveying equipment. He thereby considers that the inventions by Leonardo and other engineers were not necessarily born out of empirical scientific study, but were designed in response to practical requests from artisans and engineers. he also argues that Leonardo’s investigation of mechanical problems arose out of his interests in balance and motion.
Hart, Ivor B. The Mechanical Investigations of Leonardo da Vinci. London: Chapman & Hall, 1925.
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Long, Pamela O. “Picturing the Machine: Francesco di Giorgio and Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s.” In Picturing Machines 1400–1700. Edited by Wolfgang Lefèvre, 117–141. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.
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Taking the machinery designs by Franceso di Giorgio as her point of comparison, the author attempts to situate the corresponding designs by Leonardo in their contemporary context. She thereby shows that Leonardo was by no means producing his technical designs in isolation. It also becomes apparent that Leonardo’s machines were not always conceived with functionality in mind, but were intended to illustrate his interests in the general laws of motion.
Long, Pamela O. “Picturing the Machine: Francesco di Giorgio and Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s.” In Picturing Machines 1400–1700. Edited by Wolfgang Lefèvre, 117–141. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.
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Rosheim, Mark Elling. Leonardo’s Lost Robots. Berlin: Springer, 2006.
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Rosheim reconstructs Leonardo’s major technological projects on the basis of the artist’s notebooks, whereby—in contrast to some earlier authors—he believes that the majority of Leonardo’s designs would produce functioning automata.
Rosheim, Mark Elling. Leonardo’s Lost Robots. Berlin: Springer, 2006.
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Taddei, Mario. I robot di Leonardo da Vinci: La meccanica e i nuovi autonomi nei codici svelati. Milan: Leonardo3, 2007.
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On the basis of Leonardo’s sketches, Taddei seeks to offer an overview of Leonardo’s technological inventions in the widest sense. These are illustrated with the aid of computer-generated reconstructions, including Leonardo’s designs for a self-propelled car and the mechanical lion for the entreé of François I into Lyon in 1515.
Taddei, Mario. I robot di Leonardo da Vinci: La meccanica e i nuovi autonomi nei codici svelati. Milan: Leonardo3, 2007.
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Patronage

Leonardo’s professional career is documented by numerous letters and contracts. These were already evaluated in detail over a century ago, in Seidlitz 1909 (cited under Monographs), for example. A brief analysis, based on surviving documents, of the terms of Leonardo’s contracts is found in Zöllner 2011 (cited under Catalogues Raisonnés). Commissions issuing from Florentine patrons are investigated in Fletcher 1989 (cited under Early Florentine Period, 1469–1482/1483) and Cecchi 2003. The most thorough analysis of the general employment situation for artists in Milan is that in Malaguzzi-Valeri 1913–1923, whose findings are complemented in Welch 1995 and the London exhibition catalogue Syson and Keith 2011 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues). The essays Schofield 1989 and Schofield 1991 (both cited under Architecture and Theater Design) are devoted to Leonardo’s attempts to establish himself in Milan as an engineer and architect. A comprehensive account of the relationship between Isabella d’Este and Leonardo is found in Ames-Lewis 2012, and an analysis of Leonardo’s Roman period is provided in Laurenza 2004. The most detailed discussion of Leonardo’s last projects as an architect and engineer in France remains Pedretti 1972 (cited under Architecture and Theater Design). Zöllner 1995 and Kemp 2002 take a look the contexts of Leonardo’s employment over his career as a whole.

Ames-Lewis, Francis. Isabella and Leonardo: The Artistic Relationship between Isabella d‘Este and Leonardo da Vinci, 1500–1506. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
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The author examines the relationship between Isabella d’Este and Leonardo, about which we are relatively well informed. Several letters testify to Isabella d’Este’s interest in Leonardo’s artistic expertise, and to her ongoing efforts to persuade him to paint one or several pictures for her. The sole surviving result is the portrait cartoon in the Louvre, produced around 1499–1500.
Ames-Lewis, Francis. Isabella and Leonardo: The Artistic Relationship between Isabella d‘Este and Leonardo da Vinci, 1500–1506. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
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Cecchi, Alessandro. “New Light on Leonardo’s Florentine Patrons.” In Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. Edited by Carmen Bambach, 121–139. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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The essay considers, inter alia, the role played by individuals in Leonardo’s private Florentine sphere, such as Giovanni de’ Benci, Antonio Segni, and Leonardo’s own father, in securing commissions for the artist.
Cecchi, Alessandro. “New Light on Leonardo’s Florentine Patrons.” In Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. Edited by Carmen Bambach, 121–139. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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Kemp, Martin. “‘Your Humble Servant and Painter’: Towards a History of Leonardo da Vinci in his Contexts of Employment.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 140 (2002): 181–194.
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Drawing upon surviving contracts and the artist’s own notes, Kemp examines the written sources relating to Leonardo’s professional career and the specific requirements of the individual patrons.
Kemp, Martin. “‘Your Humble Servant and Painter’: Towards a History of Leonardo da Vinci in his Contexts of Employment.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 140 (2002): 181–194.
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Laurenza, Domenico. Leonardo nella Roma di Leone X [c. 1513–16]: Gli studi anatomici, la vita, l’arte. Lettura Vinciana 43. Florence: Giunti, 2004.
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The author opens with a discussion of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings from his Roman years (1513–1516) and raises the possibility that the artist had also made previous trips to Rome. In a separate section, Laurenza analyses the sources pointing to various projects by Leonardo for his patron Giuliano de’ Medici im Rome. He also discusses the difficulties that Leonardo encountered at the papal court in Rome and the paintings he may have produced there, such as St. John the Baptist.
Laurenza, Domenico. Leonardo nella Roma di Leone X [c. 1513–16]: Gli studi anatomici, la vita, l’arte. Lettura Vinciana 43. Florence: Giunti, 2004.
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Malaguzzi-Valeri, Francesco. La corte di Lodovico il Moro. 4 vols. Milano: Hoepli, 1913–1923.
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Malaguzzi-Valeri’s monumental opus includes the most thorough analysis of the work situation for artists during Leonardo’s first Milanese period. In Volume 2, he looks in detail at the material circumstances and careers of the artists and literati active in Milan, and also discusses Leonardo’s individual commissions, his social status, and his relationship to other artists.
Malaguzzi-Valeri, Francesco. La corte di Lodovico il Moro. 4 vols. Milano: Hoepli, 1913–1923.
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Welch, Evelyn S. Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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The book paints a comprehensive picture of court patronage in Milan. Alongside a differentiated analysis of the most important projects pursued by the court of Milan, it also examines the role played by Leonardo in lending visual expression to the dynastic ambitions of the Sforza, as witnessed by the artist’s designs for the Sforza monument, The Last Supper, the lunettes above The Last Supper, and the Sala delle Asse.
Welch, Evelyn S. Art and Authority in Renaissance Milan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.
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Zöllner, Frank. “Karrieremuster: Das malerische Werk Leonardo da Vincis im Kontext der Auftragsbedingungen.” Georges-Bloch-Jahrbuch 2 (1995): 57–73.
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The essay offers a critical analysis of Leonardo’s known commissions with regard to the terms of contract and payment stipulated by the patron. It also discusses Leonardo’s financial situation, his social status, and the important role played by family connections—by Leonardo’s father, Ser Piero da Vinci, for example—in securing commissions for the artist.
Zöllner, Frank. “Karrieremuster: Das malerische Werk Leonardo da Vincis im Kontext der Auftragsbedingungen.” Georges-Bloch-Jahrbuch 2 (1995): 57–73.
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Pictorial Technique and Workshop Practices

