Three prophecies: mown grass, changing flesh, the vair
Riddling prophecies in red chalk
The recto carries three of Leonardo's riddling prophecies in red chalk. One, 'On the mowing of grass', foretells that innumerable lives will be extinguished and innumerable holes made upon the earth. A second, on men who renew their flesh every ten years, declares that men shall pass, dead, through their own bowels; a third is headed only 'Of the vair'.
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Prophecy: 'On the mowing of grass'
Under the sinister-sounding heading of grass being cut, the riddle predicts that innumerable lives will be extinguished and innumerable holes made in the earth. Like Leonardo's other prophecies, its dread image resolves into an everyday act once the true subject is guessed.
Prophecy: men who change their flesh
Headed by the notion that men renew their flesh every ten years, the prophecy declares that men shall pass, dead, through their own bowels. The apparent horror veils an ordinary fact of eating and digestion.