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Arts & Communication Leonardo from Caffa in Crimea

and then combined all of these disparate meaningless Villata 21,p.7 notes other phrases on the front, including
views onto a tiny sheet, despite the fact that this was not a “... bre I started the two virgin Maries ….” He extrapolates
common practice among Italian artists at the time. Experts this to “September, November, or December,” and places
are also confused by the materials, as some of these were the timeframe toward the end of 1478. He further proposes
not in use in 1473. They cannot explain the backward that this might be a reference to two small paintings of
writing that matches writing that was only used again, the Madonna dating from the same period. In the lower-
they claim, in 1478, leaving a gap of 5 years. Leonardo left corner also of the recto is a reference “… e chompa in
researchers cannot make sense of any of it, and yet, they Pistoja”, which has led to the assumption that the painter
continue to place this mysterious drawing into the Western Leonardo da Vinci was residing in that city. Pistoia is
narrative of Tuscan painter Leonardo da Vinci, the man situated approximately 35 km northeast of Florence, an
they claim was a great genius who, despite having no 8-h walk, and is also in the vicinity of Monsummano,
known formal education, supposedly began writing and which some experts believe is a topographical feature
drawing technical and engineering and military designs in 8P. Villata 21,p.8 attempts an explanation stating, “[f]
at the end of 1478. In search of an alternative attribution or some reason, possibly for professional or economic,
for the landscape drawing 8P, I turn to the document that Leonardo had relations with Pistoia to the end of 1478”.
begins the Notebooks. However, aside from this document, there is no record
that the painter Leonardo da Vinci was ever there near
3.2. The first document of the Notebooks, 1478
Monsummano. Indeed, he should have been in Florence
The second work to be considered in this cluster of completing an important contract for a large altarpiece of
th
documents also dates to the latter part of the 15 century San Bernardo for the Palazzo della Signoria, the Florence
and is a double-sided folio known as GDSU 446E town hall. This contract was never delivered. Notably,
(Figure 9), which includes text relating to the landscape 8P 446E does not mention an altarpiece of San Bernardo. Yet,
due to similarities in the handwriting. On the front side of in the Western narrative of the life of the Tuscan painter
this single-page document, there is a heading that could Leonardo da Vinci, this is supposedly the beginning of
serve as an introduction to a letter. There are also two what are considered to be his scientific Notebooks.
profile sketches. One is more detailed than the other and The handwriting in document 446E is close to the
shows an older man. On the right hand, there is a study handwriting in 8P, although, in 446E, it is more elaborate,
of a dart machine. On the verso are further engineering with swirling calligraphy that appears unrelated to the text.
studies, including the design for a tensioned crossbow.
The letters in 446E are spaced very tightly which makes it
look more cursive than 8P, which is more of a print style.
This comparison of the handwriting further contradicts
the assumption that the date of 1473 on 8P refers to the
date of execution, which would place the conception of 8P
5 years before 446E. Logic dictates that this handwriting
became progressively more essential, not progressively
more ornate. I will return to handwriting in more detail
when discussing the third document. It is worth noting
that the apparent certainty that 446E belongs to the
canon of Tuscan artist Leonardo da Vinci is, in reality, a
historical uncertainty. Indeed, the biography of the painter
Leonardo in Florence has only a few certainties. The son
of Ser Piero da Vinci was inscribed in the Guild of St
Luke Confraternity of Painters in 1472. He was arrested
for sodomy in 1476, at which time the criminal records
state he was lodging with Verrocchio. His father signed a
Figure 9. Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci: Drawing of Heads and contract for him to paint an altarpiece for the Signoria in
Machinery, With Personal Notes (1478). Pen and brown ink over lead January 1478. Then, his father signed another contract for
point on paper, 20.1 x 26.8 cm. Gabinetto dei Disegni e Delle Stampe, another altarpiece in a different Florence location in 1481.
Uffizi Museum, Florence, GDSU 446E. Retrieved from https://commons. Neither of these altarpieces was delivered. That is all that
wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Leonardo_da_vinci,_Study_sheet_profiles.jpg.
February 15, 2024, in the public domain, non-profit research, Italian is certain. In 1483, a painter, Leonardo da Vinci, popped
Decree Law no. 83 of 31/05/2014 clause 12.3 turned into in Law no. 106 up in Milan, signing a contract to make an altarpiece for
of 29/07/2014. a church. The painter Leonardo da Vinci seems to have

Volume 2 Issue 3 (2024) 7 doi: 10.36922/ac.2642