Abstract
On folio 1058v of the Codex Atlanticus, Leonardo traced a small drawing which has garnered much attention despite its size. It is not very flashy in the context of the page but strikes a contemporary observer at first sight. It is a rough sketch of a man hanging from a pyramidal object seemingly made of cloth (Fig. 4.1).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In Italy the units of measurements changed from one city to another. A Florentine braccio (arm) (braccio fiorentino) corresponds to 0.5836 m; therefore 12 braccia is around 7 m. The braccio of Milan was 0.595 m.
- 2.
Original text: “se uno uomo ha un padiglione di pannolino intasato che sia 12 braccia per faccia e alto 12, potrà gettarsi d’ogni grande altezza sanza danno di sè.”
- 3.
Translation from Encyclopædia Britannica online (www.britannica.com/topic/Leonardo-da-Vincis-parachute-1704849).
- 4.
The anonymous manuscript of 261 pages is conserved at the British Library and is largely based on the work of Taccola and Francesco di Giorgio; only some of the machines contained therein cannot be attributed to models of the two Sienese engineers.
- 5.
White LJ (1968) The Invention of the Parachute. Technology and Culture. 9:462–467. The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for the History of Technology.
- 6.
Beside his book dedicated to machines, Machinae Novae, he wrote also other different treatises dedicated to lexicography and history such as a dictionary, Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europæ linguarum, Latinæ, Italicæ, Germanicæ, Dalmatiæ, & Vngaricæ (Dictionary of the Five Most Noble Languages of Europe, Latin, Italian, German, Dalmatian and Hungarian), published in Venice in 1595 and a history of Hungarian literature, Scriptores rerum hungaricum, published in 1798.
- 7.
The book Machinae Novae of Veranzio has been digitalized by Google Books and is available online.
- 8.
Original text: “Piglisi una vela quadra, quale sia distesa tra quatro pertiche uguali, e con le funi ui s’attacchi l’huomo à i quatro cantoni di quella uela, che senza alcun pericolo potria posia gettarsi d’una Torre, o d’ogni altro logo eminente: venir a basso fe benè in quell’hora non spiri vento alcuno, tuttavia l’impeto istesso de l’Homo cadente, eccitarà e cagionar il Vento, quale ritardarà la vela, si che non precipiti, mà descenda à poco à poco; Fa pero’ di mistiero commensurare il peso del’homo con la grandeza della vela.”
- 9.
Original text: “Buttarse giù d’una Torre, et non farsi male.”
- 10.
The concept of Mitteleuropa, as intended by the Italian authors such as Claudio Magris, refers to a spiritual and cultural area which corresponds to the cosmopolitan Austro-Hungarian Empire.
- 11.
Episcopus Csanadiensis in partibus.
- 12.
Grmek, M.D. (2008) Voice on Faustus Verantius. www.encyclopedia.com. “Verantius became friendly in Rome with Giovanni Ambrogio Mazenta, a Barnabite like himself and, from 1611, general of the Congregation of St. Paul. Very possibly it was Mazenta who interested Verantius in the construction of machines and in architectural problems. Verantius undoubtedly had an opportunity to see many of Leonardo da Vinci’s technical drawings, of which Mazenta had prepared a list about 1587. During his stay at Rome, Verantius had drawn and engraved a series of new machines.”
- 13.
BBC documentary (2003) Leonardo—The Man Who Wanted To Know Everything.
- 14.
The Abbey of Malmesbury is located in Wiltshire and is part of the Diocese of Bristol in Britain. The Abbey was founded in 671 by the monk Adelmo and had over time various vicissitudes that have damaged the original structure. The tower of the flight of Eilmer collapsed around 1500 due to a hurricane.
- 15.
White LJ (1961) Eilmer of Malmesbury: an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technology. Technology and Culture, 2: 97–111.
- 16.
William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum (The history of the English kings). Edited and translated by R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols., Oxford Medieval Texts (1998–9).
- 17.
Laurenza D (2004) Leonardo: On Flight. Giunti Editore.
- 18.
