The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Volume 2 by Leonardo Da Vinci

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IN VAL SASINA.

In Val Sasina, between Vimognio and Introbbio, to the right hand,
going in by the road to Lecco, is the river Troggia which falls from
a very high rock, and as it falls it goes underground and the river
ends there. 3 miles farther we find the buildings of the mines of
copper and silver near a place called Pra' Santo Pietro, and mines
of iron and curious things. La Grigna is the highest mountain there
is in this part, and it is quite bare.

[Footnote: 1030 and 1031. From the character of the handwriting we
may conclude that these observations were made in Leonardo's youth;
and I should infer from their contents, that they were notes made in
anticipation of a visit to the places here described, and derived
from some person (unknown to us) who had given him an account of
them.]

1032.

The lake of Pusiano flows into the lake of Segrino [Footnote 3: The
statement about the lake Segrino is incorrect; it is situated in the
Valle Assina, above the lake of Pusiano.] and of Annone and of Sala.
The lake of Annone is 22 braccia higher at the surface of its water
than the surface of the water of the lake of Lecco, and the lake of
Pusiano is 20 braccia higher than the lake of Annone, which added to
the afore said 22 braccia make 42 braccia and this is the greatest
height of the surface of the lake of Pusiano above the surface of
the lake of Lecco.

[Footnote: This text has in the original a slight sketch to
illustrate it.]

1033.

At Santa Maria in the Valley of Ravagnate [Footnote 2: _Ravagnate_
(Leonardo writes _Ravagna_) in the Brianza is between Oggiono and
Brivio, South of the lake of Como. M. Ravaisson avails himself of
this note to prove his hypothesis that Leonardo paid two visits to
France. See Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1881 pag. 528:

_Au recto du meme feuillet, on lit encore une note relative a une
vallee "nemonti brigatia"; il me semble qu'il s'agit bien des monts
de Briancon, le Brigantio des anciens. Briancon est sur la route de
Lyon en Italie. Ce fut par le mont Viso que passerent, en aout 1515,
les troupes francaises qui allaient remporter la victoire de
Marignan.

Leonard de Vinci, ingenieur de Francois Ier, comme il l'avait ete de
Louis XII, aurait-il ete pour quelque chose dans le plan du celebre
passage des Alpes, qui eut lieu en aout 1515, et a la suite duquel
on le vit accompagner partout le chevaleresque vainqueur? Auraitil
ete appele par le jeune roi, de Rome ou l'artiste etait alors, des
son avenement au trone?_] in the mountains of Brianza are the rods
of chestnuts of 9 braccia and one out of an average of 100 will be
14 braccia.

At Varallo di Ponbia near to Sesto on the Ticino the quinces are
white, large and hard.

[Footnote 5: Varallo di Ponbia, about ten miles South of Arona is
distinct from Varallo the chief town in the Val di Sesia.]

Notes on places in Central Italy, visited in 1502 (1034-1054).

1034.

Pigeon-house at Urbino, the 30th day of July 1502. [Footnote: An
indistinct sketch is introduced with this text, in the original, in
which the word _Scolatoro_ (conduit) is written.]

1035.

Made by the sea at Piombino. [Footnote: Below the sketch there are
eleven lines of text referring to the motion of waves.]

1036.

Acquapendente is near Orvieto. [Footnote: _Acquapendente_ is about
10 miles West of Orvieto, and is to the right in the map on Pl.
CXIII, near the lake of Bolsena.]

1037.

The rock of Cesena. [Footnote: See Pl. XCIV No. 1, the lower sketch.
The explanation of the upper sketch is given on p. 29.]

1038.

Siena, _a b_ 4 braccia, _a c_ 10 braccia. Steps at [the castle of]
Urbino. [Footnote: See Pl. CX No. 3; compare also No. 765.]

1039.

The bell of Siena, that is the manner of its movement, and the place
of the attachment of the clapper. [Footnote: The text is accompanied
by an indistinct sketch.]

1040.

On St. Mary's day in the middle of August, at Cesena, 1502.
[Footnote: See Pl. CX, No. 4.]

