About the Project
Leonardo da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting is a digital archive dedicated to the Treatise on Painting, the pivotal text for disseminating Leonardo's art theory in Renaissance and Baroque Europe. Rather than focusing on Leonardo's original manuscripts, which remained largely unavailable until the early nineteenth century, the digital archive focuses on the Treatise on Painting, the only text by Leonardo that circulated widely in Renaissance and Baroque Europe.
In collaboration with institutional partners and private collectors from across the globe, the digital archive gathers for the first time, in a single place, critical resource materials on the legacy and reception of Leonardo's art theory.
These materials include over forty manuscript copies of the Treatise on Painting, dating from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, as well as early printed editions of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting in Italian (1651), French (1651), and English (1721). The digital archive anticipates expanding its coverage of materials as new manuscripts and printed editions of the Treatise on Painting become available for inclusion.
The digital archive makes it possible to analyze the text and images of these materials systematically, comprehensively, and comparatively.
Methodology
The project adopts new representational and interpretative methodologies that integrate traditional scholarship in art history, philology, literature, and cultural history with new research tools in information technology. These modern methodologies are eminently suitable to represent and analyze the precious, and thus far neglected, internal evidence of the manuscript copies of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting, particularly their textual and visual variations, the relations between word and image, and their physical characteristics.
The sophisticated database structure and research tools make it possible to account for the synchronic and diachronic diffusion of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting in many copies, in different places, and at different times.
Materials
The digital archive represents each manuscript and printed edition individually, identifying each volume with a Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE) name. The LDE name of manuscripts is based on the location of their current repository. For example, the LDE name of manuscripts currently in Florence begins with the letter F. The LDE name of printed editions is based on the language and date of their publication. For example, the LDE name of the Italian edition published in 1651 is ITAL1651.
Features
Each manuscript and printed edition is represented in four different ways, each way corresponding to a different feature of the digital archive:
PAGES
The function PAGES represents the content of each manuscript and printed edition of the Treatise on Painting as page images. In PAGES each volume is represented in its entirety, making it possible to consult additional materials that may be extraneous to Leonardo's Treatise on Painting, but that nonetheless were bound together in a manuscript or included in a printed volume. PAGES offers the navigation of each volume page by page.
CHAPTERS
The function CHAPTERS represents the content of each manuscript and printed edition of the Treatise on Painting divided into chapters and each chapter is assigned a sequence number within each volume (ex. CID1, CID2, etc.). The sequence number (CID) may or may not correspond to the number assigned to the chapter by the scribe of the manuscript. Additionally, each chapter is identified with a unique Text Unit number (ex. T0001, T0002, etc.). A Text Unit number identifies each chapter of every manuscript or printed edition according to its intellectual content.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The function ILLUSTRATIONS represents the illustrations contained in each manuscript and printed edition of the Treatise on Painting. Each Illustration is identified with a Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE) number (ex. I001, I002, etc.). In addition, each Illustration is assigned a sequence number within each volume (ex. FID1, FID2, etc.). An illustration number identifies each illustration of every manuscript or printed edition.
TRANSCRIPTIONS
The digital archive offers complete transcriptions of three printed editions (Italian of 1651, French of 1651 and English of 1721) and selected transcriptions of manuscripts. The digital archive anticipates adding transcriptions of all manuscript copies in the near future.
Research tools
The digital archive offers several different research tools for comparative analysis, which facilitate following the history and legacy of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting.
General Comparative views allow for the comparison of Text Units and Illustrations in different manuscripts and/or printed editions to detect change and continuity easily.
Comparative views of individual Text Units and Illustrations deepen the analysis to detect the exact nature of change, continuity, and variants across all manuscripts and printed editions included in the digital archive.
Terminology
The digital archive adopts the following terminology:
Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE)
A Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE) name identifies manuscripts and printed editions.
The LDE name of manuscripts is based on the location of their current repository. For example, the LDE name of manuscripts currently in Florence begins with the letter F.