Leonardo experimented and innovated in the area of materials and techniques more than other artists of his day. The most important findings on Leonardo’s pictorial technique and workshop practices are evaluated in a number of exhibition catalogues. Natali 1998a, Natali 1998b, Natali, et al. 2000, Syre and Schmidt 2006 (all cited under Early Florentine Period, 1469–1482/1483), and Bull 1992 consider the results of technical investigations and diagnostic scanning (e.g., X-ray, infrared, UV, raking light) of Leonardo’s early works. Other findings relating to Leonardo’s St. Jerome and the Virgin of the Rocks are discussed in Marani 1999 (cited under Monographs), Syson and Billinge 2005, and in Syson and Keith 2011 (cited under Exhibition Catalogues). Findings on Leonardo’s portrait of Cecilia Gallerani are analyzed in Fabjan, et al. 1998 (cited under First Milanese Period, 1482/1483–1499). The examination of the Mona Lisa with an elaborate wealth of scanning techniques is documented in Mohen and Menu 2006. The evaluation of scan results is also a major strand of the articles in Kemp 1994 on the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, and in Brammer 1990 on the Kneeling Leda in Kassel. Important for an understanding of Leonardo’s technique and his workshop practice is his use of cartoons, which is discussed in a number of publications, including Bull 1992, Bambach 1999 (cited under Composition), Syson and Billinge 2005, and in the catalogue Syson and Keith 2011. A useful summary of the findings of diagnostic scanning and technical analyses of Leonardo’s paintings published up to c. 2001 is found in Zöllner 2011 (cited under Catalogues Raisonnés), and an informed and balanced assessment of this entire area, taking account of findings up to 2011, is in Keith 2011.

Brachert, Thomas. “A Distinctive Aspect in the Painting Technique of the Ginevra de’ Benci and of Leonardo’s Early Works.” In Report and Studies in the History of Art, 1969. Edited by National Gallery of Art, 85–104. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1970.
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The author draws attention to Leonardo’s particularly pronounced use of a smudging technique in a series of his early works (Ginevra de’ Benci, St. Jerome and Adoration of the Magi). In order to soften the transitions between different color planes, Leonardo rubbed the still fresh oil paint with his fingers and the ball of his hand.
Brachert, Thomas. “A Distinctive Aspect in the Painting Technique of the Ginevra de’ Benci and of Leonardo’s Early Works.” In Report and Studies in the History of Art, 1969. Edited by National Gallery of Art, 85–104. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1970.
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Brammer, Hans. “Die Unterzeichnung eines Gemäldes aus dem Umkreis Leonardo’s.” In Die Kunst und ihre Erhaltung: Rolf E. Straub zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet, 169–176. Worms, Germany: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1990.
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The author analyzes the underdrawing beneath the Kassel Kneeling Leda, a painting probably produced by Giampietrino from a design by Leonardo. Brammer considers that the underdrawing revealed by infrared reflectography differs from the visible composition and represents Leonardo’s design for a St. Anne. This is similar to the London Virgin of the Rocks (Syson and Billinge 2005); that is, the panel today showing the Kneeling Leda originally carried a completely different pictorial composition by Leonardo.
Brammer, Hans. “Die Unterzeichnung eines Gemäldes aus dem Umkreis Leonardo’s.” In Die Kunst und ihre Erhaltung: Rolf E. Straub zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet, 169–176. Worms, Germany: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1990.
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Bull, David. “Two Portraits by Leonardo: Ginevra de’ Benci and the Lady with an Ermine.” Artibus et Historiae 13.25 (1992): 67–83.
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The article summarizes the findings of technical analyses of Ginevra de’ Benci and Cecilia Gallerani, and thereby concludes that the two portraits are very closely related in terms of technique, that traces of spolvero (pounce) indicate the use of a cartoon, and that in both cases Leonardo used a mixed medium of oil and tempera.
Bull, David. “Two Portraits by Leonardo: Ginevra de’ Benci and the Lady with an Ermine.” Artibus et Historiae 13.25 (1992): 67–83.
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Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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Documents the restoration of the Louvre Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and in particular the findings of diagnostic scanning and technical analyses. The discovery of traces of spolvero (pounced dots) confirmed the use of a cartoon. Leonardo did not carry out the underdrawing on the gesso, as in the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks, but on the imprimatura. Analysis of the pigments has revealed clear parallels with their use in the Mona Lisa and St. John the Baptist.
Delieuvin, Vincent, ed. La Sainte Anne: L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012.
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Keith, Larry. “In Pursuit of Perfection: Leonardo’s Painting Technique.” In Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. Edited by Luke Syson with Larry Keith, 54–72. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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The article offers a balanced assessment of almost all the findings yielded up to c. 2011 by technical analyses of Leonardo’s paintings. Issues discussed include the use of cartoons, partial cartoons, and spolvero; the freehand transfer of the composition to the support; the underdrawing and its execution on the gesso or the imprimatura; and the significance of an elaborate tonal underpainting for the sfumato effect.
Keith, Larry. “In Pursuit of Perfection: Leonardo’s Painting Technique.” In Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan. Edited by Luke Syson with Larry Keith, 54–72. London: National Gallery, 2011.
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Kemp, Martin. “From Scientific Examination to the Renaissance Art Market: The Case of Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 24.2 (1994): 259–274.
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Kemp looks at the findings yielded by diagnostic scanning of different variants of the Madonna of the Yarnwinder, and the insights these provide into Leonardo’s design practice and into the way in which pupils translated his designs into their own paintings. Scientific examination also proves that several versions of Madonna of the Yarnwinder were produced in Leonardo’s own workshop.
Kemp, Martin. “From Scientific Examination to the Renaissance Art Market: The Case of Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder.” Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 24.2 (1994): 259–274.
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Mohen, Jean-Pierre, Menu, Michel, eds. Au coeur de La Joconde: Léonard de Vinci décodé. Paris: Gallimard, 2006.
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The publication documents the results of an in-depth examination of the Mona Lisa using a raft of scanning techniques and scientific analyses. It presents the following—not always new and not always undisputed—findings: a number of paint layers contain only the smallest amount of pigment; Lisa del Giocondo is wearing a maternity dress; the landscape was not painted in several stages; Leonardo made minor changes during painting.
Mohen, Jean-Pierre, Menu, Michel, eds. Au coeur de La Joconde: Léonard de Vinci décodé. Paris: Gallimard, 2006.
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Syson, Luke, Billinge, Rachel. “Leonardo da Vinci’s Use of Underdrawing in the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’ in the National Gallery and ‘St. Jerome’ in the Vatican.” The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005): 450–463.
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The article discusses the discovery of an underdrawing beneath the London Virgin of the Rocks that shows a kneeling Virgin adoring the Christ Child, and hence differs markedly from the composition visible today. On the basis of this underdrawing and its relation to the composition of St. Jerome, the authors develop new theories about Leonardo’s painting and workshop practice, his use of cartoons, and the dating of St. Jerome.
Syson, Luke, Billinge, Rachel. “Leonardo da Vinci’s Use of Underdrawing in the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’ in the National Gallery and ‘St. Jerome’ in the Vatican.” The Burlington Magazine 147 (2005): 450–463.
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Composition

Important characteristics of Leonardo’s figural compositions, and indeed of his other studies and of his style as a whole, are dynamism and movement. These compositional leitmotifs are particularly in evidence in Leonardo’s drawings. Still well worth reading is the concluding analysis of Leonardo’s style in Suida 2001 (cited under Workshop Paintings and Controversial Attributions), which also considers Leonardo’s paintings. On Leonardo’s compositional principles and his variation of existing compositions, see Nathan’s introduction to the preparatory drawings in Zöllner 2011 (cited under Catalogues Raisonnés). The significance of underdrawings and cartoons for Leonardo’s compositions is discussed in Bambach 1999, Syson and Billinge 2005, and Keith 2011 (the last two cited under Pictorial Technique and Workshop Practices). Leonardo’s particular method of developing figural compositions—his componimento inculto—is analyzed in Gombrich 1966. The role played by black chalk in this process is discussed in Ames-Lewis 2002, while Nathan 1992 examines Leonardo’s method of “rough composition” in the example of his Virgin and Child with Saint Anne compositions. Kemp 2003 shows how rapidly sketched boundaries help moderate the dynamism of spontaneous figural compositions. Posèq 1997 looks at the significance of the reversed image in Leonardo’s design process.

