1448

Undated memoranda.

An algebra, which the Marliani have, written by their father, [Footnote 1: Marliani, an old Milanese family, now extinct.]—

On the bone, by the Marliani,—

On the bone which penetrates, Gian Giacomo of Bellinzona, to draw out the nail with facility,—

The measurement of Boccalino,—

The measurement of Milan and the suburbs, [Footnote 5: *21. See Pl. CIX and No. 1016.]—

A book, treating of Milan and its churches which is to be had at the last stationer’s on the way to Corduso [Footnote 6: Corduso, see No. 1413, note.],—

The measurement of the Corte Vecchia,—

The measurement of the Castle,—

Get the master of arithmetic to show you how to square a....,—

Get the Friar di Brera to show you [the book] ‘de Ponderibus’ [Footnote 11: 13. Brera, now Palazzo delle Scienze ed Arti. Until 1571 it was the monastery of the order of the Umiliati and afterwards of the Jesuits.

De ponderibus, compare No. 1436, 3.],—

Of the measurement of San Lorenzo,—

I lent certain groups to Fra Filippo de Brera,—

Memorandum: to ask Maestro Giovannino as to the mode in which the tower of Ferrara is walled without loopholes,—

Ask Maestro Antonio how mortars are placed on bastions by day or by night,—

Ask Benedetto Portinari how the people go on the ice in Flanders,—

On proportions by Alchino, with notes by Marliano, from Messer Fazio,—

The measurement of the sun, promised me by Maestro Giovanni, the Frenchman,—

The cross bow of Maestro Gianetto,—

The book by Giovanni Taverna that Messer Fazio,—

You will draw Milan [21],—

The measurement of the canal, locks and supports, and large boats; and the expense,—

Plan of Milan [Footnote 23: Fondamento is commonly used by Leonardo to mean ground-plan. See for instance p. 53.],—

Groups by Bramante [Footnote 24: Gruppi. See Vol. I p. 355, No. 600, note 9.],—

The book on celestial phenomena by Aristoteles, in Italian [Footnote 25: Meteora. By this Leonardo means no doubt the four books. He must refer here to a MS. translation, as no Italian translation is known to have been published (see No. 1477 note).],—

Try to get Vitolone, which is in the library at Pavia [Footnote 26: Vitolone see No. 1506, note.

Libreria di Pavia. One of the most famous of Italian libraries. After the victory of Novara in April 1500, Louis XII had it conveyed to France, ‘come trofeo di vittoria’!] and which treats of Mathematics,—He had a master [learned] in waterworks and get him to explain the repairs and the costs, and a lock and a canal and a mill in the Lombard fashion.

A grandson of Gian Angelo’s, the painter has a book on water which was his fathers.

Paolino Scarpellino, called Assiolo has great knowledge of water works.

[Footnote 12: Sco Lorenzo. A church at Milan, see pp. 39, 40 and 50.]

[Footnote 13. 24: Gruppi. See Vol. I p. 355, No. 600, note 9.]

[Footnote 16: The Portinari were one of the great merchant-families of Florence.]

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XXII: Miscellaneous Notes.
. . .
1428,
1429,
1430,
1431,
1432,
1433,
1434
Undated memoranda.
1435,
1436,
1437,
1438,
1439,
1440,
1441,
1442,
1443,
1444,
1445,
1446,
1447,
1448,
1449,
1450,
1451,
1452,
1453,
1454,
1455,
1456,
1457
Notes on pupils.
1458,
1459,
1460,
1461,
1462,
1463,
1464,
1465,
1466,
1467,
1468
. . .