FOREWORD

...a dog's head (I, 96 [48] rº), sketches of a man carrying a burden, of a monk, of a tree (I, 113 [35] rº, 34 rº, 37 vº The abbreviations "rº" and "vº" stand for recto and verso, referring to the front and back of a manuscript leaf.), parts of buildings (I, 110 [62] rº; F, 3 rº), beautiful or curious movements of water and other things (F, 8 rº, 21 rº, 48 rº, 73 vº (mixtures); I, 81 [33] rº, 115 [67] vº). As for the text, one will find complementary parts of most of the subjects treated in notebooks A, B, C, D, E, and K, as well as many parts that are quite new relative to the subjects of said notebooks. Some of these passages are already famous for having been commented upon by Amoretti, by Venturi¹, by Libri²; others have been published in the selected pieces arranged by Mr. J.-P. Richter; still others, and not the least interesting among them, were previously unpublished.

To be convinced of the value and variety of the materials, it will suffice to browse through the tables referring to the indexes or tables of contents, prepared like the previous ones, so as to serve provisionally as a guide, classification, and commentary.

Among the numerous articles listed in these indexes, one will notice—to cite only a few examples—observations on the "actions" for painters original: "actes"; referring to the movements and gestures of figures, colors for painting in oil and fresco³, contrasts, the "azure" the blue atmospheric haze in landscapes, etc., etc.; artistic fabrications; notes on the sky and the world, on the elements; curious discussions touching upon the nature of the stars, the waters, days, nights, and spots of the moon, the praise of the sun and its defense against unjust critics; studies on the causes and origins of petrifications and fossils; remarks on waves, the atoms of solar rays, the sands of Libya, the peaks of the Caucasus, seas, and rivers; on the "splendors," or innumerable droplets of air hiding the stars by day, on the droplet compared to the sphere of water; citations from authors (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Archimedes, Posidonius, Vitruvius, the Arab Avicenna, and Albert the Great, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Albert of Saxony, Leon Battista Alberti, Michele Marullo, etc.), as well as contemporary figures (Salaì⁴, Leonardo's pupil, Messires Octavian Pallavicino and Mariolo, Pietro Monti, Simon de Calima, etc.), a whole series of extraordinary predictions, "Prophecies," and little stories and jests, fantastic descriptions, notes on Duke Ludovico the Moor Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan and Leonardo’s patron, on the bath of the Duchess of Milan, on a carnival costume and various decorative motifs, others on men compared with animals, on doctors, on loans, grammars and the sciences, reason and experience, practice and theory, then further studies of the Latin language and a Latin-Italian glossary, as well as several letters in a strange, perhaps secret script, borrowed from Oriental scripts (see folio 122 [74] verso, note).

1. Historical Memoirs of Leonardo da Vinci original: "Memorie storiche di L. da V.", Essay on the physical-mathematical works of Leonardo da Vinci original: "Essai sur les ouvr. phys. math. de L. de V.".
2. History of Mathematical Sciences in Italy original: "Hist. des sc. mathém. en Italie". — See the preface of the first volume of this publication, pages 16 and 17, and the foreword of the third, page 6.
3. Compare a 14th-century Italian Treatise in the memoirs of the National Society of Antiquaries of France, 1886, p. 248, by Mr. Lecoy de la Marche.
4. See the Art Courier original: "Courrier de l’Art" of June 21, 1889 (Research on Andrea Salaino, by Mr. E. Müntz).