Ames-Lewis, Francis. La matita nera nella practica di disegno di Leonardo da Vinci. Lettura Vinciana 41. Florence: Giunti, 2002.
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Examines Leonardo’s use of black chalk in initial exploratory sketches, preparatory drawings for paintings, and cartoons. It thereby becomes clear that Leonardo exploited not just the expressive qualities of black chalk, but also the possibility of developing forms in black chalk sketches before fixing the definitive solution in pen and ink. The medium of black chalk thus played an important role in his search for a composition.
Ames-Lewis, Francis. La matita nera nella practica di disegno di Leonardo da Vinci. Lettura Vinciana 41. Florence: Giunti, 2002.
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Bambach, Carmen. Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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This book on the techniques of drawing in the Renaissance also looks at the use of cartoons to transfer compositional sketches to the painting support. Much space is thereby devoted to a detailed discussion of Leonardo’s design technique and his use of cartoons. The author arrives at the very far-reaching and controversial conclusion that Leonardo occasionally transferred his figural compositions to the pictorial support in free hand, without the aid of a cartoon.
Bambach, Carmen. Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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Gombrich, Ernst H. “Leonardo’s Method for Working out Compositions.” In Norm and Form: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance I. By Ernst H. Gombrich, 58–63. Oxford: Phaidon, 1966.
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The short essay focuses on Leonardo’s method of componimento inculto, or “rough composition,” whereby the artist sketched several variants of a motif one on top of the other in order to arrive at new pictorial solutions. In Gombrich’s view, componimento inculto represented an innovation in 15th-century artistic practice. Significantly, Leonardo reflects upon this “rough” method of composition in his Libro di pittura (61v–62r).
Gombrich, Ernst H. “Leonardo’s Method for Working out Compositions.” In Norm and Form: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance I. By Ernst H. Gombrich, 58–63. Oxford: Phaidon, 1966.
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Kemp, Martin. “Drawing the Boundaries.” In Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. Edited by Carmen Bambach, 141–154. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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The author discusses a number of figural drawings in which Leonardo has drawn boundary lines—in most cases no more than fleetingly indicated—around a dynamic figural composition. These drawn boundaries serve to frame the central motif and thereby define its corresponding pictorial field, and at the same time to moderate the dynamism of the spontaneously sketched figural composition.
Kemp, Martin. “Drawing the Boundaries.” In Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman. Edited by Carmen Bambach, 141–154. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
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Nathan, Johannes. “Some Drawing Practices of Leonardo da Vinci: New Light on the St. Anne.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 36.1–2 (1992): 85–102.
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Nathan analyzes a sketch by Leonardo (RL 12337r) for his Kneeling Leda, which the artist drew over the top of an existing sketch for a Virgin and Child with St. Anne. The author thereby concludes that the underlying St. Anne group represents Leonardo’s earliest ideas for this motif. The sheet with the superimposed Leda and St. Anne sketches also illustrates the process by which Leonardo arrived at new pictorial inventions, which he evidently developed independently of the actual subject matter.
Nathan, Johannes. “Some Drawing Practices of Leonardo da Vinci: New Light on the St. Anne.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 36.1–2 (1992): 85–102.
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Posèq, Avigdor W. G. “Left and Right in Leonardo.” Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 66.1 (1997): 37–50.
DOI: 10.1080/00233609708604419Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The author looks at the question of left and right in Leonardo’s compositions, and also discusses the aesthetic role of reversed images in his drawings and paintings. It thereby emerges that enantiomorphic versions of Leonardo’s compositions, produced by reversing an existing original version, played an important role in Leonardo’s design process.
Posèq, Avigdor W. G. “Left and Right in Leonardo.” Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 66.1 (1997): 37–50.
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Libro Di Pittura and Art Theory

Among the body of writings bequeathed to us by Leonardo are extensive notes in the area of art theory. Many passages in Leonardo’s original manuscripts reflect his theoretical views about art in the broadest sense, insofar as they relate to subjects that Leonardo felt artists needed to understand for their professional practice. These include his notes on topics such as Proportion, Anatomy, and Physiognomy, Optics and Perspective,Light and Shadow, and Plants, Landscape, and Cartography. At the same time, however, Leonardo’s thoughts on art theory can also be found in much more concentrated form in the Libro di pittura, part of the Codex Urbinas 1270 in the Vatican Library. The Libro di pittura is a posthumous compilation of Leonardo’s notes on painting assembled by his pupil Francesco Melzi, who inherited Leonardo’s original manuscripts after his master’s death. Its structure and contents are discussed in the corresponding critical editions (Leonardo da Vinci 1995, cited under Manuscripts, Critical Editions), in Richter 1970 and Kemp and Walker 1989 (both cited under Anthologies) and in Pedretti 1965 and Pedretti 1977 (both cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies). Pedretti 1965 also offers a concordance of the Libro di pittura and Leonardo’s original manuscripts. Analyses of the Libro di pittura are also found in a number of monographs, including Seidlitz 1909 and Heydenreich 1953 (both cited under Monographs). Heydenreich’s introduction to McMahon 1956, a translation of the Codex Urbinas 1270, and the essay Gombrich 1986 are also important for our understanding of the structure and content of the Libro di pittura. Farago 1992 makes a detailed study of the Paragone, a section of the Libro di pittura in which Leonardo argues for the superiority of painting over the other arts. Farago 2009 considers the influence of Leonardo’s Libro di pittura on later art theory. Gombrich 1966 (cited under Composition) looks at Leonardo’s method of “rough composition,” or componimento inculto, an important compositional principle discussed in the Libro di pittura. Automimesis as a central concept in Leonardo’s art theory is treated in Kemp 1976 and Zöllner 1992, and his equally important theories of expression and movement are examined in Zöllner 2010.

