and filled them in one color with a small brush -Pl. 7- in order to explain the entire remaining group of 56 familiar or new problems as played according to the old rules, is most probably that of Pacioli or one of his amenuenses. Thus the identification of this old manuscript has led to a highly valuable rediscovery of an unpublished work by Leonardo not only and not as much for its contribution, however ingenious, to the development of the game of chess, as for the depiction of pieces that, it must be specified, are all conceived to be made with a lathe and thus to be produced as a set for common use. ROOK QUEEN BISHOP KING PAWN KNIGHT FRANCO ROCCO 17
18
PLATES 19
Plate 1 Folio 8v. The problem depicted is to be played with actual modern rules, in fact, and is distinguished at the top center of the page by the term "rabio". On the freely drawn chessboard, the forms of the pieces were first drawn, then filled with color with a tiny brush. On the facing page, the chessboard was drawn with a ruler, and the forms of the pieces were painted in color without contours. 20
Folio 9r. The two problems depicted above are to be played according to medieval rules. On these two pages, together with the two different modes of playing discussed by Pacioli that is, "rabio" played with modern rules still in use today but revolutionary back then, and the other mode based on medieval rules two utterly different manners of representing pieces are tackled. See pg 16 21
22
Plate 2 In addition to Luca Pacioli's Manuscript, chess pieces were represented through their actual forms rather than their names, letter codes, or ideograms only in the two cases reproduced here. Ms. Codex Cartaceo 2871, Islamic-style chess pieces. - Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence Ms. Membranaceo 128, Dedicated to Borso D'Este. - Biblioteca Reale, Turin - 23
Plate 3 Comparison of pawns used in the late fifteenth century and those depicted in the Manuscript. "Pedona" Pawn from Cod. Memb. 128 - Bibl. Reale, Turin Pawn particular in Lucas van Leyden's The chess game Staatliche Museen, Berlin Pawn from Alfonso X's Libro des Juegos Sec. XIII, Biblioteca dell'escorial, Madrid 24
A wood-turned Pawn, second half of fifteenth century. Pawns on Pacioli s Manuscript fol. 8v. Three dimensional reconstruction of the pawn. Proportions and geometric construction of a Pawn 25
Plate 4 Comparison of some of the figures of Queens taken from pages of the Manuscript and Leonardo s drawings of fountains. - c. 1480-90 Codex Atlanticus, fols, 293rb and 212r-a; c. 1497-1500, Ms. I, Madrid - In the center, in red, a Queen rendered in three dimensions. 26
Plate 5 GIOVANNI DA VERONA (C. 1457-1525) INTARSIA, S. MARIA IN ORGANO (VR) Comparison between sample figures of the King, Rook, Bishop, and Knight figures drawn from the pages of the manuscript and the actual forms of certain friezes painted on antae in the Fourth Pompeian style. Beneath, on the left. the same forms inspire the intarsia by Giovanni da Verona at S. Maria in Organo, on which appear two copies of the polyhedrons in Leonardo's drawings for De Divina Proporzione. 27
Plate 6 Examples of pieces rendered with contours but not filled in with paint because they are irrelevant to an understanding of the "match." Folio 25. (Match no. 60) The precise and neat drawing of these uncolored figures is undoubtedly by the same hand as the "drawn and painted" figures illustrated here below. The lack of color reveals the greater speed of this rendering, which shows neither hesitation nor the foresaid inclination to the right. Examples of pieces rendered in contour but not filled in with paint because they were repositioned in an adjacent square. On the left in Folio 1r, on the right in Folio 44v. 28
Examples of deletions (crossed out) in Leonardo's folios. The strokes used to delete a drawing or text, or even a single letter of a text, always slope from bottom right to top left. Codex Atlanticus, fol. 400 v.d. Folio 14r Ms. B. 2173, Paris Bibliothèque de France Codex Atlanticus, fol. 96v.a. 29
30
Plate 7 Examples of renderings of pieces "only painted, without contours." The figures are vertical or for the most part inclined to the left. Many ambiguities and smudges, but only one figure is crossed out for the repositioning of the King on fol. 31v. The hatching, which slopes from bottom left to top right, is executed with the right hand. See below. Folio 25v. Folio 31v. The only example in the manuscript of a figure "only painted, without contours" that is crossed out for the repositioning of a figure. Folio 23r Alfino Bishop 31
32
These notes, the plates of illustrations accompanying them, and the working drawings used for wood-turning the pieces, are parts taken from Franco Rocco s study, LEONARDO DA VINCI GLI SCACCHI, available on request at www.leonardochess.com or at www.francorocco.com Architect Franco Rocco Via San Salvatore 16, LU (AL) 15040 Italia. All right reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Franco Rocco. Printed in Milano Italia. April 2011. 33
34
Franco Rocco was born in Rome in March, 1939. After completing a two-year program in Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute in Milan between 1958 and 1960, he received his Laurea in Architecture from the same institution in 1965. He has designed and directed numerous projects in civic architecture as well as restorations and reconstructions both in Italy and abroad. Alongside his works as architect and engineer are those that he has created as sculptor and designer. Included among his diverse achievements are the great bronze gate of the private chapel of the Lia Colombo family in Busto Arsizio (1974), and his composite sculptures, each produced in a limited edition of one thousand signed pieces: Scattomatto in 1978, Damadiamante in 1981, and Immaginario Lunare in 1983. In 1992, on the occasion of the celebration of Columbus's discovery, he created the work, La Via Di Colombo [Columbus' Route], which was exhibited at the pavilion of the Region of Liguria during the international exhibition, Cristoforo Colombo la Nave ed il Mare [Christopher Columbus, the Ship, and the Sea] and also in New York at the exhibition of the I.C.E., The Discovery of Italy. In August 1993, he held a solo exhibition in Urbino, presented by Paolo Dal Poggetto, director of Urbino's Commissione per I Beni Culturali, and in 1994 he created the work Research Pathway for AGIP. In 1996 at the headquarters of the Centro Nazionale Studi Leopardiani in Recanati he illustrated a project for a sculpture entitled Una Forma Per La Parola [A Form for a Word] in honor of Leopardi's thought. Since April 2007 he has been devoting himself to the study of the form of chess pieces depicted in a manuscript by Luca Pacioli. 35