The Codex Arundel - Folio 3 verso and folio 12 recto

A leaf, or folio, from the Codex Arundel – a collection of papers written in Italian by Leonardo da Vinci in his characteristic left-h and ed mirror-writing (the words are written in a mirror image, and read from right to left).

The Codex Arundel is in the permanent collection of the British Library, in London, UK. This important work includes diagrams, drawings and text on a dazzling range of subjects that fascinated da Vinci, from science to art, as well as vast personal notes.

The core of the notebook is a collection of materials that Leonardo describes as 'a collection without order, drawn from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place according to the subjects of which they treat'. He began this collection in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli in Florence, in 1508.

A number of other loose papers were later added to the notebook, including writing and diagrams created by Leonardo throughout his career.

The Codex Arundel includes notes for a book on the physical properties and geographical effects of water, and a broad range of other material encompassing Leonardo’s other interests in art, science and technology over a period of four decades, from around 1478 to 1517–1518.

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance who lived from 1452–1519. He devoted his life to studying a remarkably broad range of subjects, including engineering, science, mathematics, nature, literature, history and cartography.

He painted some of the most famous works of art of all time, including the Mona Lisa (or La Giaconda, 1503–1505/07), the Vitruvian Man (1485) and The Last Supper (1498).