The Galleria Nazionale delle Marche acquired the Codice Santini, a manuscript on parchment dating back to the early decades of the 1500s. The Codice Santini contains a series of engineering and military machines, documenting the interest in mathematical and scientific disciplines in Urbino during the Renaissance. The interest was particularly pronounced under the Montefeltro and Della Rovere dynasties, who were known for their patronage of the arts and sciences.
The author of the Codice Santini remains unknown, but possible candidates include Francesco di Giorgio Martini, an architect and engineer known for his treatises on military engineering, or Giovan Battista Comandino, a mathematician who translated ancient texts.
The Codice Santini is connected to the Palazzo Ducale di Urbino due to its reference to the reliefs of the Frieze of the Art of War. These reliefs, which depict military themes, were recently reinstalled in the Soprallogge on the noble floor of the Palazzo Ducale di Urbino.
The presence of the Codice Santini is documented in the ducal library, which is now preserved almost entirely at the Biblioteca Vaticana. An inventory of the ducal library from 1632 cites the Codice Santini as missing. It is possible that the manuscript remained in Urbino, passed down through local noble families until it reached its last owners prior to the gallery's acquisition.
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