Press mechanism and a draft letter on financial want
A lever-driven press, a plea to 'Your Excellency,' and columns of calculation
The right half of the sheet carries a drawing of a press, labelled a, with a note that the lever is set midway in its little chamber so it can complete its full circle exactly. Alongside runs a draft of a letter to 'Your Excellency,' in which Leonardo protests his poverty, saying that having to earn his living interrupts the commissioned work and that, having kept six mouths for thirty-six months on fifty ducats, he cannot be assumed to have money. The left half is filled with columns of numbers and arithmetical working, and small pen flourishes decorate the margins.
On this page
Draft letter pleading financial hardship
Leonardo drafts an apology to a patron addressed as Your Excellency and Your Lordship, lamenting that being in want interrupts his desire to obey and to continue the commissioned work. He insists he has no money, having kept six mouths for thirty-six months on fifty ducats, and hints that messer Gualtieri was given no further order because the patron believed him to be funded.
Press with lever, labelled a
On the right half a press is drawn and keyed to the letter a. The accompanying note specifies that the lever sits midway in its little chamber so that it can carry through its entire circle exactly, describing the geometry of the working stroke.
Columns of numbers and operations
The left half of the sheet is given over to stacked figures and arithmetical operations, worked in short columns and paired quantities. They form a working ledger of computation rather than continuous prose.
Marginal pen flourishes
Small looping scrollwork and knot-like flourishes are drawn in the left margin and lower area of the sheet. They are decorative pen exercises set apart from the letter and the press study and were not part of the transcribed text.