The old man conforms to the caricature of a Jewish type more strongly than in any other drawing by Leonardo, with a long hooked nose, fleshy lips, avaricious eyes, and a claw-like hand clutching a stick. There were small but significant Jewish communities in many Italian cities of the period, and the late fifteenth century had seen a wave of antisemitic violence inflamed by itinerant preachers such as Fra Bernardino da Feltre, ostensibly on the grounds of usury but spiced with 'blood libel', accusations of the ritual murder of Christian children. While actual violence against Jews had died down by the early sixteenth century, often suppressed by the ruling classes who recognised the economic importance of the Jewish banks, their popular reputation as grasping moneylenders undoubtedly persisted. A degree of hostility (rather than simple caricature) is often visible in the depiction of Jews in scenes from the Passion of Christ, and Leonardo here shows himself no less susceptible to the stereotype than any other artist.

This type of rough blue paper was frequently used by Leonardo for his latest anatomical drawings, and alongside the grotesque is a sketch of a back with the superficial muscles exaggerated.

Text adapted from M. Clayton, Leonardo da Vinci: The Divine and the Grotesque, London 2002