A Treatise on Painting

This portrait is rendered in the sanguine (red chalk) style, a medium Leonardo himself favored. It depicts the artist in his later years, characterized by the iconic long beard and contemplative gaze that became the standard image of the "Renaissance Man."

original: "Trattato della Pittura di Lionardo da Vinci"
Treatise on Painting by Leonardo da Vinci

The faint mirrored text visible at the top of the page is a "ghost image" or bleed-through from the following title page, a common occurrence in old manuscripts where ink or oils from one page transfer to the facing leaf over centuries.