Gleanings from the Archive of André Chastel around the rediscovery and edition of Leonardo’s Madrid Manuscripts

Abstract

This article examines the events surrounding the ‘discovery’, in the second half of the 1960s, of Leonardo da Vinci’s Madrid manuscripts (Matritensis 8936 and 8937) and the evolution of Ladislao Reti’s facsimile critical edition of those manuscripts, using documents from the archives of André Chastel. A series of letters shed light on the subsequent controversies and the involvement of key figures such as Ladislao Reti, André Corbeau, Ramón Paz, Anna Maria Brizio, Oskar Kristeller and Carlo Pedretti, among others. A critical examination of these letters reveals Reti's commitment to the project of a double publication, that seeks to balance a facsimile edition with a more accessible volume, The Unknown Leonardo, that combines scholarly rigour with public dissemination.