the da vinci globe is the oldest globe to show the new world. this is in contrast to the large 51 cm behaim globe dating from 1492 at the germanic national museum in nuremberg. a leonardo preparatory drawing for this globe dating from 1503, showing the coast of the new world and africa has been discovered in the codex arundel (currently held by the british library). it is conclusive proof of da vinci's knowledge of the discovery of america. until 2018, scholars erroneously believed this drawing to be the surface of the moon. while in florence (1504), the italian renaissance genius wrote in the codex atlanticus about this globe and his desire to retrieve it from giovanni benci.