Farago, Claire J. Leonardo da Vinci’s Paragone: A Critical Interpretation with a New Edition of the Text in the Codex Urbinas. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.
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At the heart of his book is a new English translation of Leonardo’s Paragone, which postulates the supremacy of painting over the other arts. Farago also examines the history of the Paragone’s terminology and text and the sociohistorical context of the competition between the arts, and analyses individual themes (perspective) and the reception of Leonardo’s art theory.
Farago, Claire J. Leonardo da Vinci’s Paragone: A Critical Interpretation with a New Edition of the Text in the Codex Urbinas. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.
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Farago, Claire J., ed. Re-reading Leonardo: The Treatise on Painting across Europe, 1550–1900. Burlington, VT; and Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009.
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This anthology of essays by various Leonardo experts examines the extent to which Leonardo’s treatise on painting influenced art and art theory even before the appearance of the first complete critical editions in the 19th century.
Farago, Claire J., ed. Re-reading Leonardo: The Treatise on Painting across Europe, 1550–1900. Burlington, VT; and Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009.
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Gombrich, Ernst H. “Leonardo on The Science of Painting: Towards a Commentary on the ‘Trattato della Pittura.’” In New Light on Old Masters. By Ernst H. Gombrich, 32–60. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance 4. Oxford: Phaidon, 1986.
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Starting from an analysis of the Libro di pittura, the author concludes that Leonardo was aiming in his treatise to place vision on a rational and objective footing, and in this way to arrive at a science of painting.
Gombrich, Ernst H. “Leonardo on The Science of Painting: Towards a Commentary on the ‘Trattato della Pittura.’” In New Light on Old Masters. By Ernst H. Gombrich, 32–60. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance 4. Oxford: Phaidon, 1986.
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Kemp, Martin. “Ogni dipintore dipinge sé: A Neoplatonic Echo in Leonardo’s Art Theory?” In Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance: Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller. Edited by Cecil H. Clough, 311–323. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1976.
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The author analyses the Tuscan proverb “Every painter paints himself” in terms of Neoplatonic thinking on art and related statements in Leonardo’s art theory, in which the master warns artists against painting figures that resemble their creators too closely. Kemp coins the term automimesis to describe the tendency among painters to unconsciously depict their own selves, and puts forward the thesis that Leonardo identified physiological causes for the mechanism of automimesis.
Kemp, Martin. “Ogni dipintore dipinge sé: A Neoplatonic Echo in Leonardo’s Art Theory?” In Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance: Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller. Edited by Cecil H. Clough, 311–323. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1976.
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McMahon, Amos Philip, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Treatise on Painting (Codex Urbinas Latinus 1270). 2 vols. Introduction by Ludwig H. Heydenreich. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1956.
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The publication comprises a facsimile edition of the Codex Urbinas and McMahon’s English translation of the original text. McMahon also identifies the notes in Leonardo’s original manuscripts upon which the Codex Urbinas compilation is based. In his introduction to this edition, Heydenreich discusses the structure and contents of the Codex Urbinas and also looks at the question of how far the Codex Urbinas corresponds to Leonardo’s original plans for a treatise on painting.
McMahon, Amos Philip, ed. Leonardo da Vinci: Treatise on Painting (Codex Urbinas Latinus 1270). 2 vols. Introduction by Ludwig H. Heydenreich. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1956.
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Zöllner, Frank. “‘Ogni Pittore Dipinge Sé’: Leonardo da Vinci and Automimesis.” In Der Künstler über sich in seinem Werk: Internationales Symposium der Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rom. Edited by Matthias Winner, 137–160. Weinheim: VCH, Acta Humaniora, 1992.
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The essay explains why the Tuscan proverb “Every painter paints himself,” summarized in modern scholarship in the term automimesis, held a negative meaning for Leonardo and other authors in the 15th century, and how this negative meaning transformed itself into a positive one in the 16th century. The author also analyses the campaign against automimesis waged by Leonardo in his theoretical writings.
Zöllner, Frank. “‘Ogni Pittore Dipinge Sé’: Leonardo da Vinci and Automimesis.” In Der Künstler über sich in seinem Werk: Internationales Symposium der Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rom. Edited by Matthias Winner, 137–160. Weinheim: VCH, Acta Humaniora, 1992.
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Zöllner, Frank. Bewegung und Ausdruck bei Leonardo da Vinci. Leipzig: Plöttner, 2010.
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In this book, Leonardo’s thoughts on the movements of the body and the expression of the motions of the mind are analyzed in their chronological development. The author thereby comes to the conclusion that Leonardo initially sought to place painting on a strictly scientific foundation, based on mathematical and geometric accuracy. Later he allowed the possibility that absolute scientific accuracy could be modified through the talent of the artist. This modification is expressed in Leonardo’s theory and practice of sfumato.
Zöllner, Frank. Bewegung und Ausdruck bei Leonardo da Vinci. Leipzig: Plöttner, 2010.
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Proportion, Anatomy, and Physiognomy

Alongside perspective, the theory of proportion was one of the most important areas of theoretical reflection and artistic investigation in the 15th and 16th centuries. The writings and drawings that Leonardo devoted to the subject are correspondingly extensive. Richter 1970 (cited under Anthologies) and Pedretti 1977 (cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies) both include introductions to and commentaries on Leonardo’s proportion theory, while Keele and Pedretti 1978–1980 (cited under Critical Editions of Drawings) goes into greater depth in its analyses of Leonardo’s anatomical drawings in Windsor Castle. Zöllner 1989, which also takes into account the drawings in the Codex Urbinas and Codex Huygens, attempts an analysis and periodization of Leonardo’s studies on proportion in the context of his studies on movement. Berra 1993 situates Leonardo’s studies on proportion within the history of proportion theory. Unlike many other artists, Leonardo also investigated anatomy and physiognomy. Fundamental for an understanding of Leonardo’s studies on anatomy—and likewise on physiognomy—are the introduction and individual analyses in Keele and Pedretti 1978–1980, as well as the commentary on the anatomical drawings in O’Malley and Saunders 1952. Leonardo’s anatomical studies are also the subject of detailed analysis in Kemp 1971 and Kemp 1972, which take a close look at Leonardo’s sources and their influence upon his drawings. Kwakkelstein 1994 looks at the general aims behind Leonardo’s physiognomic drawings, while Keele 1983 and Laurenza 2001 address Leonardo’s studies of the human body as a whole. Leonardo’s anatomical studies from his first Milanese period are reassessed in Azzolini 2006.

