Online Exhibits > Leonardo and the Engineers of the Renaissance > General Index

Firearms

Taccola and Francesco di Giorgio were fascinated - not to say obsessed - with the military uses of incendiary mixtures ("Greek fire") and explosives. Both authors, for example, illustrate the preparation of a mine to blow up a fortress. Francesco successfully exploded a mine in Naples in 1495.

Bombards, small cannons, and mortars recur in Taccola's works. Francesco di Giorgio devotes special attention to the bombard. He classifies the different types of this new deadly weapon by size, shape, and projectile weight. Unlike Taccola, Francesco actually engaged in firearms manufacturing, an activity in which Siena excelled in the second half of the fifteenth century thanks to the presence of many skilled craftsmen.

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