Codex Trivulzianus

Coming shortly after Manuscript B, the Codex Trivulzianus also bears witness to Leonardo’s studies in Milan between 1488 and 1490. In addition to drawings and architectural studies, proverbs, fairy tales and humorous and satirical pieces, the notebook presents endless lists of words, taken from some of the books which the polymath had on his desk: the Vocabolista by Luigi Pulci, the De re militari by Roberto Valturio, the Novellino by Masuccio Salernitano and the Facezie by Poggio Bracciolini. Valturio, for example, inspired the memory of the “lost library” of Alexandria: “Ammiano Marcellino claims that 7 hundred thousand volumes of books were burned in the battle of Alexandria under Julius Caesar’s rule” (f. 1v, with caricatures and playful verses aimed at Petrarch). On the opposite page, next to a drawing of a siege engine, an important list of his books: “Donato / lapidario / Plinio / abacho / Morgante”.