The multifaceted genius of Leonardo da Vinci ? his writings, his drawings and his paintings ? continues to amaze and fascinate the world centuries after his death. The recent decision to unbind the pages of the famous Codex Atlanticus, one of the greatest collections of da Vinci drawings and studies, held at Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana, has allowed the public and scholars easier access to the ideas and thoughts of the great Renaissance genius. This book, which reproduces some of the finest pages of the Codex, examines da Vinci's interest in many different fields, from military fortifications to anatomy, from war machines to musical instruments, from flight to botany. The genius born in the Tuscan village of Vinci tackled these various themes according to his own particular vision of reality, in search of a balance that unites practicality and beauty, art and science. This is how da Vinci's innovative ideas, in addition to designs for the development of so many different instruments, took shape in his mind and appeared in the pages of the Codex. Halfway between a theoretical exercise and an intended practical purpose, Leonardo's work emerges with all its visual force from the pages of this book, offering the reader further proof of the modern character of his ideas and pro- viding a tangible sign of the greatness of a timeless genius. The high-quality resolution of the photographic reproductions of the Codex pages ? realized thanks to the cooperative agreement between Biblioteca Ambrosiana and DeAgostini ? let us reproduce in this book details admired before only by scholars. The final section of the book contains a collection of descriptive summaries of the characteristics and contents of the plates of the Codex reproduced in the volume, accompanied by QR codes allowing access to multimedia content such as 3-D reconstructions of Leonardo's machines, graphic reconstructions and techniques of his sketches. ILLUSTRATIONS: 140 colour photos