Modern hang gliders use a unique delta-shaped wing which was invented and patented by the American Francis Melvin Rogallo in 1951. It is only since the late 1960s, however, that the Rogallo wing has been used for the construction of hang gliders for gliding free flight. The models of glider from Lilienthal and Leonardo did not have the form of a delta, so they are not, strictly speaking, true hang gliders, but we can, for convenience, give them that appellation.
- 19.
Original text: “E ll’omo tieni i piedi in m e ‘l bussto in a b. E sse ‘l vento, che viene per la linia h, qualche volta entrando sotto, a uso di femina colla sua vite, potrebe qualche volta alzare h più che ‘l dovere, allora l’omo tiri la corda S in basso. E così facci co’ l’altre corde dove bisognia, e quando vol calare, tiri la corda S e dirizzerassi a terra.”
- 20.
- 21.
Channel 4 documentary (2004) Leonardo’s machines.
- 22.
Martin Kemp, Leonardo da Vinci. Experience, experiment and design. V & A Publications 2011.
- 23.
- 24.
Ackroyd JAD, Cayley G, (2002) The Father of Aeronautics Part 1. The Invention of the Aeroplane, Notes Rec R Soc Lond 56:167–181 The Royal Society.
- 25.
Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst.
- 26.
- 27.
Cinzia di Cianini. Decollo con il Grande Nibbio. L’aliante segreto di Leonardo. La Stampa, 11 marzo 2009.
- 28.
Original text: “Questo scriver si distintamente del nibbio par che sia mio destino, perchè nella prima ricordazione della mia infanzia e mi parea che, essendo io in culla, un nibbio venissi a me e mi aprissi la bocca colla sua coda e molte volte mi percotessi con tal coda dentro le labbra.”
- 29.
Original text: “Otri di cuoio tramite i quali un uomo che cada dall’altezza di 6 piedi possa evitare di farsi male, sia che cada in acqua o sul suolo. Questi otri debbono essere legati con attenzione tutto intorno al corpo.”
- 30.
Bacon R, De secretis operibus artis et naturae IV.
- 31.
Original text: “Il movimento delle ali sarà incrociato alla maniera dei cavalli. Per questo motivo ritengo che questo metodo sia il migliore rispetto a qualunque altro.” Manuscript B, folio 80r.
- 32.
Original text: “Tanta forza si fa colla cosa in contro all’aria, quanto l’aria contro alla cosa.” Codex Atlanticus, folio 1058v.
- 33.
Original text: “Vedi l’alie percosse contro l’aria fa[r] sostenere la pesante aquila sulla suplema, sottile aria vicina all’elemento del fuoco. ....potrai conoscere l’uomo colle sue congegnate e grandi ale, facendo forza alla resistente aria e vincendo, poterla soggiogare e levarsi sopra di lei.” Codex Atlanticus, folio 1058v.
- 34.
Original text: “E quando s’è levato, tira le scale in alto, com’è dimostro nella seconda fugura di sopra.”
- 35.
Grosser M (1991) Gossamer Odyssey The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. Riverwash Books. New York Dover.
- 36.
- 37.
Codex Madrid I, folio 64 r. “Sia fatta una simile ventola, come qui è figurato, e ssia composta do zendado, corda, canne e asste, di diamitro di bracci 20 o più. Nel mezo della quale sia collocata una balla traforata, fatta di cierchi verdi, che ssieno d’olmo. E ssia detta balla con tali cierchi aconcia a uso di bussola di calamita, e nel mezo d’esa balia stia un olmo. E ssia tale strumento collocato sopra uno monte, al vento, e ttale strumento s’aconpagnierà dorso de venti, e ll’omo senpre starà in piedi.”
- 38.
Bartoli G, Borsani A, Borri C, Martelli A, Procino L, Vezzosi A (2009) Leonardo, the wind and the flying sphere. Proceedings of EACWE 5, Florence, Italy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Innocenzi, P. (2019). Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. In: The Innovators Behind Leonardo. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90449-8_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90449-8_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90448-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90449-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)