Codex Windsor
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_RCIN_919057%2C_Recto_The_skull_sectioned.jpg/220px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_RCIN_919057%2C_Recto_The_skull_sectioned.jpg)
The Codex Windsor is a collection of manuscript sheets with artistic drawings and anatomical studies by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.
Name
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_RCIN_919101%2C_Recto_The_fetus%2C_and_the_muscles_attached_to_the_pelvis.jpg/220px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_RCIN_919101%2C_Recto_The_fetus%2C_and_the_muscles_attached_to_the_pelvis.jpg)
The Codex Windsor owes its name to its preservation in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, where it has been since the 17th century.[1]
Content
The collection now comprises 606 individually catalogued sheets in various formats. The sheets of the codex are dated to the period between 1478 and 1518.[1] The texts and commentaries were written by Leonardo in mirror script. The sheets contain contributions to art and painting, studies of people, animals, plants, and landscapes, as well as mechanics, weaponry, and anatomy.[1]
The 153 sheets of anatomical drawings were previously grouped into three volumes: Anatomical Manuscript A (18 sheets), B (42 sheets), and C (93 sheets). Anatomical manuscript C was in turn divided into six anatomical quires, the Quaderni di anatomia I–VI.[2]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Studies_of_the_foetus_in_the_womb.jpg/220px-Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Studies_of_the_foetus_in_the_womb.jpg)
The image (left) shows the fetus in the right position within the excised uterus. Leonardo also accurately drew the uterine arteries and the vascular system of the cervix and vagina.[1] To prepare for these drawings, Leonardo studied human embryology with the help of the anatomist Marcantonio della Torre and saw a fetus in a dissected corpse.[3]
History
Leonardo da Vinci began studying the anatomy of the human body in the late 1470s and may have participated in the first dissections at the University of Padua. His records indicate that he began performing autopsies himself around 1505.[3] By the year 1518, he reported that he had performed a total of thirty autopsies during his lifetime. He seems to have been particularly interested in the movement and function of internal organs.[3]
Leonardo's drawings show representations of the entire human body in various stages of dissection, as well as individual limbs and organs.[1] He drew body parts through multiple incisions and is therefore often considered the historical founder of tomographic imaging in medicine. It is mentioned that the Codex Windsor also deals with Leonardo's incessant study of horses, their movements, their postures, etc.[1][4][5]
After Leonardo's death most of his manuscripts and drawings were kept at his villa near Vaprio d'Adda, Lombardy, by his student and heir Francesco Melzi.[2] His son, Orazio Melzi, inherited the documents in 1570. Around 1590, Orazio Melzi sold over 2,500 individual sheets to the sculptor and art collector Pompeo Leoni.[2]
Leoni attempted to organize the manuscripts thematically, separating Leonardo's artistic ideas from his technical and scientific drawings.[2] He cut out sheets and glued together others that were not originally part of the whole.[2] In this way, he grouped Leonardo's anatomical drawings with other manuscripts on different subjects into several volumes, which were later given the name Codex Windsor.
The origins of the Codex Windsor in the Royal Collection are still unclear. It was probably acquired by Charles I or Charles II in the 17th century. However, it is known that Mary II showed the codex to the Dutch statesman Constantijn Huygens at Kensington Palace in 1690.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "The window into Leonardo da Vinci's creativity? His sketchbooks". National Geographic. 2023.
- ^ a b c d e The UNESCO Courier (1974, pp. 5–6)
- ^ a b c "Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Library Windsor Castle" (PDF). resources.metmuseum.org.
- ^ The UNESCO Courier (1974, p. 39)
- ^ "RCIN 912326 – Expressions of fury in horses, a lion and a man; (Verso:) Notes and diagrams on astronomy and geometry, and the head of a horse". www.rct.uk.
Bibliography
- Scott-Elliot, A. H. (1956). "The Pompeo Leoni Volume of Leonardo Drawings at Windsor". The Burlington Magazine. 98 (634): 11–14, 17. JSTOR 871775.
- The UNESCO Courier (1974). Two rediscovered manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. UNESCO.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1984). Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomical Drawings from the Royal Library Windsor Castle (PDF). New York.
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External links
Media related to Codex Windsor at Wikimedia Commons
- v
- t
- e
- The Annunciation
- The Baptism of Christ ✻
- The Madonna of the Carnation
- Ginevra de' Benci
- Benois Madonna
- The Adoration of the Magi
- Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
- Madonna Litta ✻
- Virgin of the Rocks
- Portrait of a Musician ✻✻
- Lady with an Ermine
- La Belle Ferronnière
- The Last Supper
- Sala delle Asse
- Buccleuch Madonna ✻
- Salvator Mundi ✻✻
- Lansdowne Madonna ✻
- The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne
- Mona Lisa
- La Scapigliata
- Saint John the Baptist
Lost paintings |
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- Budapest Horse
- Horse and Rider
- Sforza Horse (unexecuted)
- Study for the Madonna of the Cat
- Head of a Bear
- The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
- Vitruvian Man
- Portrait of Isabella d'Este
- Studies of the Fetus in the Womb
- Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk
Studies for the Virgin of the Rocks | |
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Studies for the Last Supper |
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Relating to the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne |
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- Codex Atlanticus
- Codex Windsor
- Codex Arundel
- Codex Trivulzianus
- Codex Madrid
- Codex on the Flight of Birds
- Codex Leicester
- A Treatise on Painting
- Cultural references
- Namesakes
- Portraits of Leonardo
- Conservation-restoration of The Last Supper
- Mona Lisa replicas and reinterpretations
- High Renaissance
- Mathematics and art
- The Lost Leonardo
- Leda and the Swan (Galleria Borghese)
- ✻ Collaboration
- ✻✻ Possible collaboration
Category