Leonardo's fortifications between military and civil architecture: a ‘rereading’ of three Vinci folios

Abstract

In late-fifteenth-century Italy, fortification emerged as a vibrant arena of creative experimentation, one that developed in close dialog with innovations in other fields of artistic and architectural production. This paper reconstructs the place of Leonardo’s military architectural designs within this cross-disciplinary culture, focusing on three well-known sheets from his time in the Sforza court: Paris Manuscript B, fol. 36v; Paris Manuscript B, fol. 20r; and Windsor Castle, Royal Library 12552r. These drawings reveal surprising ways in which the artist imported into fortifications the building technologies, typologies, and even ornamental motifs he encountered in palaces, gardens, and churches. In so doing, they attest to the interconnected nature of Renaissance artistic invention.