Azzolini, Monica. “Leonardo da Vinci’s Anatomical Studies in Milan: A Re-examination of Sites and Sources.” In Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200–1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds and Alain Touwaide, 147–176. Aldershot, UK; and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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In her article, the author puts forward the thesis that Leonardo’s anatomical studies date right back to his first Milanese period, and that his knowledge of anatomy was facilitated by his contacts with Milanese physicians (Cardano, Marliani). Leonardo was by no means an introspective genius working in isolation, in other words, but was most likely in touch with the very medical professionals against whom he would later polemicize.
Azzolini, Monica. “Leonardo da Vinci’s Anatomical Studies in Milan: A Re-examination of Sites and Sources.” In Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200–1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds and Alain Touwaide, 147–176. Aldershot, UK; and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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Berra, Giacomo. “La storia die canoni proporzionali del corpo umano e gli sviluppi i area lombarda alle fine del Cinquecento.” Raccolta Vinciana 25 (1993): 159–310.
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Traces the history of proportion theory from its origins in ancient Egypt up to the 16th century, looking at Leonardo’s proportion drawings and those by other artists, many of them still reflecting Leonardo’s influence.
Berra, Giacomo. “La storia die canoni proporzionali del corpo umano e gli sviluppi i area lombarda alle fine del Cinquecento.” Raccolta Vinciana 25 (1993): 159–310.
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Kemp, Martin. “‘Il concetto dell’Anima’ in Leonardo’s Early Skull Studies.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1971): 115–134.
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In this important article, the author argues that Leonardo’s early studies of the human skull from around 1489 were not based solely on his own observations, but can also be traced back to erroneous beliefs—inherited from Antiquity and the Middle Ages—regarding the functioning of the brain and the soul. From these ideas Leonardo developed a theory of perception that was of significance for artistic practice.
Kemp, Martin. “‘Il concetto dell’Anima’ in Leonardo’s Early Skull Studies.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1971): 115–134.
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Kemp, Martin. “Dissection and Divinity in Leonardo’s Late Anatomies.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 35 (1972): 200–225.
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Kemp examines Leonardo’s late anatomical drawings and dissections and their greater reliability vis-à-vis his earlier studies. He considers that Leonardo’s more accurate observations and conclusions in the sphere of anatomy from around 1509 onward resulted not just from a more rational approach and more accurate dissections, but were linked with an intellectual paradigm shift, as Leonardo made a fruitful study of Galen.
Kemp, Martin. “Dissection and Divinity in Leonardo’s Late Anatomies.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 35 (1972): 200–225.
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Kwakkelstein, Michael. Leonardo da Vinci as a Physiognomist: Theory and Drawing Practice. Leiden, The Netherlands: Primavera, 1994.
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The publication essentially focuses on the physiognomical studies by Leonardo known as his “grotesque heads,” but it also explores the further-reaching question of the relationship between these drawings and traditional theories of physiognomics, and the didactic purpose Leonardo’s drawings may have served. In contrast to earlier scholarship, Kwakkelstein thereby argues that Leonardo’s grotesque heads were less the result of a psychologically motivated need for self- expression, but aimed rather at a systematization of moti mentali.
Kwakkelstein, Michael. Leonardo da Vinci as a Physiognomist: Theory and Drawing Practice. Leiden, The Netherlands: Primavera, 1994.
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Keele, Kenneth D. Leonardo da Vinci’s Elements of the Science of Man. New York and London: Academic Press, 1983.
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Keele concentrates upon Leonardo’s investigations into and views on key areas of science, including mechanics, equilibrium, anatomy, physiology, and the movements of man and animals. He thereby seeks to show that a scientific consciousness lay behind Leonardo’s studies. The book opens with a biography of Leonardo the scientist, followed by chapters devoted to individual aspects of his scientific investigations and their applicability to artistic practice.
Keele, Kenneth D. Leonardo da Vinci’s Elements of the Science of Man. New York and London: Academic Press, 1983.
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Laurenza, Domenico. De figura umana: Fisiognomica, anatomia e arte in Leonardo. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001.
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Leonardo’s studies on the human figure, anatomy, physiognomy and physiology are treated in this book as integral components of his understanding of art. Leonardo’s anatomical, physiological, and proportion drawings are analyzed in chronological order and compared with traditional notions of anatomy and physiology. In a practical section centered around two key Leonardo compositions, The Last Supper and The Battle of Anghiari, the author investigates to what degree Leonardo’s studies on human and animal bodies impacted his artistic practice.
Laurenza, Domenico. De figura umana: Fisiognomica, anatomia e arte in Leonardo. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001.
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O’Malley, Charles Donald, and John Bertrand de Cusance Morant Saunders. Leonardo da Vinci on the Human Body: The Anatomical, the Physiological, and Embryological Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: H. Schuman, 1952.
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Two authors examine a large proportion of Leonardo’s anatomical studies. The book starts with an overview of the history of anatomical illustration before Leonardo, followed by chapters on Leonardo’s biography, the accuracy of his anatomical findings, the history of his anatomical manuscripts, and his plans to write an anatomy textbook. It ends with a catalogue of 215 anatomical drawings by Leonardo. Their texts and illustrations are analyzed in detail.
O’Malley, Charles Donald, and John Bertrand de Cusance Morant Saunders. Leonardo da Vinci on the Human Body: The Anatomical, the Physiological, and Embryological Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: H. Schuman, 1952.
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Zöllner, Frank. “Die Bedeutung von Codex Huygens und Codex Urbinas für die Proportions- und Bewegungsstudien Leonardo’s da Vinci.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 52 (1989): 334–352.
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The author looks at Leonardo’s proportion drawings based partly on Vitruvius, and partly on the artist’s own measurements, and considers them in relationship to his studies of movement. Zöllner puts forward the thesis that Leonardo was interested in his early drawings in a strictly rational system of measuring the human body (c. 1489–1493), then in a schematization of the actions of the body through geometrical figures (c. 1493–1498), and latterly in a freer sketching of proportions and movement.
Zöllner, Frank. “Die Bedeutung von Codex Huygens und Codex Urbinas für die Proportions- und Bewegungsstudien Leonardo’s da Vinci.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 52 (1989): 334–352.
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Optics and Perspective

Like proportion and anatomy, optics was another core component of Leonardo’s understanding of art. He drew and wrote about a broad spectrum of optical phenomena, in studies that addressed not just the correct use of linear perspective but also the effect of light and shade and a general theory of perception. Introductions to Leonardo’s views on optics and linear perspective are found in Richter 1970 (cited under Anthologies), Pedretti 1977 (cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies) and Kemp 2006 (cited under Monographs); and in the monographic publications on the Annunciation (Natali, et al. 2000, cited under Early Florentine Period, 1469–1482/1483) and the Last Supper (Barcilon and Marani 1999, cited under First Milanese Period, 1482/1483–1499). A major aspect of linear perspective, namely the commensurability and proportionality of foreshortening, is discussed in Wittkower 1953. Leonardo’s studies on perspective and their relationship to antique and medieval sources are discussed in Kemp 1977 and Ackerman 1978. Leonardo’s sources, and in particular the systematic nature of his late studies of the eye and vision, are likewise discussed in Strong 1979. The most comprehensive and detailed study of Leonardo’s writings on perspective and optical phenomena is found in Veltman 1986, which analyzes all the relevant material and in some cases tests it in practical experiments. Kemp 1990 situates Leonardo’s theory and use of perspective more broadly within the history of European art.

Ackerman, James S. “Leonardo’s Eye.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 41 (1978): 108–146.
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The author examines the extent to which Leonardo knew and evaluated antique and medieval texts on optics, and looks at how the artist arrived at his own theory of visual perception via independent experiments and reflection. This physiology of vision was based on a scientific consciousness and also found expression in some of Leonardo’s paintings.
Ackerman, James S. “Leonardo’s Eye.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 41 (1978): 108–146.
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Kemp, Martin. “Leonardo and the Visual Pyramid.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 40 (1977): 128–149.
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On the basis of some of Leonardo’s earliest studies on optics in MS A, the author shows that Leonardo, although he had also investigated medieval optics, initially understood perspective as a visual pyramid in the Albertian sense. Only in his later studies, in MS D, did Leonardo distance himself from this simple theory in favour of more complex systems of representing pictorial space.
Kemp, Martin. “Leonardo and the Visual Pyramid.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 40 (1977): 128–149.
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Kemp, Martin. The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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The book offers an overview of the theory and practical application of perspective and optics in European art history. Kemp considers that Leonardo marks both a high point and an end point within this history: although he perfected the linear perspective introduced by Brunelleschi, he also recognized its contradictions and limitations for artistic practice.
Kemp, Martin. The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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Strong, Donald S. Leonardo on the Eye: An English Translation and Critical Commentary of MS. D in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, with Studies on Leonardo’s Methodology and Theories on Optics. New York: Garland, 1979.
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Leonardo’s writings on the functioning of the eye and on the nature of visual perception, preserved in MS D (Paris, Institut de France, c. 1508–1509) and intended by Leonardo to form the basis of a treatise on optics, are analyzed here in English translation. In his critical commentary, Strong also takes account of earlier scientists, such as Roger Bacon, whose ideas Leonardo absorbed, and of Leonardo’s other notes on optics.
Strong, Donald S. Leonardo on the Eye: An English Translation and Critical Commentary of MS. D in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, with Studies on Leonardo’s Methodology and Theories on Optics. New York: Garland, 1979.
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Veltman, Kim H. Linear Perspective and the Visual Dimensions of Science and Art. Studies on Leonardo da Vinci 1. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1986.
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Veltman examines Leonardo’s studies on perspective in their entirety on the basis of Leonardo’s original manuscripts. After situating these studies within the history of surveying and theories of perspective, he discusses the evolution in Leonardo’s own thinking on the subject. Chapters on Leonardo’s use of perspective in his paintings are complemented by chapters in which Leonardo’s ideas on perspective are experimentally tested.
Veltman, Kim H. Linear Perspective and the Visual Dimensions of Science and Art. Studies on Leonardo da Vinci 1. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1986.
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Wittkower, Rudolf. “Brunelleschi and ‘Proportion in Perspective.’” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 16.3–4 (1953): 275–291.
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The essay looks at how Renaissance artists and art theoreticians dealt with the question of the commensurability and proportionality of perspective foreshortening. This was a major issue within 15th-century art theory, and one addressed by Leonardo, too. Leonardo largely agreed with the views of earlier theoreticians, but he also postulated a system of musical proportions for foreshortening.
Wittkower, Rudolf. “Brunelleschi and ‘Proportion in Perspective.’” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 16.3–4 (1953): 275–291.
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Light and Shadow (Sfumato)

