Gesture in Painting, a Pellet Crossbow and Mechanisms
Figures must reveal the mind through attitude — with the anecdote of a deaf man in Florence
The upper half of the sheet is filled with pen sketches of post-and-pulley mechanisms, among which a note names "the pellet crossbow." The lower half carries a substantial passage on painting: painted figures must be made so that beholders can read the concept of their minds from their attitudes, an honest man's gestures matching his good words and a bestial man's being fierce, arms thrown toward the listener. Leonardo compares this to how a mute grasps the theme of a dispute purely from the speakers' gestures, and recalls seeing in Florence a man deaf by accident who understood speech only by reading the movement of the lips. The passage opens with a note that derived shadow becomes confused over long distance.
On this page
Figures must reveal the mind through gesture
Painted figures must be made so that their beholders can easily recognise, from their attitudes, the concept of their mind. An honest man's gestures should match his good words; a bestial man should be given fierce movements, throwing his arms toward the listener, head and chest thrust out beyond his feet.
Derived shadow becomes confused over distance
The derived shadow, over a long distance, becomes confused and is not carried to the point where it would strike the object.
The deaf man of Florence who read lips
As a mute, though deprived of hearing, grasps the theme of a dispute from the speakers' gestures, so Leonardo recalls seeing in Florence a man deaf by accident who, if spoken to loudly, understood nothing, but understood soft, voiceless speech by the movement of the lips alone. He leaves the question to be settled by experience: make one speak softly then loudly, and watch the lips.
Post-and-pulley mechanisms
The upper part of the sheet is covered with sketches of upright posts fitted with pulleys, arms and clamps, drawn from several angles.
The pellet crossbow
A note among the upper drawings names "the pellet crossbow" (balestro a ballotta), a stone-bow that shoots a ball rather than a bolt.