A drawing of eight heads; there are three grotesques in the top tier and three male heads, possibly all of the same subject, in the middle tier. In the lower tier are two heads of male and female grotesques, facing eachother in profile.

As in RL 12493, these heads were copied from an extensive series of Leonardo's grotesques. The first two here are a study in morphological contrasts - a sloping forehead opposite a beetling brow, a long pointed nose opposite a flat nose and so on. The ape-like creature with a monstrous lip at upper right is an extreme example of Leonardo's ugly old women, and one of his few genuinely disturbing, rather than comic, inventions. The woman at lower right with an elaborate coiffure is yet another satire on aged vanity.

Text adapted from Leonardo da Vinci: the Divine and the Grotesque