Neue Forschungen zu Leonardo da Vinci als Ingenieur

Abstract

Abstract Although the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death in 2019 produced a wealth of new publications, including a four-volume monograph by Carmen Bambach, annotated new editions and the first monograph on Leonardo as an engineer, the myriad problems posed by his scientific and technological legacy have by no means been resolved. Much remains to be done on the reconstruction of the numerous writings he announced or intended to write later. As regards major projects such as the drainage of the Pontine Marshes we should consider the extent to which Leonardo could truly have conceived the plans associated with him without the help of other experts. Leonardo’s claimed military ambitions when he left Florence for Milan in 1482 have been accepted in the newly published monographs, although a wealth of material from the following years indicates that he became familiar with military matters only much later. This is particularly true of the military qualifications Leonardo lists in his first letter to Ludovico Sforza. His famous letter dates to the year 1489 and not to Leonardo’s move from Florence to Milan in 1482.