The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Complete by Leonardo Da Vinci

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508.

A WAY OF DEVELOPING AND AROUSING THE MIND TO VARIOUS INVENTIONS.

I cannot forbear to mention among these precepts a new device for
study which, although it may seem but trivial and almost ludicrous,
is nevertheless extremely useful in arousing the mind to various
inventions. And this is, when you look at a wall spotted with
stains, or with a mixture of stones, if you have to devise some
scene, you may discover a resemblance to various landscapes,
beautified with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide
valleys and hills in varied arrangement; or again you may see
battles and figures in action; or strange faces and costumes, and an
endless variety of objects, which you could reduce to complete and
well drawn forms. And these appear on such walls confusedly, like
the sound of bells in whose jangle you may find any name or word you
choose to imagine.

II.

THE ARTIST'S STUDIO.--INSTRUMENTS AND HELPS FOR THE APPLICATION OF
PERSPECTIVE.--ON JUDGING OF A PICTURE.

On the size of the studio.

509.

Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it.

On the construction of windows (510-512).

510.

The larger the wall the less the light will be.

511.

The different kinds of light afforded in cellars by various forms of
windows. The least useful and the coldest is the window at _a_. The
most useful, the lightest and warmest and most open to the sky is
the window at _b_. The window at _c_ is of medium utility.

[Footnote: From a reference to the notes on the right light for
painting it becomes evident that the observations made on
cellar-windows have a direct bearing on the construction of the
studio-window. In the diagram _b_ as well as in that under No. 510
the window-opening is reduced to a minimum, but only, it would seem,
in order to emphasize the advantage of walls constructed on the plan
there shown.]

512.

OF THE PAINTER'S WINDOW AND ITS ADVANTAGE.

The painter who works from nature should have a window, which he can
raise and lower. The reason is that sometimes you will want to
finish a thing you are drawing, close to the light.

Let _a b c d_ be the chest on which the work may be raised or
lowered, so that the work moves up and down and not the painter. And
every evening you can let down the work and shut it up above so that
in the evening it may be in the fashion of a chest which, when shut
up, may serve the purpose of a bench.

[Footnote: See Pl. XXXI, No. 2. In this plate the lines have
unfortunately lost their sharpness, for the accidental loss of the
negative has necessitated a reproduction from a positive. But having
formerly published this sketch by another process, in VON LUTZOW'S
_Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst_ (Vol. XVII, pg. 13) I have
reproduced it here in the text. The sharpness of the outline in the
original sketch is here preserved but it gives it from the reversed
side.]

On the best light for painting (513-520).

513.

Which light is best for drawing from nature; whether high or low, or
large or small, or strong and broad, or strong and small, or broad
and weak or small and weak?

[Footnote: The question here put is unanswered in the original MS.]

514.

OF THE QUALITY OF THE LIGHT.

A broad light high up and not too strong will render the details of
objects very agreeable.

515.

THAT THE LIGHT FOR DRAWING FROM NATURE SHOULD BE HIGH UP.

The light for drawing from nature should come from the North in
order that it may not vary. And if you have it from the South, keep
the window screened with cloth, so that with the sun shining the
whole day the light may not vary. The height of the light should be
so arranged as that every object shall cast a shadow on the ground
of the same length as itself.

516.

THE KIND OF LIGHT REQUISITE FOR PAINTING LIGHT AND SHADE.

An object will display the greatest difference of light and shade
when it is seen in the strongest light, as by sunlight, or, at
night, by the light of a fire. But this should not be much used in
painting because the works remain crude and ungraceful.

An object seen in a moderate light displays little difference in the
light and shade; and this is the case towards evening or when the
day is cloudy, and works then painted are tender and every kind of
face becomes graceful. Thus, in every thing extremes are to be
avoided: Too much light gives crudeness; too little prevents our
seeing. The medium is best.

OF SMALL LIGHTS.

Again, lights cast from a small window give strong differences of
light and shade, all the more if the room lighted by it be large,
and this is not good for painting.

517.

PAINTING.

The luminous air which enters by passing through orifices in walls
into dark rooms will render the place less dark in proportion as the
opening cuts into the walls which surround and cover in the
pavement.

518.

OF THE QUALITY OF LIGHT.

In proportion to the number of times that _a b_ goes into _c d_ will
it be more luminous than _c d_. And similarly, in proportion as the
point _e_ goes into _c d_ will it be more luminous than _c d;_ and
this light is useful for carvers of delicate work. [Footnote 5: For
the same reason a window thus constructed would be convenient for an
illuminator or a miniature painter.]

