Leonardo da Vinci proposed linen fabric for the canopy of his parachute.
Leonardo’s parachute drawing shows a pyramid-shaped wooden framework covered with a tightly stretched cloth. His notes describe the covering as linen, a strong plant-based textile widely used in Renaissance Europe. The cloth was intended to resist air and slow the descent of a person attached below the frame.
The proposal appeared in the Codex Atlanticus, a major collection of Leonardo’s drawings and writings. It was not a detailed engineering manual, so several construction details remain open to interpretation. The design also lacked the flexible canopy and control lines found in modern parachutes.
Linen was an important material in Leonardo’s period because it was available for sails, clothing, and canvas-like coverings. The choice therefore reflects practical Renaissance materials rather than a modern synthetic fabric. Later tests of replicas have focused mainly on Leonardo’s dimensions and structural arrangement, not on reproducing every historical textile detail exactly.