Leonardo’s preoccupation with light and shadow and with the effect of sfumato, which may be considered his most important contribution to art history, is examined in Richter 1970 (cited under Anthologies), Pedretti 1977 (cited under Manuscripts, Critical Studies), Kemp 2006 (cited under Monographs), and in the literature devoted to Leonardo’s art theory and Libro di pittura, whose very extensive fifth book is devoted to the effects of light and shade (see Libro di pittura and Art Theory). Mention should also be made here of the book Weil-Garris Posner 1974 (cited under Second Milanese Period), on Leonardo’s late oeuvre, in which Leonardo’s sfumato finds its culmination. Veltman 1986 (cited under Optics and Perspective) offers the most comprehensive analysis of Leonardo’s studies on light and shadow. The possibility that Leonardo was alluding to antique sources with his concept of sfumato is argued, inter alia, in Gombrich 1962. The genesis of Leonardo’s late writings on light and shadow is discussed in Rzepinska 1962, while Fiorani 2009 sees evidence of Leonardo’s interest in the color of shadows even in the artist’s early oeuvre. Shearman 1962 is devoted to the full development of Leonardo’s studies on light and shadow, and Kaufmann 1975 is devoted to the problem of distinguishing between sharply defined and diffuse shadows. Nagel 1993 traces the history of the term sfumato as a means of understanding its significance, and Fehrenbach 2002 places this term into a broader context of theories of vision and perception.

Kaufmann, Thomas da Costa. “The Perspective of Shadows: The History of the Theory of Shadow Projection.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 38 (1975): 258–287.
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The essay takes a general look at artistic theories on the problem of the correct perspective representation of shadows. It thereby also discusses the contribution of Leonardo, who was the very first artist to study the perspective projection of shadows systematically with reference to artistic practice. Leonardo at first held on to the erroneous belief that sunlight radiates from a single point.
Kaufmann, Thomas da Costa. “The Perspective of Shadows: The History of the Theory of Shadow Projection.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 38 (1975): 258–287.
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Fehrenbach, Frank. “Der oszillierende Blick: ‘Sfumato’ und die Optik des späten Leonardo.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 65 (2002): 522–544.
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The article relates Leonardo’s ideas about sfumato to his late writings about optics and the broader ontological questions about his ideas on the eye, on vision, and on the psychology of perception in general.
Fehrenbach, Frank. “Der oszillierende Blick: ‘Sfumato’ und die Optik des späten Leonardo.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 65 (2002): 522–544.
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Fiorani, Francesca. “The Shadows of Leonardo’s Annunciation and Their Lost Legacy.” In Imitation, Representation and Printing in the Italian Renaissance. Edited by Roy Eriksen, 119–156. Pisa, Italy: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2009.
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The author discusses Leonardo’s lifelong interest in light and shadow. In the example of the Annunciation, Fiorani shows that shadow played a large role even in Leonardo’s early work, that the artist was already working here with tinted varnishes, that oil painting thereby held several innate advantages, and that Leonardo’s views on the effects of light and shade grew increasingly complex over the years.
Fiorani, Francesca. “The Shadows of Leonardo’s Annunciation and Their Lost Legacy.” In Imitation, Representation and Printing in the Italian Renaissance. Edited by Roy Eriksen, 119–156. Pisa, Italy: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2009.
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Gombrich, Ernst H. “Dark Varnishes: Variations on a Theme from Pliny.” The Burlington Magazine 104.707 (1962): 51–55.
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Gombrich asks whether the restoration of Old Master paintings does not in fact remove varnishes whose sfumato is due not just to an accumulation of grime and a natural darkening over the years, but to the use of tinted varnishes by the artist. He puts forward the thesis that Leonardo’s use of tinted varnishes, and hence also his sfumato, may be linked to a similar practice in Antiquity, as described by Pliny in his Natural History (35.97).
Gombrich, Ernst H. “Dark Varnishes: Variations on a Theme from Pliny.” The Burlington Magazine 104.707 (1962): 51–55.
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Nagel, Alexander. “Leonardo and sfumato.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 24 (1993): 7–20.
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The essay examines the history and ambiguity of the terms sfumare und sfumato. Nagel cites texts by Cennino Cennini, Leonardo, and Daniele Barbaro, as well as later philosophical reflections on the subject and the views of more recent scholars. He argues that Leonardo saw sfumato as a means of perfecting traditional modes of pictorial modeling and of adjusting vision and perception to a new level of subtlety.
Nagel, Alexander. “Leonardo and sfumato.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 24 (1993): 7–20.
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Rzepinska, Maria. “Light and Shadow in the Late Writings of Leonardo da Vinci.” Raccolta Vinciana 19 (1962): 259–266.
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In this investigation of Leonardo’s writings on light and shadow after 1505, the author concludes that, from this date, Leonardo sketched his corresponding drawings outside in the open air as well as inside the studio, and that he sought to place his theories of light and shade on a mathematical basis. This resulted in ever more abstract theories that were difficult to translate into practice.
Rzepinska, Maria. “Light and Shadow in the Late Writings of Leonardo da Vinci.” Raccolta Vinciana 19 (1962): 259–266.
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Shearman, John. “Leonardo’s Colour and Chiaroscuro.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 25.1 (1962): 13–47.
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This important article examines Leonardo’s efforts to achieve tonal unity in his paintings. The aim of tonal unity is to infuse the forms in the picture with greater plasticity and to heighten the suggestive effect of the objects in the pictorial space. Shearman traces the development of tonal unity on the basis of an analysis of Leonardo’s paintings, before looking more closely at the artist’s theoretical statements on chiaroscuro.
Shearman, John. “Leonardo’s Colour and Chiaroscuro.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 25.1 (1962): 13–47.
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Plants, Landscape, and Cartography

Leonardo’s artistic practice was based to a not inconsiderable degree on his studies of nature, whereby his drawings of plants and landscapes played a role as preparatory studies for his paintings. His botanical studies could also have a scientific character, however. A comprehensive investigation of the subject of Leonardo and plants is found in Emboden 1987, and a somewhat briefer analysis is provided in Ames-Lewis 1997. Reeds 2006 contextualizes some of Leonardo’s botanical drawings and thereby differentiates between his artistic approach and that of a botanist. Leonardo was also interested in geological processes, something that expressed itself in landscape studies and his so-called Deluge drawings, often described as fantastical. The significance of Leonardo’s landscape and Deluge drawings for the interpretation of his paintings is discussed in Perrig 1980. The possibility that Leonardo’s landscapes contain both a religious symbolism and a scientific meaning is examined in Zöllner 2005–2006. Leonardo’s study of landscape also extended to larger-scale cartography. A very useful introduction to Leonardo’s cartographical drawings and to the circumstances in which they arose is found in Arasse 1998 (cited under Monographs). The foundations for an understanding of Leonardo’s cartography were laid early on in Baratta 1911 and Baratta 1941; a more recent treatment of the subject is found in Starnazzi 2003.

