Sketches and Drawings of Emblems and Rebuses (1901) - Page 22

⚠The page is a blank sheet of paper, showing significant foxing <note>Brownish spots caused by the oxidation of iron or fungal growth on old paper</note> and age spots throughout.

Mirror-written Italian text accompanying scientific and naturalistic sketches? original: "scrittura speculare" — Leonardo da Vinci famously wrote from right to left, requiring a mirror to read easily.

Observations on Nature and Geometry

The movement of the water The sketch on the left depicts turbulent flow, a recurring theme in Leonardo's studies of fluid dynamics shows how the currents spiral and turn back upon themselves, much like the growth of hair around a crown.

The bird upon the stream Refers to the central sketch of a waterfowl Observe how the swan maintains its balance upon the shifting surface, its weight distributed so as not to break the tension of the water.

In the square Refers to the geometric diagram on the right let the central point be the origin of all radiating lines. If you divide the space equally from the center to the corners, you shall find the proportion of the whole. Proportion is the mother of all beauty

This fragment demonstrates the Renaissance ideal of the "Universal Man," where the study of a bird's movement, the flow of water, and the laws of geometry are all seen as interconnected parts of a single divine order.