1041.

Stairs of the [palace of the] Count of Urbino,--rough. [Footnote:
The text is accompanied by a slight sketch.]

1042.

At the fair of San Lorenzo at Cesena. 1502.

1043.

Windows at Cesena. [Footnote: There are four more lines of text
which refer to a slightly sketched diagram.]

1044.

At Porto Cesenatico, on the 6th of September 1502 at 9 o'clock a. m.

The way in which bastions ought to project beyond the walls of the
towers to defend the outer talus; so that they may not be taken by
artillery.

[Footnote: An indistinct sketch, accompanies this passage.]

1045.

The rock of the harbour of Cesena is four points towards the South
West from Cesena.

1046.

In Romagna, the realm of all stupidity, vehicles with four wheels
are used, of which O the two in front are small and two high ones
are behind; an arrangement which is very unfavourable to the motion,
because on the fore wheels more weight is laid than on those behind,
as I showed in the first of the 5th on "Elements".

1047.

Thus grapes are carried at Cesena. The number of the diggers of the
ditches is [arranged] pyramidically. [Footnote: A sketch,
representing a hook to which two bunches of grapes are hanging,
refers to these first two lines. Cesena is mentioned again Fol. 82a:
_Carro da Cesena_ (a cart from Cesena).]

1048.

There might be a harmony of the different falls of water as you saw
them at the fountain of Rimini on the 8th day of August, 1502.

1049.

The fortress at Urbino. [Footnote: 1049. In the original the text is
written inside the sketch in the place here marked _n_.]

1050.

Imola, as regards Bologna, is five points from the West, towards the
North West, at a distance of 20 miles.

Castel San Piero is seen from Imola at four points from the West
towards the North West, at a distance of 7 miles.

Faenza stands with regard to Imola between East and South East at a
distance of ten miles. Forli stands with regard to Faenza between
South East and East at a distance of 20 miles from Imola and ten
from Faenza.

Forlimpopoli lies in the same direction at 25 miles from Imola.

Bertinoro, as regards Imola, is five points from the East to wards
the South East, at 27 miles.

1051.

Imola as regards Bologna is five points from the West towards the
North West at a distance of 20 miles.

Castel San Pietro lies exactly North West of Imola, at a distance of
7 miles.

Faenza, as regards Imola lies exactly half way between the East and
South East at a distance of 10 miles; and Forli lies in the same
direction from Imola at a distance of 20 miles; and Forlimpopolo
lies in the same direction from Forli at a distance of 25 miles.

Bertinoro is seen from Imola two points from the East towards the
South East at a distance of 27 miles.

[Footnote: Leonardo inserted this passage on the margin of the
circular plan, in water colour, of Imola--see Pl. CXI No. 1.--In the
original the fields surrounding the town are light green; the moat,
which surrounds the fortifications and the windings of the river
Santerno, are light blue. The parts, which have come out blackish
close to the river are yellow ochre in the original. The dark groups
of houses inside the town are red. At the four points of the compass
drawn in the middle of the town Leonardo has written (from right to
left): _Mezzodi_ (South) at the top; to the left _Scirocho_ (South
east), _levante_ (East), _Greco_ (North East), _Septantrione_
(North), _Maesstro_ (North West), _ponente_ (West) _Libecco_ (South
West). The arch in which the plan is drawn is, in the original, 42
centimetres across.

At the beginning of October 1502 Cesare Borgia was shut up in Imola
by a sudden revolt of the Condottieri, and it was some weeks before
he could release himself from this state of siege (see Gregorovius,
_Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter_, Vol. VII, Book XIII, 5,
5).

Besides this incident Imola plays no important part in the history
of the time. I therefore think myself fully justified in connecting
this map, which is at Windsor, with the siege of 1502 and with
Leonardo's engagements in the service of Cesare Borgia, because a
comparison of these texts, Nos. 1050 and 1051, raise, I believe, the
hypothesis to a certainty.]

1052.

