Leonardo Da Vinci drawings to go online

UK Telegraph ^ | 7/9/07 | Malcolm Moore

[wagglebee]

Thousands of Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings and scientific theories will soon be viewable for free on the internet.

	Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging

Until now the majority of the manuscripts have been seen only by scholars but the National Museum of Leonardo in his hometown of Vinci has promised to scan about 12,000 pages and create an archive.

The European Union is funding the website www.leonardodigitale.com, and 3,000 pages have been scanned so far.

The drawings, from the late 15th and early 16th century, demonstrate the artist's incredible range, touching on geometry, astronomy, botany, zoology, the art of warfare and the flight of birds.

All of the writing is in mirror-image. Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging. However, large sections are difficult to decipher because much of the writing is jumbled together, with shopping lists next to technical instructions.

"We are still at the beginning, and we hope to get hold of some of the other manuscripts, too," said Romano Nanni, the director of the Leonardo Library.

The artist's works are spread around Europe in 10 separate manuscripts. Although most of it was brought back to Italy after his death in 1519, the archives were subsequently broken up and eventually ended up largely in the hands of Napoleon.

One of the codices, the Leicester, was bought at auction by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, for $30.8 million in 1994, making it the most expensive book in the world.

Although the archive is currently only in Italian, an English section is expected in about two months.

[wagglebee]

Until now the majority of the manuscripts have been seen only by scholars but the National Museum of Leonardo in his hometown of Vinci has promised to scan about 12,000 pages and create an archive.

This will be incredible.

[wagglebee]

GGG Ping

[MarineBrat]

Anyone know the USER/Password creation instructions?

[free_for_now]

ping

[PAR35]

The embedded link is a ‘mail to’. The site itself is password protected. http://www.leonardodigitale.com

So while they may be putting the documents on the web, they don’t seem to want folks to view them.

[Altura Ct.]

Truly an amazing man.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping.

[ADemocratNoMore]

I don’t know any Italian, but it looks like this is the registration page...

http://www.leonardodigitale.com/reg_utente.php

[ADemocratNoMore]

Google translation here...

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.leonardodigitale.com/reg_utente.php&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.leonardodigitale.com/reg_utente.php%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-43,GGLG:en

[miliantnutcase]

lol it wants a passport, drivers license or tax ID to register WTF...
It won’t let me BS it.
Has anyone got inside?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Waggs!

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[ken21]

oooh, thanks for the heads up!

[Fester Chugabrew]

One of the codices, the Leicester, was bought at auction by Bill Gates.

Another eBay snipe!

[Balata]

This is one of my hero’s.

Ping me when you have a link to his web site.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging

was he a lefty?

[Blind Eye Jones]

“However, large sections are difficult to decipher because much of the writing is jumbled together, with shopping lists next to technical instructions.”

1. buy milk and bread
2. beer
3. cheese
4. beer nuts
5. wine
6. doritos

[Marie]

7. sausage
8. toilet paper

... and here are the instructions for building an airplane...

[bannie]

So while they may be putting the documents on the web, they don’t seem to want folks to view them.

How like ol' Leo to force us to figure out a code!

[PAR35]

it wants a passport, drivers license or tax ID to register

Sure, I'll be happy to give them my Social Security number and my bank account number. Wonder if the site is run out of Nigeria.

[SunkenCiv]

:') If memory serves, it's the only finished da Vinci painting in the western hemisphere. :') It's two-sided, and the way the National Gallery displays it makes it possible to view both sides. When da Vinci actually finished works, they were masterpieces, and seeing this in person IMHO would convince anyone.

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While looking for it, I had to put up with this brain-dead government horse crap:

The National Gallery of Art's Web site (www.nga.gov) has recently been updated and the site will now load much quicker. In order to be able to take advantage of our improvements, please upgrade your Web browser to one of the free standards-compliant Web browsers listed below.

Obviously, it would load much quicker if it used basic code instead of the abomination known as CSS. Whatever bureaucratic drone came up with this should be dragged out and whipped through the streets, fired, then blackballed.