Leonardo's map of the city of Imola, near Bologna

Leonardo's map of the city of Imola, near Bologna
Originally uploaded by trudeau

The year was 1502; Leonardo's age was 50, says http://www.leonardo-da-vinci-biography.com.


Leonardo created a map of Cesare Borgia’s stronghold, a town plan of Imola in order to win his patronage. When presenting it to Cesare, the powerful leader must have been left in a state of awe.

People at the time had hardly heard of maps let alone seen one.

Maps themselves held a magical feel to them at the time as it would have seemed as if one was holding a piece of land in the palm of their hands!

Cesare hired Leonardo upon seeing the map as his chief military engineer/ architect.

Leonardo as a painter believed that he and other artists had the divine ability to encapsulate whatever they envisaged. They also had the power to hand a patron in a sense, his territory in the palms of his hands. What the owner of the map could now do was to plan a strategy of defence more effectively by pinpointing weaknesses of the territory. With the territory laid out in front of him, Cesare Borgia (Leonardo’s patron at the time) was less likely to overlook any weaknesses in his strategy. Leonardo had in effect, handed over to him a tool to increase his military capabilities.