The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci - Complete
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| The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci |
Excerpt from the book preface:
In respect to these Leonardo himself in his manuscripts must be accounted as his own best biographer, despite what may appear the enigmatic brevity of some of his statements and inferences. It is not possible to claim for him originality in discovery in all the points wherein his research anticipated principles which were subsequently established.
So incomplete is the record of the intellectual life of Milan under the Sforzas, which has survived the storms of invasion that subsequently broke upon the city, as to cause a positive statement on this point to be well-nigh impossible; something, however, should be allowed for the results of his intercourse with those who were occupied in the same fields of research.
We are told that at a later period, he was the friend of Marc Antonio della Torre who held the Chair of Anatomy in the University of Pavia and that they mutually assisted each other's studies. He was also the friend of Fra Luca Pacioli, the mathematician, and drew the diagrams for his De Divina Proportioned and the two were companions for some time in the autumn and winter of 1499 after leaving Milan together at the time of the French invasion.
Numerous references and notes which occur throughout the manuscripts show that he was indefatigable in seeking to acquire knowledge from every possible source, either by obtaining the loan of books or treatises or by application to those interested in the same studies. From the astrologers then to be found at Ludovic's court — Ambrogio da Rosate and the others — he learnt nothing. He rated their wisdom on a par with that of the alchemists and the seekers after perpetual motion. His study of the heavens differed from theirs as much in the method as in purpose.
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