Ames-Lewis, Francis. “Leonardo’s Botanical Drawings.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 10 (1997): 117–124.
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The essay offers an overview of current research on Leonardo’s botanical drawings, which were made above all as preparatory studies for plants in paintings and as illustrations for a corresponding chapter in the Libro di pittura.
Ames-Lewis, Francis. “Leonardo’s Botanical Drawings.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 10 (1997): 117–124.
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Baratta, Mario. Contributi alla storia della cartografia d’Italia. Vol. 3, La carta della Toscana di Leonardo da Vinci. Memorie geografiche 5.14. Florence: Tip. M. Ricci, 1911.
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Using the example of Leonardo’s maps and topographical drawings of Tuscan territory, the author discusses the extent to which Leonardo built upon the work of earlier cartographers. Leonardo makes reference in his own writings, for example, to a 1482 edition of Ptolemy and to the works of Gherardo and Monte di Giovanni.
Baratta, Mario. Contributi alla storia della cartografia d’Italia. Vol. 3, La carta della Toscana di Leonardo da Vinci. Memorie geografiche 5.14. Florence: Tip. M. Ricci, 1911.
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Baratta, Mario. I disegni geografici di Leonardo da Vinci conservati nel Castello di Windsor. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato, 1941.
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The catalogue of Leonardo’s geographical drawings in Windsor Castle, exemplary for its day, primarily offers a description of the individual sheets, transcriptions of the captions accompanying the individual drawings, and bibliographical references. The commentaries are brief. In the introduction and in various appendices, the author discusses the topographical and orographic accuracy of Leonardo’s maps and the earlier sources upon which he drew.
Baratta, Mario. I disegni geografici di Leonardo da Vinci conservati nel Castello di Windsor. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato, 1941.
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Emboden, William. Leonardo da Vinci on Plants and Gardens. Bromley, UK: Helm, 1987.
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The author offers an analysis of Leonardo’s known botanical drawings, which he situates within the history of botanical illustration and of botany in Italy in general. Emboden also looks at what Leonardo’s representation of plants tells us about his understanding of nature, and about the function and significance of plants in Leonardo’s paintings and writings. Several indices in the appendix allow full access to the material.
Emboden, William. Leonardo da Vinci on Plants and Gardens. Bromley, UK: Helm, 1987.
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Perrig, Alexander. “Leonardo: Die Anatomie der Erde.” Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen 25 (1980): 51–80.
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The article centers on a number of Leonardo’s landscape and Deluge drawings, and on his metaphor of “the body of the earth,” as formulated several times in his writings. Based on an analysis of this material, the author argues that the landscape backgrounds in paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Virgin and Child with St. Anne illustrate Leonardo’s theories on the creation of the world and the metaphor of the body of the earth.
Perrig, Alexander. “Leonardo: Die Anatomie der Erde.” Jahrbuch der Hamburger Kunstsammlungen 25 (1980): 51–80.
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Reeds, Karen M. “Leonardo da Vinci and Botanical Illustration: Nature Prints, Drawings, and Woodcuts ca. 1500.” In Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200–1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds and Alain Touwaide, 205–237. Aldershot, UK; and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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Reeds analyzes the intentions behind Leonardo’s drawings of plants in the context of traditional nature prints of plant leaves and against the backdrop of printed herbaria, of which Leonardo owned at least one. It thereby emerges that Leonardo did not proceed in his botanical drawings in the manner of a scientist or botanist, who simply records, but as an artist concerned with a representation going beyond objective reality.
Reeds, Karen M. “Leonardo da Vinci and Botanical Illustration: Nature Prints, Drawings, and Woodcuts ca. 1500.” In Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200–1550. Edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds and Alain Touwaide, 205–237. Aldershot, UK; and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006.
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Starnazzi, Carlo. Leonardo cartografo. Florence: Instituto geografico miltare, 2003.
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The publication focuses on Leonardo’s topographical sketches and maps and on the engineering schemes that lay behind the majority of his cartographic works. All Leonardo’s major cartographic projects are discussed. These include also Leonardo’s cartographic view of the Pontine marshes, made in c. 1514–1515, which provides the clearest evidence of Leonardo’s activity for his patron Giuliano de’ Medici.
Starnazzi, Carlo. Leonardo cartografo. Florence: Instituto geografico miltare, 2003.
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Zöllner, Frank. “Il paesaggio di Leonardo fra scienza e simbolismo religioso.” Raccolta Vinciana 31 (2005–2006): 231–256.
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The author examines the landscape backgrounds in Leonardo’s paintings and their significance for the general history of landscape painting. On the basis of detailed analyses, Zöllner concludes that Leonardo in some cases drew inspiration from his geographical and hydrological drawings, but that the landscape backgrounds in Leonardo’s paintings can also hold a religious symbolism.
Zöllner, Frank. “Il paesaggio di Leonardo fra scienza e simbolismo religioso.” Raccolta Vinciana 31 (2005–2006): 231–256.
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Leonardo and Antiquity

Leonardo’s study of Antiquity is most apparent in his processing of antique literary sources. Such sources are identified in Solmi 1976 (cited under Writings and Language). The most famous reference to a Roman authority is Leonardo’s proportion drawing after Vitruvius; further references to classical texts are found in Leonardo’s studies on anatomy (see Proportion, Anatomy, and Physiognomy), perspective (see Optics and Perspective) and cartography (see Plants, Landscape, and Cartography). Leonardo’s designs for the Leda (see Leonardo e il mito di Leda cited under Workshop Paintings and Controversial Attributions) and his references to a Fall of Phaeton composition (Ost 1975, cited under Early Florentine Period, 1469–1482/1483) and the so-called Diomedes gem (see Clark 1969) are all directly inspired by Antiquity. The influences, cited in the literature, of specific works by antique artists on Leonardo’s oeuvre are nonetheless often difficult to pinpoint. Marani 1999 (cited under Monographs) sees Leonardo making a study of antique art in Rome at the start of the 16th century. Clark 1969, a classic essay on the subject, likewise names a whole series of direct sources of inspiration from Antiquity, as do Allison 1974 and Kemp and Smart 1980. Cunnally 1993 has successfully shown that Leonardo was familiar with Imperial Roman coins and their motifs. Pedretti 1991 includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography on the subject of Leonardo and Antiquity.

