Research about Gustavo Uzielli: "it is sometimes difficult to distinguish Leonardo’s ide-as from those of his illustrators"

Abstract

Gustavo Uzielli, a famous geologist and geographer, Leonardo’s scholar, published his Ricerche intorno a Leonardo da Vinci between 1872, 1884 and 1896, underlining the complex operation, but necessary one, of distinguishing Leonardo’s ideas from the thesis written by his different critics and scholars. In his first publication, edited in the Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, Uzielli debated the phyllotaxis, moved up by the Vinciano’s Trattato della pittura. He studied with a particular attention Leonardo’s original ideas and, in the same time, he worked a lot such as a promoter of the whole publication of Leonardo’s codex and manuscripts, a precious tool in order to know the process inside Vinciano’s mind. Uzielli worked applying the so-called scientific method using, between research and academy because of his role of professor, the primary historical sources.