Painting a science, sculpture a mechanical art
The defence of painting closes; the treatise asks whether sculpture is a science
The page ends Leonardo's argument that painting is a true science even though writers have failed to describe it, comparing it to the virtues of herbs and stones that remain noble whether or not men have named them. Marked "Fine" (End), the text then opens a new section, "whether sculpture is a science or not," declaring sculpture a most mechanical art that breeds sweat and bodily fatigue. A closing heading announces the coming comparison between painting and sculpture. There is no illustration; the leaf is entirely text.
On this page
Painting ennobles itself without the help of letters
Writers could not describe painting because they had no knowledge of its science, and few painters have the letters to reduce it to words. Yet painting is no less noble for this, ennobling itself like the excellent works of nature, just as herbs and stones keep their virtue whether or not men have named them.
Sculpture defined as a most mechanical art
The new section declares that sculpture is not a science but a most mechanical art, since it generates sweat and bodily fatigue in its maker. The sculptor needs only the simple measurements of the limbs and the nature of their movements and poses, showing the eye merely what the thing is, without arousing the wonder that painting gives by displaying vast landscapes on a flat surface.