The LDE name of printed editions is based on the language and date of their publication. For example, the LDE name of the Italian edition published in 1651 is ITAL1651.
Text Unit number
A Text Unit number (ex. T0001, T0002, etc.) identifies each chapter of every manuscript or printed edition according to its intellectual content.
Text Units from T0001 to T0944 correspond to the numbers assigned by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce to Francesco Melzi's Libro di pittura in their critical edition published in 1995 (Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce, eds, Libro di Pittura, Florence, 1995).
Text Units above T0944 indicate significant textual variations from Melzi's Libro di Pittura. Significant textual variations are evaluated at the macro level of sentences, not at the micro level of changes in spelling or individual words.
Illustrations
An Illustration number (ex. I001, I002, etc.) identifies each illustration of every manuscript or printed edition.
Illustrations from I001 to I221 correspond to the illustrations contained in Francesco Melzi's Libro di pittura.
Illustrations above I221 indicate significant visual variations from the illustrations contained in Melzi's Libro di Pittura. Significant visual variations are evaluated in relation to the orientation of the image and its inversion (right-left and top-bottom), not in terms of style.
Chapter sequence number
Within each manuscript or printed edition each chapter is identified with a sequence number that records the order in which the chapter is found within that volume (ex. CID1, CID2, etc.). The chapter sequence number (CID) may or may not correspond to the number assigned to the chapter by the scribe of the manuscript.
Figure sequence number (FID)
Within each manuscript or printed edition each Illustration is identified with a sequence number that records the order in which the Illustration is found within that volume (ex. FID1, FID2, etc.).
User's Guide to the orientation bar
Libro di Pittura
LIBRO DI PITTURA gives access to the manuscript Libro di pittura that Francesco Melzi, one of Leonardo's assistants, compiled from Leonardo's original manuscripts. It is from Melzi's Libro di pittura that the abridged Treatise on Painting derives.
Manuscripts
MANUSCRIPTS gives access to the list of manuscript copies of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting. The manuscripts are listed alphabetically according to their Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE) name and can be accessed individually for in-depth study. The home-page of each manuscript contains specific historical and physical information and allows the exploration of the manuscript in a variety of ways. For example, the manuscript can be viewed as page images in its entirety, or chapter by chapter, or by illustrations. Its text and illustration can also be compared to the text and illustrations of other manuscripts and/or printed editions.
Printed Editions
PRINTED EDITIONS gives access to the list of printed editions of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting. The printed editions are listed chronologically according to their Leonardo Digital Edition (LDE) name. From this list printed editions can be accessed individually. The home-page of each printed edition contains specific historical and physical information and allows exploration in a variety of ways. For example, the printed edition can be viewed as page images in its entirety, or chapter by chapter, or by illustrations. Its text and illustration can also be compared to the text and illustrations of other manuscripts and/or printed editions.
View/Compare
VIEW/COMPARE gives direct access to advanced research tools. First time users of the digital archive might prefer to access these advanced research tools through the home page of individual manuscripts or printed editions. Expert users who are familiar with the digital archive and its naming conventions will profit from the direct access to advanced research tolls provided in VIEW/COMPARE.
From this page it is possible to view page images of manuscripts and printed editions, their content divided into chapters, or Text Units, and their illustrations. It is also possible to compare Text Units and images of different manuscripts and printed editions.
An exclusive feature of this page is the direct access to individual Text Units and Illustrations with all their instances and variants by entering individual Text Unit numbers (ex. T001, T002, etc.) or individual Illustration numbers (ex. I001, I002, etc.).
Alternatively, Text Units and Illustrations can be accessed as a continuous list by selecting VIEW LIST OF TEXT UNITS or VIEW LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY contains basic bibliographical information about copies of the Treatise on Painting and their legacy.
The digital archive anticipates expanding this section with additional source materials, including letters, documents, and accounts relevant to the history of Leonardo's Treatise on Painting.