The Real Da Vinci Code
MILAN, Italy — The Codex Trivulzianus, one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s oldest notebooks, is out from under lock and key, offering the world a rare look into the mind of a genius.
Normally hidden away in a library at Sforzesco Castle and reserved for scholars’ eyes, the 55-page collection of sketches and writings is on public display for the first time in nearly a decade. It includes character studies, drawings of church domes and military machines, and even a self-improvement guide.
For all the larger-than-life ideas it contains, the Codex Trivulzianus is actually quite small. It measures 8 inches by 5.5 inches — about the size of an average paperback — and looks every bit its 519 years old.
The ongoing success of Dan Brown’s powerhouse potboiler The Da Vinci Code (a movie based on the novel is scheduled for release later this year) may have helped convince Milan to break out the slim volume.
Ever since the 2003 publication of Brown’s best seller, tourists have flocked to the city to gaze at Da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper and see for themselves whether the figure depicted in the painting sitting just to the right of Jesus is Mary Magdalene or an effeminate apostle John.
Once a series of 62 unbound pages, the Codex Trivulzianus dates from Da Vinci’s first stay in Milan between 1487 and 1490. Some of the pages were lost for a time; once found, they were numbered and bound. What you’ll see at the exhibit depends on the curator’s choice of the week.
- Nicole Martinelli
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