The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (32 page)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You must make the foremost figure in the picture less than the size
of nature in proportion to the number of braccia at which you place
it from the front line, and make the others in proportion by the
above rule.

539.

You are asked, O Painter, why the figures you draw on a small scale
according to the laws of perspective do not appear—notwithstanding
the demonstration of distance—as large as real ones—their height
being the same as in those painted on the wall.

And why [painted] objects seen at a small distance appear larger
than the real ones?

The right position of the artist, when painting, and of the
spectator (540-547)

540.

When you draw from nature stand at a distance of 3 times the height
of the object you wish to draw.

541.

In drawing from the round the draughtsman should so place himself
that the eye of the figure he is drawing is on a level with his own.
This should be done with any head he may have to represent from
nature because, without exception, the figures or persons you meet
in the streets have their eyes on the same level as your own; and if
you place them higher or lower you will see that your drawing will
not be true.

542.

The universal practice which painters adopt on the walls of chapels
is greatly and reasonably to be condemned. Inasmuch as they
represent one historical subject on one level with a landscape and
buildings, and then go up a step and paint another, varying the
point [of sight], and then a third and a fourth, in such a way as
that on one wall there are 4 points of sight, which is supreme folly
in such painters. We know that the point of sight is opposite the
eye of the spectator of the scene; and if you would [have me] tell
you how to represent the life of a saint divided into several
pictures on one and the same wall, I answer that you must set out
the foreground with its point of sight on a level with the eye of
the spectator of the scene, and upon this plane represent the more
important part of the story large and then, diminishing by degrees
the figures, and the buildings on various hills and open spaces, you
can represent all the events of the history. And on the remainder of
the wall up to the top put trees, large as compared with the
figures, or angels if they are appropriate to the story, or birds or
clouds or similar objects; otherwise do not trouble yourself with it
for your whole work will be wrong.