Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Leicester: An analysis of the Codex and the Exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum

Throughout his lifetime Leonardo Da Vinci was an ardent observer of natural phenomena. He sought to explain these phenomena and to understand how the natural world works. Being an illegitimate child he was forced to educate himself independently and that helped him develop a scientific mind that was not subject to the religious, traditional, and unproved biases of his contemporaries. In order to understand the world he kept many notebooks to record his observations. They are now known as codices. One Codex in particular was devoted, in its entirety, to scientific observation of geology, hydrological and astronomical processes. This is the Codex Leicester. Written in the latter part of his life, the Codex Leicester is a scientific marvel that contains within its pages, the discovery of stratigraphy, the theory that mountains can be built and eroded away, a refutation of the story of Noah's Ark, and the discovery of the process known as planet shine. In addition, the Phoenix Art Museum exhibited the Codex Leicester recently during the time period of January to April 2015. On loan from former Microsoft CEO and Chairman Bill Gates, the Codex was on full display surrounded by artwork meant to enrich the patron's experience. In this thesis I will review the exhibit examining its successes and failures in its attempt to educate the Phoenician public about Leonardo Da Vinci, the scientist.