>From Bonconventi to Casa Nova are 10 miles, from Casa Nova to Chiusi
9 miles, from Chiusi to Perugia, from, Perugia to Santa Maria degli
Angeli, and then to Fuligno. [Footnote: Most of the places here
described lie within the district shown in the maps on Pl. CXIII.]

1053.

On the first of August 1502, the library at Pesaro.

1054.

OF PAINTING.

On the tops and sides of hills foreshorten the shape of the ground
and its divisions, but give its proper shape to what is turned
towards you. [Footnote: This passage evidently refers to the making
of maps, such as Pl. CXII, CXIII, and CXIV. There is no mention of
such works, it is true, excepting in this one passage of MS. L. But
this can scarcely be taken as evidence against my view that Leonardo
busied himself very extensively at that time in the construction of
maps; and all the less since the foregoing chapters clearly prove
that at a time so full of events Leonardo would only now and then
commit his observations to paper, in the MS. L.

By the side of this text we find, in the original, a very indistinct
sketch, perhaps a plan of a position. Instead of this drawing I have
here inserted a much clearer sketch of a position from the same MS.,
L. 82b and 83a. They are the only drawings of landscape, it may be
noted, which occur at all in that MS.]

Alessandria in Piedmont (1055. 1056).

1055.

At Candia in Lombardy, near Alessandria della Paglia, in making a
well for Messer Gualtieri [Footnote 2: Messer Gualtieri, the same
probably as is mentioned in Nos. 672 and 1344.] of Candia, the
skeleton of a very large boat was found about 10 braccia
underground; and as the timber was black and fine, it seemed good to
the said Messer Gualtieri to have the mouth of the well lengthened
in such a way as that the ends of the boat should be uncovered.

1056.

At Alessandria della Paglia in Lombardy there are no stones for
making lime of, but such as are mixed up with an infinite variety of
things native to the sea, which is now more than 200 miles away.

The Alps (1057-1062).

1057.

At Monbracco, above Saluzzo,--a mile above the Certosa, at the foot
of Monte Viso, there is a quarry of flakey stone, which is as white
as Carrara marble, without a spot, and as hard as porphyry or even
harder; of which my worthy gossip, Master Benedetto the sculptor,
has promised to give me a small slab, for the colours, the second
day of January 1511.

[Footnote: Saluzzo at the foot of the Alps South of Turin.]

[Footnote 9. 10.: _Maestro Benedetto scultore_; probably some native
of Northern Italy acquainted with the place here described. Hardly
the Florentine sculptor Benedetto da Majano. Amoretti had published
this passage, and M. Ravaisson who gave a French translation of it
in the _Gazette des Beaux Arts_ (1881, pag. 528), remarks as
follows: _Le maitre sculpteur que Leonard appelle son "compare" ne
serait-il pas Benedetto da Majano, un de ceux qui jugerent avec lui
de la place a donner au David de Michel-Ange, et de qui le Louvre a
acquis recemment un buste d'apres Philippe Strozzi?_ To this it may
be objected that Benedetto da Majano had already lain in his grave
fourteen years, in the year 1511, when he is supposed to have given
the promise to Leonardo. The colours may have been given to the
sculptor Benedetto and the stone may have been in payment for them.
>From the description of the stone here given we may conclude that it
is repeated from hearsay of the sculptor's account of it. I do not
understand how, from this observation, it is possible to conclude
that Leonardo was on the spot.]

1058.

That there are springs which suddenly break forth in earthquakes or
other convulsions and suddenly fail; and this happened in a mountain
in Savoy where certain forests sank in and left a very deep gap, and
about four miles from here the earth opened itself like a gulf in
the mountain, and threw out a sudden and immense flood of water
which scoured the whole of a little valley of the tilled soil,
vineyards and houses, and did the greatest mischief, wherever it
overflowed.

1059.

The river Arve, a quarter of a mile from Geneva in Savoy, where the
fair is held on midsummerday in the village of Saint Gervais.

[Footnote: An indistinct sketch is to be seen by the text.]

1060.

