Da Vinci Sketches the Viola Organista
circa. 1488 to circa. 1488
Preserved notebooks and sections of the Codex Atlanticus provide various sketches of da Vinci’s concept for a keyboard that can imitate a bowed string instrument. As there were various iterations of the design, the instrument evolves over time. Originally utilizing a mechanized bow, the sketches evolved to include a foot-pedal that controlled wheels to play the strings and ended with a system that would lower individual strings onto an automatic belt in order to make sound. In all, six pages across various manuscripts would be dedicated to the instrument, although none contained enough detail for craftsmen to build a working model from the drawings alone.
The Organista would never be made by da Vinci, as many of these drawings are incomplete. An early sketch of the instrument that utilized a mechanized bow did not show how that bow would be affixed to the instrument. Some drawings included double strings attached to each key (as opposed to the typical one per key), likely to increase the volume of the instrument. Ultimately, da Vinci’s drawings were rather difficult to decipher when attempting to envision a singular model of the device.
Raccolta Vinciana. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2019, from bibdig.museogalileo.it/Teca/PD…...
Da Vinci, L. (2011, March 16). Viola organista [Digital image]. Retrieved from commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil…
