Notebooks (25 page)
Authors: Leonardo da Vinci,Irma Anne Richter,Thereza Wells
Tags: #History, #Fiction, #General, #European, #Art, #Renaissance, #Leonardo;, #Leonardo, #da Vinci;, #1452-1519, #Individual artists, #Art Monographs, #Drawing By Individual Artists, #Notebooks; sketchbooks; etc, #Individual Artist, #History - Renaissance, #Renaissance art, #Individual Painters - Renaissance, #Drawing & drawings, #Drawing, #Techniques - Drawing, #Individual Artists - General, #Individual artists; art monographs, #Art & Art Instruction, #Techniques
In addition to this I will make a sixth book to contain an investigation of the many different varieties of the rebound of the reflected rays, which modify the primary shadow by as many different colours as there are different points from whence these luminous reflected rays proceed.
Furthermore I will make the seventh book treat of the various distances that may exist between the point where each reflected ray strikes and the point whence it proceeds, and of the various different shades of colour which it acquires in striking against opaque bodies.
51
51
As regards all visible objects, three things must be considered. These are the position of the eye which sees, that of the object seen, and the position of the light which illuminates the object.
b
is the eye,
a
is the object seen,
c
is the light.
a
is the eye,
b
the illuminating body,
c
is the illuminated object.
52
b
is the eye,
a
is the object seen,
c
is the light.
a
is the eye,
b
the illuminating body,
c
is the illuminated object.
52
Of the nature of shadow
Shadow partakes of the nature of universal matter. All such matter is more powerful in its beginning and grows weaker towards the end; I say at the beginning, whatever their form or condition, whether visible or invisible. It is not from small beginnings that it grows to a great size in time, as a great oak from the small acorn. But on the contrary like the oak which is most powerful at its beginning at its stem where it springs from the earth and is largest. Darkness, then, is the strongest degree of shadow and light is its least. Therefore, O Painter, make your shadows darker close to the object that casts it, and make the end of it fading into light, seeming to have no end.
53
53
Shadow is the diminution alike of light and of darkness, and stands between light and darkness.
A shadow may be infinitely dark, and also of infinite degrees of absence of darkness.
The beginnings and ends of shadow lie between the light and the darkness and may be infinitely diminished and infinitely increased.
54
54
Shadow is the diminution of light by the intervention of an opaque body, shadow is the counterpart of the luminous rays which are cut off by an opaque body.
55
55
What is the difference between light and the lustre [highlight] which appears on the polished surface of opaque bodies? The lights that are on the polished surface of opaque bodies will be stationary even if the eye which sees them moves. But the reflected light on those same objects will appear in as many different places on the surface as different positions are taken by the eye.
56
56
The highlight or lustre on an object is not necessarily situated in the middle of the illuminated part, but moves as the eye moves in looking at it.
57
57
Suppose the body to be the round object figured here and let the light be at the point
a
, and let the illuminated side of the object be
bc
and the eye at the point
d
: I say then that as lustre is everywhere and in each part, if you stand at point
d
the lustre will appear at
c
, and as the eye moves from
d
to
a
, the lustre will move from
c
to
n
.
58
a
, and let the illuminated side of the object be
bc
and the eye at the point
d
: I say then that as lustre is everywhere and in each part, if you stand at point
d
the lustre will appear at
c
, and as the eye moves from
d
to
a
, the lustre will move from
c
to
n
.
58
Of the difference between lustre and light
Lustre [or highlight] does not partake of the colours but is a sensation of white as derived from the surface of wet bodies; light partakes of the colours of the object which reflects it.
58
58
A single and distinct luminous body causes stronger relief in the object than a diffused light; as may be seen by comparing one side of a landscape illuminated by the sun, and one overshadowed by clouds, and illuminated only by the diffused light of the atmosphere.
59
59
In an object in light and shade, the side which faces the light transmits the images of its details more distinctly and immediately to the eye than the side which is in shadow.
60
60
The more brilliant the light of a luminous body, the deeper the shadows cast by the illuminated object.
61
61
If the rays of light proceed, as experience shows, from a single point, and are diffused in a sphere round this point, radiating and dispersed through the air, the further they spread the wider they spread; and an object placed between the light and a wall is always imaged larger in its shadow, because the rays that strike it will have spread by the time they have reached the wall.
62
62
The way in which shadows cast by objects should be defined. If the object is the mountain here figured and the light is at the point
a
, I say that from
bd
and from
cf
there will be no light but from reflected rays. And this is because the rays of light can only act in straight lines; and the same is the case with the secondary or reflected rays.
58
a
, I say that from
bd
and from
cf
there will be no light but from reflected rays. And this is because the rays of light can only act in straight lines; and the same is the case with the secondary or reflected rays.
58
Where the shadow should be on the face.
63
63
Very great charm of shadow and light is to be found in the faces of those who sit in the doors of dark houses. The eye of the spectator sees that part of the face which is in shadow lost in the darkness of the house, and that part of the face which is lit draws its brilliancy from the splendour of the sky. From this intensification of light and shade the face gains greatly in relief and beauty by showing the subtlest shadows in the light part and the subtlest lights in the dark part.
64
64
The lights which illumine opaque bodies are of four kinds, namely, universal, as that of the atmosphere within our horizon; and particular, like that of the sun or of a window or door or other space; the third kind is the reflected light; and there is also a fourth kind which passes through substances that are semi-transparent to a certain degree like linen, paper, or such-like things; but not those transparent like glass or crystal or other diaphanous bodies where the effect is the same as if nothing was interposed between the body and the light.
65
65
Of the three kinds of lights which illuminate opaque bodies
The first of the lights with which opaque bodies are illumined is called particular, and it is the sun or the light from a window or a flame. The second is called universal and is seen in cloudy weather or in mist or the like. The third is the subdued light when the sun in the evening or the morning is entirely below the horizon.
66
66
The atmosphere is so adapted as to gather up instantaneously and display every image and likeness of whatever body it sees. When the sun appears in the eastern horizon it at once permeates the whole of our hemisphere and fills it with its luminous semblance.
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