Allegory of Il Moro; two water-wheels compared
A program of allegorical figures for Ludovico il Moro, with a note on which wheel is better
The upper text sketches a program of allegorical figures: Il Moro with spectacles, Envy with false Infamy painted, black Justice for Il Moro, and Toil holding a screw. Below, a red-chalk drawing of water-wheels labelled a, b, c, d supports a hydraulic note. Leonardo reasons that because the water a b strikes closer to the wheel's centre than the water c d, wheel c is the better of the two.
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Allegorical program for Il Moro: Envy, Infamy, Justice, Toil
Il Moro is shown with spectacles, Envy with false Infamy painted, and a black Justice for Il Moro, while Toil holds the screw in hand. The note reads as a program of personified allegorical figures.
Two water-wheels compared (a b versus c d)
The water a b comes closer to the centre of its wheel than the water c d, whence wheel c is better than wheel a. A red-chalk drawing shows the two wheels with the labelled points.