And this may be seen, as I saw it, by any one going up Monbroso
[Footnote: I have vainly enquired of every available authority for a
solution of the mystery as to what mountain is intended by the name
Monboso (Comp. Vol. I Nos. 300 and 301). It seems most obvious to
refer it to Monte Rosa. ROSA derived from the Keltic ROS which
survives in Breton and in Gaelic, meaning, in its first sense, a
mountain spur, but which also--like HORN--means a very high peak;
thus Monte Rosa would mean literally the High Peak.], a peak of the
Alps which divide France from Italy. The base of this mountain gives
birth to the 4 rivers which flow in four different directions
through the whole of Europe. And no mountain has its base at so
great a height as this, which lifts itself above almost all the
clouds; and snow seldom falls there, but only hail in the summer,
when the clouds are highest. And this hail lies [unmelted] there, so
that if it were not for the absorption of the rising and falling
clouds, which does not happen more than twice in an age, an enormous
mass of ice would be piled up there by the layers of hail, and in
the middle of July I found it very considerable; and I saw the sky
above me quite dark, and the sun as it fell on the mountain was far
brighter here than in the plains below, because a smaller extent of
atmosphere lay between the summit of the mountain and the sun.
[Footnote 6: _in una eta._ This is perhaps a slip of the pen on
Leonardo's part and should be read _estate_ (summer).]

Leic. 9b]

1061.

In the mountains of Verona the red marble is found all mixed with
cockle shells turned into stone; some of them have been filled at
the mouth with the cement which is the substance of the stone; and
in some parts they have remained separate from the mass of the rock
which enclosed them, because the outer covering of the shell had
interposed and had not allowed them to unite with it; while in other
places this cement had petrified those which were old and almost
stripped the outer skin.

1062.

Bridge of Goertz-Wilbach (?).

[Footnote: There is a slight sketch with this text, Leonardo seems
to have intended to suggest, with a few pen-strokes, the course of
the Isonzo and of the Wipbach in the vicinity of Gorizia (Goerz). He
himself says in another place that he had been in Friuli (see No.
1077 1. 19).]

The Appenins (1063-1068).

1063.

That part of the earth which was lightest remained farthest from the
centre of the world; and that part of the earth became the lightest
over which the greatest quantity of water flowed. And therefore that
part became lightest where the greatest number of rivers flow; like
the Alps which divide Germany and France from Italy; whence issue
the Rhone flowing Southwards, and the Rhine to the North. The Danube
or Tanoia towards the North East, and the Po to the East, with
innumerable rivers which join them, and which always run turbid with
the soil carried by them to the sea.

The shores of the sea are constantly moving towards the middle of
the sea and displace it from its original position. The lowest
portion of the Mediterranean will be reserved for the bed and
current of the Nile, the largest river that flows into that sea. And
with it are grouped all its tributaries, which at first fell into
the sea; as may be seen with the Po and its tributaries, which first
fell into that sea, which between the Appenines and the German Alps
was united to the Adriatic sea.

That the Gallic Alps are the highest part of Europe.

1064.

And of these I found some in the rocks of the high Appenines and
mostly at the rock of La Vernia. [Footnote 6: _Sasso della Vernia._
The frowning rock between the sources of the Arno and the Tiber, as
Dante describes this mountain, which is 1269 metres in height.

This note is written by the side of that given as No. 1020; but
their connection does not make it clear what Leonardo's purpose was
in writing it.]

1065.

At Parma, at 'La Campana' on the twenty-fifth of October 1514.
[Footnote 2: _Capano_, an Inn.]

A note on the petrifactions, or fossils near Parma will be found
under No. 989.]

1066.

A method for drying the marsh of Piombino. [Footnote: There is a
slight sketch with this text in the original.--Piombino is also
mentioned in Nos. 609, l. 55-58 (compare Pl. XXXV, 3, below). Also
in No. 1035.]

1067.

The shepherds in the Romagna at the foot of the Apennines make
peculiar large cavities in the mountains in the form of a horn, and
on one side they fasten a horn. This little horn becomes one and the
same with the said cavity and thus they produce by blowing into it a
very loud noise. [Footnote: As to the Romagna see also No. 1046.]

