From around 1504 Leonardo worked on a composition of Leda seduced by Jupiter in the form of a swan. This was to have a foreground teeming with plants and flowers, for which Leonardo made a number of detailed studies, whose accuracy goes far beyond what could be found in any contemporary herbal. The bur-reed and reed-mace drawn on either side of this sheet are found growing at the edges of lakes and rivers throughout Europe.

No. 6