[Footnote: M. RAVAISSON in his edition of the Paris MS. A remarks on
this passage: _"La figure porte les lettres_ f _et_ g, _auxquelles
rien ne renvoie dans l'explication; par consequent, cette
explication est incomplete. La figure semblerait, d'ailleurs, se
rapporter a l'effet de la reflexion par un miroir concave."_ So far
as I can see the text is not imperfect, nor is the sense obscure. It
is hardly necessary to observe that _c d_ here indicate the wall of
the room opposite to the window _e_ and the semicircle described by
_f g_ stands for the arch of the sky; this occurs in various
diagrams, for example under 511. A similar semicircle, Pl III, No. 2
(and compare No. 149) is expressly called '_orizonte_' in writing.]

519.

That the light should fall upon a picture from one window only. This
may be seen in the case of objects in this form. If you want to
represent a round ball at a certain height you must make it oval in
this shape, and stand so far off as that by foreshortening it
appears round.

520.

OF SELECTING THE LIGHT WHICH GIVES MOST GRACE TO FACES.

If you should have a court yard that you can at pleasure cover with
a linen awning that light will be good. Or when you want to take a
portrait do it in dull weather, or as evening falls, making the
sitter stand with his back to one of the walls of the court yard.
Note in the streets, as evening falls, the faces of the men and
women, and when the weather is dull, what softness and delicacy you
may perceive in them. Hence, Oh Painter! have a court arranged with
the walls tinted black and a narrow roof projecting within the
walls. It should be 10 braccia wide and 20 braccia long and 10
braccia high and covered with a linen awning; or else paint a work
towards evening or when it is cloudy or misty, and this is a perfect
light.

On various helps in preparing a picture (521-530).

521.

To draw a nude figure from nature, or any thing else, hold in your
hand a plumb-line to enable you to judge of the relative position
of objects.

522.

OF DRAWING AN OBJECT.

When you draw take care to set up a principal line which you must
observe all throughout the object you are drawing; every thing
should bear relation to the direction of this principal line.

523.

OF A MODE OF DRAWING A PLACE ACCURATELY.

Have a piece of glass as large as a half sheet of royal folio paper
and set thus firmly in front of your eyes that is, between your eye
and the thing you want to draw; then place yourself at a distance of
2/3 of a braccia from the glass fixing your head with a machine in
such a way that you cannot move it at all. Then shut or entirely
cover one eye and with a brush or red chalk draw upon the glass that
which you see beyond it; then trace it on paper from the glass,
afterwards transfer it onto good paper, and paint it if you like,
carefully attending to the arial perspective.

HOW TO LEARN TO PLACE YOUR FIGURES CORRECTLY.

If you want to acquire a practice of good and correct attitudes for
your figures, make a square frame or net, and square it out with
thread; place this between your eye and the nude model you are
drawing, and draw these same squares on the paper on which you mean
to draw the figure, but very delicately. Then place a pellet of wax
on a spot of the net which will serve as a fixed point, which,
whenever you look at your model, must cover the pit of the throat;
or, if his back is turned, it may cover one of the vertebrae of the
neck. Thus these threads will guide you as to each part of the body
which, in any given attitude will be found below the pit of the
throat, or the angles of the shoulders, or the nipples, or hips and
other parts of the body; and the transverse lines of the net will
show you how much the figure is higher over the leg on which it is
posed than over the other, and the same with the hips, and the knees
and the feet. But always fix the net perpendicularly so that all the
divisions that you see the model divided into by the net work
correspond with your drawing of the model on the net work you have
sketched. The squares you draw may be as much smaller than those of
the net as you wish that your figure should be smaller than nature.
Afterwards remember when drawing figures, to use the rule of the
corresponding proportions of the limbs as you have learnt it from
the frame and net. This should be 3 braccia and a half high and 3
braccia wide; 7 braccia distant from you and 1 braccio from the
model.

[Footnote: Leonardo is commonly credited with the invention of the
arrangement of a plate of glass commonly known as the "vertical
plane." Professor E. VON BRUCKE in his _"Bruchstucke aus der Theorie
der bildenden Kunste,"_ Leipzig 1877, pg. 3, writes on this
contrivance. _"Unsere Glastafel ist die sogenannte Glastafel des
Leonardo da Vinci, die in Gestalt einer Glastafel vorgestellte
Bildflache."_]

524.