1068.

A spring may be seen to rise in Sicily which at certain times of the
year throws out chesnut leaves in quantities; but in Sicily chesnuts
do not grow, hence it is evident that that spring must issue from
some abyss in Italy and then flow beneath the sea to break forth in
Sicily. [Footnote: The chesnut tree is very common in Sicily. In
writing _cicilia_ Leonardo meant perhaps Cilicia.]

II.

FRANCE.

1069.

GERMANY. FRANCE.

a. Austria, a. Picardy.
b. Saxony. b. Normandy.
c. Nuremberg. c. Dauphine.
d. Flanders.

SPAIN.

a. Biscay.
b. Castille.
c. Galicia.
d. Portugal.
e. Taragona.
f. Granada.

[Footnote: Two slightly sketched maps, one of Europe the other of
Spain, are at the side of these notes.]

1070.

Perpignan. Roanne. Lyons. Paris. Ghent. Bruges. Holland.

[Footnote: _Roana_ does not seem to mean here Rouen in Normandy, but
is probably Roanne (Rodumna) on the upper Loire, Lyonnais (Dep. du
Loire). This town is now unimportant, but in Leonardo's time was
still a place of some consequence.]

1071.

At Bordeaux in Gascony the sea rises about 40 braccia before its
ebb, and the river there is filled with salt water for more than a
hundred and fifty miles; and the vessels which are repaired there
rest high and dry on a high hill above the sea at low tide.
[Footnote 2: This is obviously an exaggeration founded on inaccurate
information. Half of 150 miles would be nearer the mark.]

1072.

The Rhone issues from the lake of Geneva and flows first to the West
and then to the South, with a course of 400 miles and pours its
waters into the Mediterranean.

1073.

_c d_ is the garden at Blois; _a b_ is the conduit of Blois, made in
France by Fra Giocondo, _b c_ is what is wanting in the height of
that conduit, _c d_ is the height of the garden at Blois, _e f_ is
the siphon of the conduit, _b c_, _e f_, _f g_ is where the siphon
discharges into the river. [Footnote: The tenor of this note (see
lines 2 and 3) seems to me to indicate that this passage was not
written in France, but was written from oral information. We have no
evidence as to when this note may have been written beyond the
circumstance that Fra Giocondo the Veronese Architect left France
not before the year 1505. The greater part of the magnificent
Chateau of Blois has now disappeared. Whether this note was made for
a special purpose is uncertain. The original form and extent of the
Chateau is shown in Androvet, _Les plus excellents Bastiments de
France, Paris MDCVII,_ and it may be observed that there is in the
middle of the garden a Pavilion somewhat similar to that shown on
Pl. LXXXVIII No. 7.

See S. DE LA SAUSSAYE, _Histoire du Chateau de Blois 4eme edition
Blois et Paris_ p. 175: _En mariant sa fille ainee a Francois, comte
d'Angouleme, Louis XII lui avait constitue en dot les comtes de
Blois, d'Asti, de Coucy, de Montfort, d'Etampes et de Vertus. Une
ordonnance de Francois I. lui laissa en_ 1516 _l'administration du
comte de Blois.

