Leonardo’s Fables explores the compositional methods and sources of Leonardo’s fables and their relationship to illustrations and scientific studies. By concentrating on the chaotic character of Leonardo’s textual and visual annotations, the author gradually discloses the artist’s creative thinking that uses the page as a space for experimentation.

Fables allow Leonardo to tie together his technical and artistic skills, empirical observation, and experience to reveal the interactive forces at the basis of physical phenomena and the tensions between painting and humanistic culture. This study reevaluates Leonardo’s fables as part of a literary, aesthetic, and scientific project aimed at the investigation of Nature.