A METHOD OF DRAWING AN OBJECT IN RELIEF AT NIGHT.

Place a sheet of not too transparent paper between the relievo and
the light and you can draw thus very well.

[Footnote: Bodies thus illuminated will show on the surface of the
paper how the copyist has to distribute light and shade.]

525.

If you want to represent a figure on a wall, the wall being
foreshortened, while the figure is to appear in its proper form, and
as standing free from the wall, you must proceed thus: have a thin
plate of iron and make a small hole in the centre; this hole must be
round. Set a light close to it in such a position as that it shines
through the central hole, then place any object or figure you please
so close to the wall that it touches it and draw the outline of the
shadow on the wall; then fill in the shade and add the lights; place
the person who is to see it so that he looks through that same hole
where at first the light was; and you will never be able to persuade
yourself that the image is not detached from the wall.

[Footnote: _uno piccolo spiracelo nel mezzo_. M. RAVAISSON, in his
edition of MS. A (Paris), p. 52, reads _nel muro_--evidently a
mistake for _nel mezzo_ which is quite plainly written; and he
translates it _"fait lui une petite ouverture dans le mur,"_ adding
in a note: _"les mots 'dans le mur' paraissent etre de trop.
Leonardo a du les ecrire par distraction"_ But _'nel mezzo'_ is
clearly legible even on the photograph facsimile given by Ravaisson
himself, and the objection he raises disappears at once. It is not
always wise or safe to try to prove our author's absence of mind or
inadvertence by apparent difficulties in the sense or connection of
the text.]

526.

TO DRAW A FIGURE ON A WALL 12 BRACCIA HIGH WHICH SHALL LOOK 24
BRACCIA HIGH.

If you wish to draw a figure or any other object to look 24 braccia
high you must do it in this way. First, on the surface _m r_ draw
half the man you wish to represent; then the other half; then put on
the vault _m n_ [the rest of] the figure spoken of above; first set
out the vertical plane on the floor of a room of the same shape as
the wall with the coved part on which you are to paint your figure.
Then, behind it, draw a figure set out in profile of whatever size
you please, and draw lines from it to the point _f_ and, as these
lines cut _m n_ on the vertical plane, so will the figure come on
the wall, of which the vertical plane gives a likeness, and you will
have all the [relative] heights and prominences of the figure. And
the breadth or thickness which are on the upright wall _m n_ are to
be drawn in their proper form, since, as the wall recedes the figure
will be foreshortened by itself; but [that part of] the figure which
goes into the cove you must foreshorten, as if it were standing
upright; this diminution you must set out on a flat floor and there
must stand the figure which is to be transferred from the vertical
plane _r n_[Footnote 17: _che leverai dalla pariete r n_. The
letters refer to the larger sketch, No. 3 on Pl. XXXI.] in its real
size and reduce it once more on a vertical plane; and this will be a
good method [Footnote 18: Leonardo here says nothing as to how the
image foreshortened by perspective and thus produced on the vertical
plane is to be transferred to the wall; but from what is said in
Nos. 525 and 523 we may conclude that he was familiar with the
process of casting the enlarged shadow of a squaring net on the
surface of a wall to guide him in drawing the figure.

_Pariete di rilieuo; "sur une parai en relief"_ (RAVAISSON). _"Auf
einer Schnittlinie zum Aufrichten"_ (LUDWIG). The explanation of
this puzzling expression must be sought in No. 545, lines 15-17.].

[Footnote: See Pl. XXXI. 3. The second sketch, which in the plate is
incomplete, is here reproduced and completed from the original to
illustrate the text. In the original the larger diagram is placed
between lines 5 and 6.

1. 2. C. A. 157a; 463a has the similar heading: '_del cressciere
della figura_', and the text begins: "_Se voli fare 1a figura
grande_ b c" but here it breaks off. The translation here given
renders the meaning of the passage as I think it must be understood.
The MS. is perfectly legible and the construction of the sentence is
simple and clear; difficulties can only arise from the very fullness
of the meaning, particularly towards the end of the passage.]

527.

If you would to draw a cube in an angle of a wall, first draw the
object in its own proper shape and raise it onto a vertical plane
until it resembles the angle in which the said object is to be
represented.

528.

Why are paintings seen more correctly in a mirror than out of it?

529.

