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Dear Tom Cohen, Judging from the brief quotation you included in your message, a possible source can be a passage from one of Leonardo's _Proemi_ to his _Trattato della Pittura_, which reads as follow: "So bene che per non essere io literato, che alcuno prosuntuoso gli parà ragionevolmente potermi biasimare coll'allegare io essere homo sanza lettere..." Although the original Italian does not bear any resemblance with the Spanish you quote, the English translation offered by the edition I use is much closer: "I am fully conscious that, not being a literary man, certain presumptuous persons will think that they may reasonably blame me, alleging that I am not a man of letters". The passage was not inluded in the final version of Leonardo's _Trattato_, but is preserved in a sheet of his _Codex Atlanticus_. If your friend wants to get the context of the passage just quoted I would suggest him to get hold of the 2 vols. edition by P.J. Richter, _The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci_, London-New York: Phaidon,1970 (first ed. 1883). Richter's work, albeit rather dated, is still the standard anthology for Leonardo's writings. The above quote is from vol. I, p. 116 (Italian & English). The passage is almost a cliché for Leonardisti because of the espression 'omo sanza lettere'. Hope this helps. Monica Azzolini St. John's College, Cambridge, UK ma229@cam.ac.uk
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