PREFACE.

...desire, eager to see the great mingling of the various and strange forms made by artful nature original: "artifiziosa natura." In the Renaissance, "artful" or "artificial" meant something crafted with great skill or ingenuity, rather than something "fake.", having wandered for some time among the shadowy rocks, I arrived at the entrance of a great cavern; before which—standing for a moment struck with amazement and ignorance of such a thing—having bent my back into an arch, and resting my tired hand upon my knee, with my right hand I shaded my lowered and closed eyelids. And frequently bending this way and that to see if I could discern anything within, though this was denied to me by the intense darkness that was there; and after I had stayed a while, suddenly two things were awakened within me: fear and desire; fear of the menacing dark cave, and desire to see if there were any miraculous thing within. » (R., § 1339.)

    Nature is the great mystery that Leonardo seeks to investigate.

    But the more his mind penetrates the knowledge of things, the more the superstitious conscience and the prejudice of his times rise up against him. At first, it is the timid "friends of God" This likely refers to overly dogmatic or pious critics who viewed scientific inquiry into natural laws as a challenge to divine mystery. who [him]...