THE HISTORY OF LEONARDO'S MANUSCRIPT

The Codex Leicester was part of the bequest Leonardo made to his faithful pupil Francesco Melzi. It was later known to belong to the Milanese sculptor Guglielmo della Porta before painter Giuseppe Ghezzi acquired it in 1690.

In 1717 Ghezzi sold the manuscript to Englishman Thomas Coke, later Earl of Leicester. The family, whose name the codex carries, retained the manuscript for more than two centuries. In 1980 the codex was sold at auction to American collector and businessman Armand Hammer, who renamed it the Codex Hammer.

The codex was auctioned a second time after Hammer's death in 1994 and was purchased by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife Melinda. The Gates' restored the name Codex Leicester.

The word 'codex' refers to a manuscript in book form. The individual sheets of the codex were bound together in the 17th century but are now unbound as they were when Leonardo compiled them.

Study of water flowing around obstacles
from folio 14r of the The Codex Leicester.
Seth Joel/©Corbis

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