HOW THE MIRROR IS THE MASTER [AND GUIDE] OF PAINTERS.

When you want to see if your picture corresponds throughout with the
objects you have drawn from nature, take a mirror and look in that
at the reflection of the real things, and compare the reflected
image with your picture, and consider whether the subject of the two
images duly corresponds in both, particularly studying the mirror.
You should take the mirror for your guide--that is to say a flat
mirror--because on its surface the objects appear in many respects
as in a painting. Thus you see, in a painting done on a flat
surface, objects which appear in relief, and in the mirror--also a
flat surface--they look the same. The picture has one plane surface
and the same with the mirror. The picture is intangible, in so far
as that which appears round and prominent cannot be grasped in the
hands; and it is the same with the mirror. And since you can see
that the mirror, by means of outlines, shadows and lights, makes
objects appear in relief, you, who have in your colours far stronger
lights and shades than those in the mirror, can certainly, if you
compose your picture well, make that also look like a natural scene
reflected in a large mirror.

[Footnote: I understand the concluding lines of this passage as
follows: If you draw the upper half a figure on a large sheet of
paper laid out on the floor of a room (_sala be piana_) to the same
scale (_con le sue vere grosseze_) as the lower half, already drawn
upon the wall (lines 10, 11)you must then reduce them on a '_pariete
di rilievo_,' a curved vertical plane which serves as a model to
reproduce the form of the vault.]

530.

OF JUDGING YOUR OWN PICTURES.

We know very well that errors are better recognised in the works of
others than in our own; and that often, while reproving little
faults in others, you may ignore great ones in yourself. To avoid
such ignorance, in the first place make yourself a master of
perspective, then acquire perfect knowledge of the proportions of
men and other animals, and also, study good architecture, that is so
far as concerns the forms of buildings and other objects which are
on the face of the earth; these forms are infinite, and the better
you know them the more admirable will your work be. And in cases
where you lack experience do not shrink from drawing them from
nature. But, to carry out my promise above [in the title]--I say
that when you paint you should have a flat mirror and often look at
your work as reflected in it, when you will see it reversed, and it
will appear to you like some other painter's work, so you will be
better able to judge of its faults than in any other way. Again, it
is well that you should often leave off work and take a little
relaxation, because, when you come back to it you are a better
judge; for sitting too close at work may greatly deceive you. Again,
it is good to retire to a distance because the work looks smaller
and your eye takes in more of it at a glance and sees more easily
the discords or disproportion in the limbs and colours of the
objects.

On the management of works (531. 532).

531.

OF A METHOD OF LEARNING WELL BY HEART.

When you want to know a thing you have studied in your memory
proceed in this way: When you have drawn the same thing so many
times that you think you know it by heart, test it by drawing it
without the model; but have the model traced on flat thin glass and
lay this on the drawing you have made without the model, and note
carefully where the tracing does not coincide with your drawing, and
where you find you have gone wrong; and bear in mind not to repeat
the same mistakes. Then return to the model, and draw the part in
which you were wrong again and again till you have it well in your
mind. If you have no flat glass for tracing on, take some very thin
kidts-kin parchment, well oiled and dried. And when you have used it
for one drawing you can wash it clean with a sponge and make a
second.

532.

THAT A PAINTER OUGHT TO BE CURIOUS TO HEAR THE OPINIONS OF EVERY ONE
ON HIS WORK.

Certainly while a man is painting he ought not to shrink from
hearing every opinion. For we know very well that a man, though he
may not be a painter, is familiar with the forms of other men and
very capable of judging whether they are hump backed, or have one
shoulder higher or lower than the other, or too big a mouth or nose,
and other defects; and, as we know that men are competent to judge
of the works of nature, how much more ought we to admit that they
can judge of our errors; since you know how much a man may be
deceived in his own work. And if you are not conscious of this in
yourself study it in others and profit by their faults. Therefore be
curious to hear with patience the opinions of others, consider and
weigh well whether those who find fault have ground or not for
blame, and, if so amend; but, if not make as though you had not
heard, or if he should be a man you esteem show him by argument the
cause of his mistake.

On the limitations of painting (533-535)

533.

HOW IN SMALL OBJECTS ERRORS ARE LESS EVIDENT THAN IN LARGE ONES.