Clark, Kenneth. “Leonardo and the Antique.” In Leonardo’s Legacy: An International Symposium. Edited by Charles Donald O’Malley, 1–34. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
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Clark cites the following examples of Leonardo’s reception of Antiquity: Hellenistic and Roman types of faces seen in profile; sarcophagus reliefs with horses rearing or in battle as a source for the Adoration of the Magi and The Battle of Anghiari; the Regisole in Padua and the horses of St. Mark’s in Venice; the Venus Anadyomene type as a source for the Kneeling Leda; and the Diomedes gem as the concrete model for a drawing in Windsor Castle (RL12540).
Clark, Kenneth. “Leonardo and the Antique.” In Leonardo’s Legacy: An International Symposium. Edited by Charles Donald O’Malley, 1–34. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.
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Allison, Ann H. “Antique Sources of Leonardo’s Leda.” Art Bulletin 56.3 (1974): 375–384.
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The author argues that Leonardo’s studies for the kneeling Leda show him absorbing the influence of antique forerunners as early as the start of the 16th century. She also stresses the influence of the Laocoön, discovered in 1506.
Allison, Ann H. “Antique Sources of Leonardo’s Leda.” Art Bulletin 56.3 (1974): 375–384.
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Kemp, Martin, and Alastair Smart. “Leonardo’s Leda and the Belvedere River-Gods: Roman sources and a new chronology.” Art History 3.2 (1980): 182–193.
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The authors argue that Leonardo drew inspiration for his Leda from antique sculpture that he saw around 1516 in the Belvedere in Rome.
Kemp, Martin, and Alastair Smart. “Leonardo’s Leda and the Belvedere River-Gods: Roman sources and a new chronology.” Art History 3.2 (1980): 182–193.
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Cunnally, John. “Numismatic Sources for Leonardo’s Equestrian Monuments.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 6 (1993): 67–78.
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Cunnally demonstrates that Leonardo was familiar with numerous antique coins, and in particular coins issued during the Roman Empire, and that their motifs made their way, inter alia, into his designs for equestrian monuments.
Cunnally, John. “Numismatic Sources for Leonardo’s Equestrian Monuments.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 6 (1993): 67–78.
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Pedretti, Carlo. “Mirator veterum.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 4 (1991): 253–255.
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After a short introduction, in which he discusses the literature on Leonardo’s relationship with antiquity, Pedretti lists over four hundred titles on the subject, in alphabetical order by author. He provides a brief summary of each title.
Pedretti, Carlo. “Mirator veterum.” Achademia Leonardi Vinci 4 (1991): 253–255.
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Critical Reception, Artistic Influence, and Afterlife

For evidence of Leonardo’s critical reception, one need look no further than the history of the editions of his writings, whereby the reception of his Libro di pittura—regularly published in new editions from the 17th century onwards—deserves particular mention (see Manuscripts, Critical Editions, Manuscripts, Critical Studies, and Libro di Pittura and Art Theory). The success enjoyed by Leonardo’s pictorial inventions from the 16th century onwards is documented by the publications on the paintings of his pupils (see Workshop Paintings) and the 2012 Louvre exhibition catalogue L’ultime chef-d’oeuvre de Léonard de Vinci (cited under Exhibition Catalogues). This success was also witnessed by the reproduction of Leonardo’s paintings and drawings in the form of prints. Leonardo’s most famous painting was originally The Last Supper, available as a woodcut from an early date (see Alberici and Chirico de Biasi 1984, cited under Drawings, Collected Volumes, Critical Studies, and Prints). Our image of Leonardo in the 19th and 20 centuries was shaped above all by the paintings on public display in the Louvre. This is particulary true of the changing attitudes towards the Mona Lisa, the history of whose reception is presented in Boas 1940, based on a detailed analysis of the corresponding literary sources. Chastel 1988 traces the story of the Mona Lisa’s success in the 19th and 20 centuries, whereas Belting 1998 links its elevation to iconic status with the cult of the artist and the establishment of public museums. The impact of the Leonardo paintings in the Louvre is discussed in Bickmann 1999, which also examines Leonardo’s influence upon Symbolist literature and art. Ciardi and Sisi 1997 looks at the Leonardo legends that manifested themselves, in particular, in 18th and 19th-century painting, while Turner 1992 offers an overview of Leonardo’s critical reception in the example of selected literary sources from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Belting, Hans. Das unsichtbare Meisterwerk: Die modernen Mythen der Kunst. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1998.
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Belting describes the establishment of public museums as temples of art, which both feed the modern cult of the artist and derive their raison d’être from it. As examples of this development, Belting cites, inter alia, the reception of the Leonardo paintings in the Louvre, whose ambivalent sfumato is ultimately the basis for the mythicization of the “masterpiece.”
Belting, Hans. Das unsichtbare Meisterwerk: Die modernen Mythen der Kunst. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1998.
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Bickmann, Isa. Leonardismus und symbolistische Ästhetik: Ein Beitrag zur Wirkungsgeschichte Leonardo da Vincis in Paris und Brüssel. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999.
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Bickmann examines the reception of Leonardo and his works in symbolist art and literature in France and Belgium. She thereby also discusses the Leonardo monographs and catalogues raisonnés published in the 19th century and the impact of the Leonardo paintings in the Louvre, accessible to the general public from the beginning of the 19th century onward.
Bickmann, Isa. Leonardismus und symbolistische Ästhetik: Ein Beitrag zur Wirkungsgeschichte Leonardo da Vincis in Paris und Brüssel. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999.
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Boas, George. “The Mona Lisa in the History of Taste.” Journal of the History of Ideas 1.2 (1940): 207–224.
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In this classic essay, the author shows how opinions of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa have changed over the centuries. The portrait was at first considered simply an outstanding example of art achieving a perfect imitation of nature; only much later was the female sitter elevated into a cult figure of diabolical charm. Boas provides an exemplary demonstration of how attitudes toward artworks and artists are constantly changing.
Boas, George. “The Mona Lisa in the History of Taste.” Journal of the History of Ideas 1.2 (1940): 207–224.
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Chastel, André. L’illustre incomprise: Mona Lisa. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1988.
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Throughout almost the whole of the 20th century, Leonardo’s fame rested above all upon the Mona Lisa. Chastel sees the roots of our image of the Mona Lisa in the literature of the 19th century, and he is also able to show that the portrait only acquired its extraordinary celebrity as a result of its theft in 1911 and its spectacular rediscovery in 1913.
Chastel, André. L’illustre incomprise: Mona Lisa. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1988.
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Ciardi, Roberto Paolo, and Carlo Sisi. L’immagine di Leonardo: Testimonianze figurative dal XVI al XIX secolo. Florence: Giunti, 1997.
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Catalog of an exhibition held at the Palazzina Uzielli, Vinci, 28 June–28 September 1997. On the basis of copious visual material and a number of literary sources, the authors illustrate the legends that sprang up around Leonardo from the 16th century onwards. They discuss the manyLeonardo portraits of the 16th to 19th centuries (most probably fictitious), and also the paintings and prints produced above all in the 18th and 19th centuries, which contributed to an exaltation of Leonardo’s image.
Ciardi, Roberto Paolo, and Carlo Sisi. L’immagine di Leonardo: Testimonianze figurative dal XVI al XIX secolo. Florence: Giunti, 1997.
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Turner, A. Richard. Inventing Leonardo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
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The publication traces the changing perceptions of Leonardo from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Starting from the partly anecdotal views of Renaissance authors, it follows the fluctuations in Leonardo’s image from the somewhat dismissive opinions expressed by certain authors in the 17th and 18th centuries to Leonardo’s rediscovery as an artist and scientist in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Turner, A. Richard. Inventing Leonardo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
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