Heraldic shield, an eye-and-mirror diagram, and a deep well
Red-chalk lion device labelled Victory, Prudence, Fortitude, with an optics sketch and a hydrostatic note
This upside-down page gathers three unrelated items in red chalk and pen. A small optical diagram shows an eye viewing a mirror through a flame, labelled 'mirror' and 'light'. A large heraldic device - a rampant beast on a shield - carries the words Victory, Prudence and Fortitude. A pen note claims that a man at the bottom of a well holding 20,000 braccia of water would bear none of its weight.
On this page
Shield device inscribed Victory, Prudence, Fortitude
The dominant drawing is a heraldic shield bearing a rampant beast, accompanied by the words Vittoria, Prudentia and Fortezza (Victory, Prudence, Fortitude). It reads as an emblematic device joining a heraldic animal to three virtues.
An eye viewing a mirror through a flame
A small optical diagram sets an eye to view a mirror through an intervening flame, its parts labelled 'mirror' (specchio) and 'light' (lume). It belongs to Leonardo's studies of how light and reflection reach the eye.
A man at the bottom of a deep well bears no load of water
A pen note asserts that if a whole man were at the bottom of a well holding 20,000 braccia of water, he would sustain none of its load. The claim concerns how the weight of a water column bears on a submerged body.