Leonardo da Vinci left several hundred architectural drawings, mostly simple sketches, rarely accompanied by written inscriptions or references related to them, often interwoven with each other. This graphic production, representing different stages and elaborations of his thoughts, remains a challenge for the discipline of architectural history. Some of the drawings can be linked to identifiable projects, but most of them are related to personal research: central-plan churches, palaces and villas, fortifications, multiple staircases, ephemeral architecture, garden design, and details. Almost all of them can be dated, thanks to the seminal research of Carlo Pedretti, while ongoing work on the materiality of the folios raises new issues.1
The exhibition Leonardo da Vinci, Engineer, and Architect, organized at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal in 1987, was the first opportunity for the two authors of this volume to collaborate, particularly on the graphical reconstructions of projects for churches with a central plan and Leonardo’s drawings for the tiburio at the cathedral in Milan.2 Since then, we have continued to dedicate our research on Leonardo, conducting detailed analyses of his drawings and sketches, well beyond the realm of speculative interpretations. Studies of typology and style of his most important architectural drawings in the facsimile edition (Stuttgart 2019), and his works as a painter within the framework of the tradition of painted architecture (Paris, 2020) have expanded our vision.3 In addition, this volume includes reflections on Leonardo’s direct and indirect exchanges with his contemporaries, and specifically the reception of some of his drawings and most influential concepts by masters of his time, and later. We have focused on Leonardo’s ideas and their place in the history of architecture, both in Italy and France. Thus, the reader will be made aware of the singularity of his imagination in this field and at the same time discover the connections between his work and that of other masters of his time, the pioneers that came before and the future generations.
The first edition of this volume came out in 2019, coinciding with the celebration of the Five-hundredth anniversary of the death of the Florentine master at Amboise.4 Despite the important number of international celebrations—conferences, seminars, exhibitions, and broadcasts—Leonardo’s interest in architecture has not played a major role.5 Thus, the fundamental topics and questions of this book remain relevant, but the single chapters of this volume have been updated and enriched with bibliographic references; some topics have been added, or more deeply examined. On the other hand, it was not possible to take into consideration the results of forthcoming technical research, which could impact the question of authenticity and dating of some folios, or proceed with digital reconstructions that would broaden our knowledge of Leonardo’s architectural projects. This remains to be done in the future.
The volume develops according to chronological and typological criteria and opens with a chapter that examines “Leonardo and his patrons.” The following chapter analyzes the “Painted architecture” that he pondered at the beginning of his career and constitutes a starting point for his activity in the field of monumental art. The next two chapters are consecrated to religious architecture: Leonardo studied a detailed project for the tiburio of Milan Cathedral, as well as projects for central-plan churches and funerary monuments. Large-scale operations, namely urban reconstruction and fortifications are analyzed in the section devoted to public and private architecture, which continues with the examination of different kinds of domestic architecture—mainly palaces and villas. Attention is given to details such as staircases, architectural language, and ephemeral creations. In this edition we added a chapter concerning the complicated problem of his rather fragmentary knowledge of antique architecture and the few attempts to receive Roman models. We are keen to place Leonardo in the context of his time, with the chapter “Leonardo and his contemporaries,” which seeks to reconstruct his interactions with other masters, including processes of adaptation and influence, as well as address relevant analogies. “Leonardo in France” deals with the end of his career at the court of Francis I where he promoted the transmission of specific ideas of the Italian Renaissance to his host country. The volume concludes with a question about the existence of “Leonardo the Architect” and his singularity in the vast and highly complex landscape of fifteenth and sixteenth-century architecture. Each of the chapters possesses more or less an autonomous character, and, thus, it was necessary to repeat some phenomena, place them in different contexts, and explore them in fresh light.
By attempting to situate Leonardo’s architectural thought within this flourishing period of Renaissance art, and to identify the links that he maintained with his patrons and other artists, we hope to establish some new insights, and shifts in the knowledge of the evolution of architectural typologies and languages at the end of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century. The fact that he shared some of the important challenges and propensities of his time sheds new light on their emergence and reception.
