Studies of an infant's hands and feet
Ultraviolet image of two bound leaves (ff. 253v and 256r)
An ultraviolet photograph of a bound spread joining folios 253v and 256r, on which Leonardo has drawn repeated studies of chubby limbs, apparently those of an infant. The left leaf is filled with soft outline sketches of plump feet and legs; the right leaf carries studies of a curled hand, an open hand, and, at the lower right, a single more finished, shaded foot. The e-Leo record supplies no text for either leaf beyond the note that they bear figures.
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Outline studies of plump infant feet and legs
The left leaf is covered with lightly drawn, overlapping studies of short, rounded feet and legs of the kind belonging to a young child. The contours are searching and repeated rather than finished. Below them sit two soles seen from underneath, with the toes spread.
Hands and a finished foot on the right leaf
The right leaf shows a clenched, curled hand at upper centre and an open hand splaying its fingers at upper right. At the lower right corner a single foot is worked up with dense hatching into a fully modelled, three-dimensional study, contrasting with the faint outlines around it.
