Inventory of drawings, with machine sketches and grotesque heads
A long list of heads, nudes and Madonnas written with the sheet inverted, amid mechanical studies
The sheet is crowded with pen sketches, including window-frames and grids, a coiled spring, several mechanical devices, and at the lower left a grotesque head in profile among smaller heads. Written with the sheet turned upside down is a long inventory of drawings Leonardo had made or kept: many flowers drawn from nature, several St Jeromes, eight St Sebastians, a head of the Duke, complete nudes, heads of old men and women, two Madonnas, and heads with various headdresses. A central line reads 'Tell me how they have gone by...' and columns of numbers stand near the right margin. Further untranscribed jottings appear among the drawings.
On this page
Inventory of drawings and studies
Turning the sheet upside down, Leonardo lists a great range of his drawings: many flowers from nature, certain St Jeromes, eight St Sebastians, four drawings for the panel of Sant'Angelo, drawings of furnaces, instruments for ships and for water, and bodies in perspective. The entries run from finished pictures to loose studies.
Heads, nudes and figures in the inventory
Much of the list catalogues figure work: many complete nudes; many legs, arms, feet and poses; throats of old women and heads of old men; a head of a gypsy woman; a head with a hat; a girl with braids knotted up; and two Madonnas, one finished and one nearly finished in profile.
Grotesque profile head
At the lower left of the sheet a large grotesque head in profile is drawn, with heavy brow and prominent features, accompanied by smaller heads nearby.
Window-frames, a coiled spring and mechanical sketches
Across the upper half of the sheet are pen sketches of gridded window-frames, a coiled spring, and various small mechanical devices and fittings.
A memorandum at the centre of the page
At the centre of the page a short note reads 'Tell me how they have gone by...', a personal jotting left incomplete among the drawings.