Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks Reunited Online After 400 Years

Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, separated for 400 years by sculptor Pompeo Leoni, have been digitally reunited through the Leonardotheka project. Leoni dismembered the notebooks after they were inherited by Leonardo's student Francesco Melzi, dividing them into two albums: one for technical and scientific topics (the Codex Atlanticus) and another for artistic and figurative works. The Codex Atlanticus was sold to a count and donated to the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, while the artistic album ended up in England's Royal Collection by 1670. The decade-long collaboration between the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, the Biblioteca Leonardiana, and the Royal Collection Trust has now reconstructed 50 long-separated pages and restored them to their original context. The notebooks contain decades of anatomical studies, flying machines, landscapes, and personal musings, reflecting Leonardo's integrated approach to art and science.