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Extract from a Letter from Richard Cosway[1] to George Cumberland.
... I have contemplated with pleasure the outline you was so good as to leave with Mrs. C. of the picture of Leonardo, and do not hesitate to pronounce it one of the most beautiful compositions I ever beheld of that great man. I hope it will not be long before I shall be able to request a sight of the picture. Why do you not get Blake to make an engraving of it?[2] I should think he would be delighted to undertake such a work, and it would certainly pay him very well for whatever time and pains he may bestow upon such a plate, as we have so very few of Leonardo's works well engraved, and the composition of this picture is so very graceful and pleasing, I am convinced he might put almost any price on the print and assure himself of a very extensive sale. . . .