We express our gratitude to the publishers of the Italian and French language editions (Panini/Mare & Martin) of 2019, followed by the Chinese edition (Jilin Fine Arts Publishing House, Changchun) of 2022, and the Russian one (AST, Moscow) according to a contract signed in 2021, and printed in 2023. In the same year, the Spanish edition was published, Leonardo y la Arquitecture (UJA Editorial, Jaén, translation by Luis Rueda Galán), with two chapters concerning the Spanish context. We are grateful to the editor for his decision to enlarge the number of illustrations and integrate them in the chapters. We also thank Carol Barbour for translating the text from the French edition, and Eva Renzulli for editorial assistance. We are grateful to the fruitful dialogues and advisements of Carmen Bambach, Antonio Becchi, Francesco Benelli, Pascal Brioist, Emmanuel de Crouy-Chanel, Francesco Di Teodoro, Emanuela Ferretti, Marco Gaiani, Pietro Marani, Jens Niebaum, Jan Sammer, Hermann Schlimme, and Frank Zöllner. Unfortunately, Jean Guillaume was unable to check the final proofs though he reviewed the translation. We hope that this volume will mark a step in the large field of forthcoming research, opening new horizons and achieving a better understanding of Leonardo’s work. But as in all cases of Leonardo research, it must be seen as a beginning for further discoveries and more in-depth analyses.
Sabine Frommel and Jean Guillaume, October 2024
Carlo Pedretti, A chronology of Leonardo da Vinci’s architectural studies after 1500 (Geneva: Droz, 1962); Pedretti, The Codex Atlanticus of Leonardo da Vinci. A catalogue of its newly restored sheets, 2 vol. (New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978–1979). At this time Carmen Bambach (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) is doing research on the manuscripts held in the Institut de France.
Jean Guillaume, “Léonard et l’architecture,” in Leonardo da Vinci, engineer and architect, exh. cat., ed. Paolo Galluzzi (Montreal: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, 1987), 207–286.
Sabine Frommel, Leonardo da Vinci. Architektur und Erfindungen (Stuttgart: Belser, 2019); Sabine Frommel and Gerhard Wolf, Architectura picta nell’arte italiana da Giotto a Veronese (Modena: Panini, 2016); Sabine Frommel, Peindre l’architecture pendant la Renaissance. Origines, évolution d’une pratique polyvalente (Paris: Hazan/Louvre Éditions, 2020).
Sabine Frommel and Jean Guillaume, Leonardo da Vinci e l’architettura, con un contributo di Sara Taglialagamba (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2019); Sabine Frommel and Jean Guillaume, Léonard de Vinci et l’architecture, avec une contribution de Sara Taglialagamba (Paris: Éditions Mare & Martin, 2019).
Concerning architecture see: Leonardo da Vinci: L’Architettura / Léonard de Vinci: L’Architecture, eds. Francesco P. Di Teodoro, Emanuela Ferretti, Sabine Frommel and Hermann Schlimme (Rome–Paris: Campisano Editore; Éditions Hermann, 2022), founded the international conference Léonard et l’architecte, 28–20 november 2019, which took place at the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte in Paris. Concerning Leonard’s interpretations of De architectura di Vitruvio see the exhibitions at Venice, Leonardo da Vinci: l’uomo modello del mondo, exh. cat. (Venice: Gallerie dell’Accademia, 17 April–14 July 2019) ed. Annalisa Perissa (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana editoriale, 2019) and in Fano, Leonardo e Vitruvio, oltre il cerchio e il quadrato, exh. cat. (Fano: Museo del Palazzo Malatestiano, 12 july–13 october 2019), ed. Francesca Borgo (Venice: Marsilio, 2019). In November 2021 the exhibition Leonardo e l’architecture: invenzioni, progetti, tecniche costruttive had been inaugurated in the Museo Leonardiano in Vinci by an international seminar (the publication is in preparation, eds. Sabine Frommel and Hermann Schlimme).