Le roi fit commencer, dans la meme annee, les travaux de celle belle
partie du chateau, connue sous le nom d'aile de Francois I, et dont
nous avons donne la description au commencement de ce livre. Nous
trouvons en effet, dans les archives du Baron de Foursanvault, une
piece qui en fixe parfaitement la date. On y lit: "Je, Baymon
Philippeaux, commis par le Roy a tenir le compte et fair le payement
des bastiments, ediffices et reparacions que le dit seigneur fait
faire en son chastu de Blois, confesse avoir eu et receu ... la
somme de trois mille livres tournois ... le cinquieme jour de
juillet, l'an mil cinq cent et seize._ P. 24: _Les jardins avaient
ete decores avec beaucoup de luxe par les differents possesseurs du
chateau. Il ne reste de tous les batiments qu'ils y eleverent que
ceux des officiers charges de l'ad_ministration et de la culture des
jardins, et un pavilion carre en pierre et en brique flanque de
terrasses a chacun de ses angles. Quoique defigure par des mesures
elevees sur les terrasses, cet edifice est tris-digne d'interet par
l'originalite du plan, la decoration architecturale et le souvenir
d'Anne de Bretagne qui le fit construire._ Felibien describes the
garden as follows: _Le jardin haut etait fort bien dresse par grands
compartimens de toutes sortes de figures, avec des allees de
meuriers blancs et des palissades de coudriers. Deux grands berceaux
de charpenterie separoient toute la longueur et la largeur du
jardin, et dans les quatres angles des allees, ou ces berceaux se
croissent, il y auoit 4 cabinets, de mesme charpenterie ... Il y a
pas longtemps qu'il y auoit dans ce mesme jardin, a l'endroit ou se
croissent les allees du milieu, un edifice de figure octogone, de
plus de 7 thoises de diametre et de plus de neuf thoises de haut;
avec 4 enfoncements en forme de niches dans les 4 angles des allies.
Ce bastiment.... esloit de charpente mais d'un extraordinairement
bien travaille. On y voyait particulierement la cordiliere qui
regnati tout autour en forme de cordon. Car la Reyne affectait de la
mettre nonseulement a ses armes et a ses chiffres mais de la faire
representer en divers manieres dans tous les ouvrages qu'on lui
faisait pour elle ... le bastiment estati couvert en forme de dome
qui dans son milieu avait encore un plus petit dome, ou lanterne
vitree au-dessus de laquelle estait une figure doree representant
Saint Michel. Les deux domes estoient proprement couvert d'ardoise
et de plomb dore par dehors; par dedans ils esloient lambrissez
d'une menuiserie tres delicate. Au milieu de ce Salon il y avait un
grand bassin octogone de marbre blanc, dont toutes les faces
estoient enrichies de differentes sculptures, avec les armes et les
chiffres du Roy Louis XII et de la Reine Anne, Dans ce bassin il y
en avait un autre pose sur un piedestal lequel auoit sept piedz de
diametre. Il estait de figure ronde a godrons, avec des masques et
d'autres ornements tres scauamment taillez. Du milieu de ce
deuxiesme bassin s'y levoit un autre petit piedestal qui portait un
troisiesme bassin de trois pieds de diametre, aussy parfaitement
bien taille; c'estoit de ce dernier bassin que jallissoit l'eau qui
se rependoit en suitte dans les deux autres bassins. Les beaux
ouvrages faits d'un marbre esgalement blanc et poli, furent brisez
par la pesanteur de tout l'edifice, que les injures de l'air
renverserent de fond en comble.]

1074.

The river Loire at Amboise.

The river is higher within the bank _b d_ than outside that bank.

The island where there is a part of Amboise.

This is the river that passes through Amboise; it passes at _a b c
d_, and when it has passed the bridge it turns back, against the
original current, by the channel _d e_, _b f_ in contact with the
bank which lies between the two contrary currents of the said river,
_a b_, _c d_, and _d e_, _b f_. It then turns down again by the
channel _f l_, _g h_, _n m_, and reunites with the river from which
it was at first separated, which passes by _k n_, which makes _k m_,
_r t_. But when the river is very full it flows all in one channel
passing over the bank _b d_. [Footnote: See Pl. CXV. Lines 1-7 are
above, lines 8-10 in the middle of the large island and the word
_Isola_ is written above _d_ in the smaller island; _a_ is written
on the margin on the bank of the river above 1. I; in the
reproduction it is not visible. As may be seen from the last
sentence, the observation was made after long study of the river's
course, when Leonardo had resided for some time at, or near,
Amboise.]

1075.

The water may be dammed up above the level of Romorantin to such a
height, that in its fall it may be used for numerous mills.

1075.

The river at Villefranche may be conducted to Romorantin which may
be done by the inhabitants; and the timber of which their houses are
built may be carried in boats to Romorantin [Footnote: Compare No.
744.]. The river may be dammed up at such a height that the waters
may be brought back to Romorantin with a convenient fall.

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