Jean Paul Richter's Translations
The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci — Complete English Translation
Let no man who is not a Mathematician read the elements of my work.
— Leonardo da Vinci (Passage 3)
About This Translation
Jean Paul Richter's The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci remains the most comprehensive English-language compilation of Leonardo's notebook writings. First published in 1883 and expanded in a second edition (1939), it organizes 1,566 passages from across all the major manuscript collections into a systematic arrangement by subject.
Richter spent over 25 years studying the manuscripts intermittently, producing what he called an attempt to classify "upwards of five thousand pages" under some fifty headings — a classification he acknowledged as "rough and imperfect, this the wellnigh infinite variety of the contents having rendered almost inevitable."
The passages include Leonardo's own words translated from Italian, accompanied by Richter's extensive footnotes identifying manuscript sources, cross-references, and scholarly commentary. Throughout our edition, passages marked with -D contain commentary from the DiscoveringDaVinci project.
→ Read the Preface to the Translations
Complete Table of Contents
All 22 sections of Richter's classification, with passage numbers. Subject pages link to the full Leonardo text content.
PART I — THE ART OF PAINTING
I. Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting
Passages 1–13 · Leonardo's intentions, the disorder of the MSS, general introductions
II. Linear Perspective
Passages 14–109 · Plan of the book on painting, function of the eye, perspective, field of vision, vanishing point
III. Light and Shade
Passages 110–221 · Six books on light and shade — general introduction through the sixth book
IV. Perspective of Disappearance
Passages 222–262 · Aerial perspective, atmosphere, how objects become indistinct at distance
V. Theory of Colours
Passages 263–307 · Perspective of colour, colour theory, reflected colours
VI. The Proportions of the Human Figure
Passages 308–367 · Measurements, proportional rules, the Vitruvian framework
VII. The Movement of the Human Figure
Passages 368–392 · Balance, gestures, depicting the body in motion
VIII. Precepts of the Painter
Passages 393–481 · Botany for painters, landscapes, buildings, drapery, practical instructions
IX. The Practice of Painting
Passages 482–611 · Depicting weather, tempests, the Deluge, natural phenomena, the artist's materials
X. Philosophy and History of the Art of Painting
Passages 651–662 · Art vs. nature, painting vs. poetry, painting vs. sculpture, aphorisms, history
X (cont'd). Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations
Passages 663–705 · Madonna pictures, the Last Supper, the Battle of Anghiari, allegorical representations, decorations for feasts
PART II — SCULPTURE
XI. The Notes on Sculpture (Metallurgy)
Passages 706–740 · Practical hints, casting of the Sforza monument, models, costs, bronze casting
PART III — ARCHITECTURE
XII. Architectural Designs
Passages 741–769 · Plans for towns, removal of houses, foundations, stability, church designs
PART IV — ANATOMY, ZOOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY
XIII. General Introduction to Anatomy
Passages 796–856 · Plans for treatise, methods of illustration, the human body as mechanism
XIV. Anatomy
Detailed anatomical notes — muscles, bones, veins, nerves, the heart, respiration
XV. Zoology and Comparative Anatomy
Passages 857–918 · Bestiary, animal behaviour, comparative studies
PART V — PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
XVI. Physical Geography
Passages 919–1000 · Introduction, the nature of water, rivers, the sea, geological observations
XVII. Topographical Notes
Passages 1001–1112 · Notes on Italian geography, canals, the Arno, Milan, Florence, Rome, and beyond
PART VI — NAVAL WARFARE, MECHANICAL APPLIANCES, MUSIC
XVIII. Naval Warfare — Mechanical Appliances — Music
Passages 1113–1131 · Ship's logs, war machines, acoustic instruments
PART VII — PHILOSOPHICAL MAXIMS, MORALS, POLEMICS AND SPECULATIONS
XIX. Philosophical Maxims
Passages 1132–1161 · Morals, wisdom, truth, experience, and the senses
XX. Humorous Writings — Tales, Jests, Fables, Prophecies
Passages 1162–1335 · Leonardo's bestiary, fables, jests, and the remarkable "Prophecies" — riddles posed as apocalyptic visions
PART VIII — LETTERS, PERSONAL RECORDS, DATED NOTES
XXI. Letters — Personal Records — Dated Notes
Passages 1336–1378 · The famous letter to Ludovico Sforza, personal accounts, dated entries, household records
XXII. Miscellaneous Notes
Various additional notes, memoranda, and fragments
Appendix: Quotations and Notes on Books and Authors
Leonardo's reading list, references to classical and contemporary works
About Jean Paul Richter
Jean Paul Richter (1847–1937) was a German-born British art historian who devoted much of his career to studying Leonardo's manuscripts. His work involved direct examination of the original codices in Milan, Paris, London, and Windsor.
The first edition of The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci was published in two volumes in 1883 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. The greatly expanded second edition, incorporating additional passages and revised commentary, was published in 1939 by Oxford University Press. Richter's wife, Irma A. Richter, also produced a popular selection published as The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Oxford World's Classics), which remains in print.
Richter's classification system — organizing the chaotic manuscripts by subject rather than by codex — established the standard approach followed by most subsequent English-language editions. His passage numbering (1 through 1,566) has become the standard reference system for citing Leonardo's notebook writings.
In Richter's Own Words
"About a dozen pictures are all that can be attributed to Leonardo with any degree of certitude or even of probability, and the witness of contemporary record, however credulously interpreted, does not do more than double or treble the number. How he disposed of his time would be an enigma but for the existence of the vast collection of drawings, and particularly of the notebooks. These number upwards of five thousand pages, the contents of which I have attempted to classify under some fifty headings."
"For, of this man who did a few works of art most divinely well, it may be said that he took all knowledge as his province, and that in his individual achievement he symbolizes the diversity of an epoch as fully as can be said of any man at any period in the world's history."
"These manuscripts — the product of how many thousand hours of intellectual activity! — are the records of the working of the mightiest machine perhaps that has ever been a human brain: fragments of a larger purpose, charted, defined, explored, but never fulfilled, of which the treatises containing the sum of his researches in anatomy, physiology and geology form component parts, fragments of a vast encyclopedia of human knowledge."