In objects of minute size the extent of error is not so perceptible
as in large ones; and the reason is that if this small object is a
representation of a man or of some other animal, from the immense
diminution the details cannot be worked out by the artist with the
finish that is requisite. Hence it is not actually complete; and,
not being complete, its faults cannot be determined. For instance:
Look at a man at a distance of 300 braccia and judge attentively
whether he be handsome or ugly, or very remarkable or of ordinary
appearance. You will find that with the utmost effort you cannot
persuade yourself to decide. And the reason is that at such a
distance the man is so much diminished that the character of the
details cannot be determined. And if you wish to see how much this
man is diminished [by distance] hold one of your fingers at a span's
distance from your eye, and raise or lower it till the top joint
touches the feet of the figure you are looking at, and you will see
an incredible reduction. For this reason we often doubt as to the
person of a friend at a distance.

534.

WHY A PAINTING CAN NEVER APPEAR DETACHED AS NATURAL OBJECTS DO.

Painters often fall into despair of imitating nature when they see
their pictures fail in that relief and vividness which objects have
that are seen in a mirror; while they allege that they have colours
which for brightness or depth far exceed the strength of light and
shade in the reflections in the mirror, thus displaying their own
ignorance rather than the real cause, because they do not know it.
It is impossible that painted objects should appear in such relief
as to resemble those reflected in the mirror, although both are seen
on a flat surface, unless they are seen with only one eye; and the
reason is that two eyes see one object behind another as _a_ and _b_
see _m_ and _n_. _m_ cannot exactly occupy [the space of] _n_
because the base of the visual lines is so broad that the second
body is seen beyond the first. But if you close one eye, as at _s_
the body _f_ will conceal _r_, because the line of sight proceeds
from a single point and makes its base in the first body, whence the
second, of the same size, can never be seen.

[Footnote: This passage contains the solution of the problem
proposed in No. 29, lines 10-14. Leonardo was evidently familiar
with the law of optics on which the construction of the stereoscope
depends. Compare E. VON BRUCKE, _Bruchstucke aus der Theorie der
bildenden Kunste_, pg. 69: "_Schon Leonardo da Vinci wusste, dass
ein noch so gut gemaltes Bild nie den vollen Eindruck der
Korperlichkeit geben kann, wie ihn die Natur selbst giebt. Er
erklart dies auch in Kap. LIII und Kap. CCCXLI_ (ed. DU FRESNE)
_des_ 'Trattato' _in sachgemasser Weise aus dem Sehen mit beiden
Augen_."

Chap. 53 of DU FRESNE'S edition corresponds to No. 534 of this
work.]

535.

WHY OF TWO OBJECTS OF EQUAL SIZE A PAINTED ONE WILL LOOK LARGER THAN
A SOLID ONE.

The reason of this is not so easy to demonstrate as many others.
Still I will endeavour to accomplish it, if not wholly, at any rate
in part. The perspective of diminution demonstrates by reason, that
objects diminish in proportion as they are farther from the eye, and
this reasoning is confirmed by experience. Hence, the lines of sight
that extend between the object and the eye, when they are directed
to the surface of a painting are all intersected at uniform limits,
while those lines which are directed towards a piece of sculpture
are intersected at various limits and are of various lengths. The
lines which are longest extend to a more remote limb than the others
and therefore that limb looks smaller. As there are numerous lines
each longer than the others--since there are numerous parts, each
more remote than the others and these, being farther off,
necessarily appear smaller, and by appearing smaller it follows that
their diminution makes the whole mass of the object look smaller.
But this does not occur in painting; since the lines of sight all
end at the same distance there can be no diminution, hence the parts
not being diminished the whole object is undiminished, and for this
reason painting does not diminish, as a piece of sculpture does.

On the choice of a position (536-537)

536.

HOW HIGH THE POINT OF SIGHT SHOULD BE PLACED.

The point of sight must be at the level of the eye of an ordinary
man, and the farthest limit of the plain where it touches the sky
must be placed at the level of that line where the earth and sky
meet; excepting mountains, which are independent of it.

537.

OF THE WAY TO DRAW FIGURES FOR HISTORICAL PICTURES.

The painter must always study on the wall on which he is to picture
a story the height of the position where he wishes to arrange his
figures; and when drawing his studies for them from nature he must
place himself with his eye as much below the object he is drawing
as, in the picture, it will have to be above the eye of the
spectator. Otherwise the work will look wrong.

The apparent size of figures in a picture (538-539)

538.

OF PLACING A FIGURE IN THE FOREGROUND OF A HISTORICAL PICTURE.