A Map of Imola 1502
by Leonardo da Vinci
Title
A Map of Imola 1502
Artist
Leonardo da Vinci
Medium
Painting - Black Chalk, Stylus Lines, Pen And Ink, Colored Washes
Description
A drawing of a map of Imola, showing the city enclosed by a ring. Four lines cross the plan, forming on the circle eight points of the compass, at which the names of the winds are written in Leonardo's hand, clockwise from one o'clock. In August 1502 Leonardo was appointed ‘General Architect and Engineer’ to Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI and marshal of the papal troops, giving him powers to requisition men for surveying and to order improvements to fortifications. Cesare lodged in Imola with his entourage in the autumn of 1502, and it must have been then that Leonardo made this magnificent map of the town. Leonardo paced the lengths of the streets, as recorded on an annotated sketch of each quarter of the town, took bearings from the tower of the Palazzo Comunale at the central crossroads, and presumably worked out the layout by geometry on a lost sheet, as no construction lines are visible here. The irregularities in the rectilinear street plan testify to the accuracy of the map, which may still be used to find one’s way around Imola today. But it has been noted that some details of the buildings were out-of-date, suggesting that Leonardo relied on an earlier survey of the town for the ground plans and property boundaries – though why he or Cesare cared about such details is unknown, for their primary concern must have been the fortifications of the town. Pen lines divide the circle into eight, each further subdivided into eighths by stylus lines, allowing bearings to be given with some precision. In the margins Leonardo wrote the distances and directions to other towns and cities, such as ‘Imola sees [vede] Bologna at five-eighths from the west towards the north-west at a distance of 20 miles [32 km].’
(c)
Uploaded
April 19th, 2023
Embed
Share
Comments
There are no comments for A Map of Imola 1502. Click here to post the first comment.