Machines, water, anatomy, painting, architecture, new words and shopping lists: these thousands of pages are less a completed encyclopedia than a laboratory of thought in motion.
To locate these manuscripts, also consult the biography of Leonardo da Vinci, its role in the Renaissance and the guide of his drawings and sketches.
What do the notebooks really contain?
An artist-engineer's daily construction site
They contain observations taken from life, experiments, calculations, diagrams of mechanisms, water and flight studies, anatomy drawings, architectural projects, reflections on painting, but also addresses, expenses, games of words and lists of books. Leonardo constantly returns to one idea, corrects it and links it to another. Most of these pages are therefore neither a diary nor ready-to-print treatises.
The big codices, one by one
The dating sometimes remains approximate because Leonardo reused his notebooks. The volumes preserved today do not always correspond to the notebooks he physically held in his hand: some are later montages.
Codex Atlanticus
The largest set: machines, weapons, hydraulics, geometry, architecture, botany, cartography, flight and party projects.
Consult the codex
Codex Leicester
A very coherent file on water, erosion, fossils, the structure of the Earth and the ashen light of the Moon.
Explore themes
Codex Arundel
A deliberately heterogeneous whole: mechanics, geometry, flight, optics and personal notes. Its core was begun in 1508 as a "collection without order".
See the catalogue entry and the facsimile
Codex Madrid I
The closest manuscript to an organized technical treatise: statics, mechanics, gears, motion transmission and lifting machines.
Discover the BNE edition
Codex Madrid II
Architecture, fortifications, channeling of the Arno, geometry, waves, music and preparation for the melting of the gigantic horse Sforza.
Understand both sectors
Codex Forster I
Two notebooks combined: hydraulics and water elevation in the oldest; transformation and measurement of solids in the latest.
Open Forster I
Codex Forster II
Proportions, weights, scales, traction, looms, helmets, painting and critical examination of perpetual motion.
Open Forster II
Codex Forster III
The most disparate Forster: geometry, hydraulics, horse legs, party costumes and anatomy of the human head.
Discover the three Forsters
Codex Trivulzianus
Nearly eight thousand words copied to enrich Leonardo's vocabulary, with Milanese architecture, machines, physiognomies and shadow studies.
Read word history
Codex on bird flight
Center of gravity, air resistance, wing flapping, wind and balance: the bird becomes a problem of experimental mechanics.
See the official file
Manuscripts A to M
Architecture and flight (B), light and shadow (C), vision (D), painting (A), weight, geometry, water and military projects: each small volume has its center of gravity.
Explore notebooks
Sheets from the Royal Collection
These are not a single codex: anatomy, botany, water, maps, horses, costumes and figure studies were brought together in Pompeo Leoni's album.
Explore AnatomyAtlanticus and Leicester do not read each other in the same way
The first is a huge archive reorganized after Leonardo's death; the second is a tight file where one question leads to another. Comparing them avoids imagining all the "codices" as homogeneous books.
Codex Atlanticus: the world-archive
The name comes from the large "atlas" format of the assembly sheets, not from the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of the 16th century, the sculptor Pompeo Leoni cut out and collected sheets from different periods and formats. We follow nearly half a century of activity: a giant crossbow neighboring a city map, a hydraulic machine, a geometry problem or a show project.
- Strength
- Variety and duration: almost the entire career.
- Trap
- Take the current binding for the order desired by Leonardo.
- To watch
- Changes in ink, paper, scale and density.
Codex Leicester: thinking with water
Here Leonardo seeks a general explanation: why are seashells found on mountain tops? How do rivers cut into the earth? Why does water form vortices? Where does the faint light visible on the dark part of the Moon come from? His answers are sometimes mistaken, but his insistence on observation and causality makes the method modern.
- Strength
- A coherent thematic set on planet and water.
- Trap
- Read each hypothesis as an exact discovery.
- To watch
- The back and forth between diagram, experience, analogy and correction.
Five major fields of research
Leonardo does not strictly separate art, technique and science. The same principle - balance, flow, light, proportion - circulates between the painting of a face, the construction of a machine and the observation of a river.
Mechanics
Gears, bearings, winches, cranes, springs and transmissions. The drawing breaks down the machine to show where the force passes.
Water and Earth
Swirls, canals, erosion, waves, fossils and floods. Water becomes matter, energy and a model of change.
Living body
Bones, muscles, heart, brain, fetus and movement. Leonardo transposes plans, sections and exploded views from the engineer to anatomy.
See and paint
Perspective, shadow, light, atmosphere, proportions and gestures. Pictorial theory arises from concrete visual problems.
Cities and theft
Fortifications, churches, level streets, maps, wings and air resistance: imagining requires measuring real constraints.
Was mirror writing a secret code?
Probably not in the sense of a number intended to hide inventions. Leonard, left-handed, generally wrote from right to left with inverted letters. This gesture could limit the friction of the hand in fresh ink and suit him naturally.
He also knew how to write normally when speaking to others. His abbreviations, his Italian mixed with Tuscan and Lombard forms, the frequent absence of punctuation and repetitions make the texts difficult; the effect of secrecy therefore comes as much from the language and the speed of work as from the mirror.
Start by identifying the main subject, spot the arrows and numbers, mentally flip the writing, then observe if the drawing describes something seen, a hypothesis or a machine that is still impossible.
How the notebooks were scattered
The current state of the manuscripts owes as much to the history of the collections as to Leonardo himself. This is why the digital reconstruction of the sets is essential today.
This famous text is a posthumous compilation developed mainly from the writings of Leonardo by his student Francesco Melzi. It transmits his theory, but should not be confused with a final volume ordered and published by the master.
Where to browse codices online?
Continue exploring Leonard
Three works to reread with the manuscripts
Notebooks illuminate paintings without reducing them to recipes: geology, perspective, gestures, anatomy and movement become tools of composition.
Understanding notebooks without captions
How many Leonardo da Vinci notebooks remain?
There is no single number, because some volumes bring together several notebooks while other sets consist of separate sheets. The Institut de France keeps twelve notebooks designated from A to M, and the V&A five notebooks bound in three volumes.
Where is the largest set?
The Codex Atlanticus of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan is Leonardo's largest collection of notes and drawings, with 1,119 folios. The Royal Collection in Windsor also preserves around 550 separate drawings.
Why is Codex Leicester famous?
Its 18 bifolios, or 72 pages, form a coherent file on water, erosion, fossils, the Earth and the ashen light of the Moon. Bill Gates acquired it in 1994 and gave it back its historic name.
Did Leonardo write backwards to hide his inventions?
The most cautious explanation is practical: left-handed, Leonardo generally wrote from right to left. This writing makes reading less immediate, but it does not constitute sophisticated encryption.
Were all the designed machines built?
No. Some describe existing devices, others improve known mechanisms, and still others explore principles impossible to achieve with the materials and energy available in his time.
Can we consult the originals?
Original manuscripts are rarely exhibited for long periods of time, because paper and inks are fragile. Digital facsimiles of conservation institutions today provide the most comprehensive access.
Why do we talk about codices rather than notebooks?
The names Atlanticus, Arundel or Leicester were attributed after Leonardo to sets bound, assembled or preserved by collectors. They therefore do not always correspond to books designed as such by the artist.
Where can you browse notebooks online?
The Ambrosiana, the Institut de France, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library, the Biblioteca Nacional de España and the Royal Collection Trust offer official digital notices or facsimiles.
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