An artist’s manuscript notes can hardly be expected to contain any thing more than incidental references to those masterpieces of his work of which the fame, sounded in the writings of his contemporaries, has left a glorious echo to posterity.  We need not therefore be surprised to find that the texts here reproduced do not afford us such comprehensive information as we could wish.  On the other hand, the sketches and studies prepared by Leonardo for the two grandest compositions he ever executed:  The Fresco of the Last Supper in the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie at Milan, and the Cartoon of the Battle of Anghiari, for the Palazzo della Signoria at Florence—­have been preserved; and, though far from complete, are so much more numerous than the manuscript notes, that we are justified in asserting that in value and interest they amply compensate for the meagerness of the written suggestions.

The notes for the composition of the Last Supper, which are given under nos._ 665 and 666 occur in a MS. at South Kensington, II2, written in the years 1494-1495. This MS. sketch was noted down not more than three or four years before the painting was executed, which justifies the inference that at the time when it was written the painter had not made up his mind definitely even as to the general scheme of the work; and from this we may also conclude that the drawings of apostles’ heads at Windsor, in red chalk, must be ascribed to a later date.  They are studies for the head of St. Matthew, the fourth figure on Christ’s left hand—­see Pl.  XL VII, the sketch (in black chalk) for the head of St. Philip, the third figure on the left hand—­see Pl.  XL VIII, for St. Peter’s right arm—­see Pl.  XLIX, and for the expressive head of Judas which has unfortunately somewhat suffered by subsequent restoration of outlines,—­see Pl.  L. According to a tradition, as unfounded as it is improbable, Leonardo made use of the head of Padre Bandelli, the prior of the convent, as the prototype of his Judas; this however has already been contradicted by Amoretti “Memorie storiche” cap.  XIV.  The study of the head of a criminal on Pl.  LI has, it seems to me, a better claim to be regarded as one of the preparatory sketches for the head of Judas.  The Windsor collection contains two old copies of the head of St. Simon, the figure to the extreme left of Christ, both of about equal merit (they are marked as Nos. 21 and 36_)—­the second was reproduced on Pl.  VIII of the Grosvenor Gallery Publication in_ 1878. There is also at Windsor a drawing in black chalk of folded hands (marked with the old No. 212; No.  LXI of the Grosvenor Gallery Publication) which I believe to be a copy of the hands of St. John, by some unknown pupil.  A reproduction of the excellent drawings of heads of Apostles in the possession of H. R. H. the Grand Duchess of Weimar would have been out of my province in this work, and, with regard to them, I must confine