The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (36 page)

595.

As regards the disposition of limbs in movement you will have to
consider that when you wish to represent a man who, by some chance,
has to turn backwards or to one side, you must not make him move his
feet and all his limbs towards the side to which he turns his head.
Rather must you make the action proceed by degrees and through the
different joints; that is, those of the foot, the knee and the hip
and the neck. And if you set him on the right leg, you must make the
left knee bend inwards, and let his foot be slightly raised on the
outside, and the left shoulder be somewhat lower than the right,
while the nape of the neck is in a line directly over the outer
ancle of the left foot. And the left shoulder will be in a
perpendicular line above the toes of the right foot. And always set
your figures so that the side to which the head turns is not the
side to which the breast faces, since nature for our convenience has
made us with a neck which bends with ease in many directions, the
eye wishing to turn to various points, the different joints. And if
at any time you make a man sitting with his arms at work on
something which is sideways to him, make the upper part of his body
turn upon the hips.

[Footnote: Compare Pl. VII, No. 5. The original drawing at Windsor
Castle is numbered 104.]

596.

When you draw the nude always sketch the whole figure and then
finish those limbs which seem to you the best, but make them act
with the other limbs; otherwise you will get a habit of never
putting the limbs well together on the body.

Never make the head turn the same way as the torso, nor the arm and
leg move together on the same side. And if the face is turned to the
right shoulder, make all the parts lower on the left side than on
the right; and when you turn the body with the breast outwards, if
the head turns to the left side make the parts on the right side
higher than those on the left.

[Footnote: In the original MS. a much defaced sketch is to be seen
by the side of the second part of this chapter; its faded condition
has rendered reproduction impossible. In M. RAVAISSON'S facsimile
the outlines of the head have probably been touched up. This passage
however is fitly illustrated by the drawings on Pl. XXI.]

597.

Of the nature of movements in man. Do not repeat the same gestures
in the limbs of men unless you are compelled by the necessity of
their action, as is shown in
a b
.

[Footnote: See Pl. V, where part of the text is also reproduced. The
effaced figure to the extreme left has evidently been cancelled by
Leonardo himself as unsatisfactory.]

598.

The motions of men must be such as suggest their dignity or their
baseness.

599.

Make your work carry out your purpose and meaning. That is when you
draw a figure consider well who it is and what you wish it to be
doing.

With regard to any action which you give in a picture to an old man
or to a young one, you must make it more energetic in the young man
in proportion as he is stronger than the old one; and in the same
way with a young man and an infant.

600.

The limbs which are used for labour must be muscular and those which
are not much used you must make without muscles and softly rounded.

Represent your figures in such action as may be fitted to express
what purpose is in the mind of each; otherwise your art will not be
admirable.

Of painting battle pieces (601-603).

601.

First you must represent the smoke of artillery mingling in the air
with the dust and tossed up by the movement of horses and the
combatants. And this mixture you must express thus: The dust, being
a thing of earth, has weight; and although from its fineness it is
easily tossed up and mingles with the air, it nevertheless readily
falls again. It is the finest part that rises highest; hence that
part will be least seen and will look almost of the same colour as
the air. The higher the smoke mixed with the dust-laden air rises
towards a certain level, the more it will look like a dark cloud;
and it will be seen that at the top, where the smoke is more
separate from the dust, the smoke will assume a bluish tinge and the
dust will tend to its colour. This mixture of air, smoke and dust
will look much lighter on the side whence the light comes than on
the opposite side. The more the combatants are in this turmoil the
less will they be seen, and the less contrast will there be in their
lights and shadows. Their faces and figures and their appearance,
and the musketeers as well as those near them you must make of a
glowing red. And this glow will diminish in proportion as it is
remote from its cause.

The figures which are between you and the light, if they be at a
distance, will appear dark on a light background, and the lower part
of their legs near the ground will be least visible, because there
the dust is coarsest and densest [19]. And if you introduce horses
galloping outside the crowd, make the little clouds of dust distant
from each other in proportion to the strides made by the horses; and
the clouds which are furthest removed from the horses, should be
least visible; make them high and spreading and thin, and the nearer
ones will be more conspicuous and smaller and denser [23]. The air
must be full of arrows in every direction, some shooting upwards,
some falling, some flying level. The balls from the guns must have a
train of smoke following their flight. The figures in the foreground
you must make with dust on the hair and eyebrows and on other flat
places likely to retain it. The conquerors you will make rushing
onwards with their hair and other light things flying on the wind,
with their brows bent down,

[Footnote: 19—23. Compare 608. 57—75.]

602.

and with the opposite limbs thrust forward; that is where a man puts
forward the right foot the left arm must be advanced. And if you
make any one fallen, you must show the place where he has slipped
and been dragged along the dust into blood stained mire; and in the
half-liquid earth arround show the print of the tramping of men and
horses who have passed that way. Make also a horse dragging the dead
body of his master, and leaving behind him, in the dust and mud, the
track where the body was dragged along. You must make the conquered
and beaten pale, their brows raised and knit, and the skin above
their brows furrowed with pain, the sides of the nose with wrinkles
going in an arch from the nostrils to the eyes, and make the
nostrils drawn up—which is the cause of the lines of which I
speak—, and the lips arched upwards and discovering the upper
teeth; and the teeth apart as with crying out and lamentation. And
make some one shielding his terrified eyes with one hand, the palm
towards the enemy, while the other rests on the ground to support
his half raised body. Others represent shouting with their mouths
open, and running away. You must scatter arms of all sorts among the
feet of the combatants, as broken shields, lances, broken swords and
other such objects. And you must make the dead partly or entirely
covered with dust, which is changed into crimson mire where it has
mingled with the flowing blood whose colour shows it issuing in a
sinuous stream from the corpse. Others must be represented in the
agonies of death grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, with
their fists clenched against their bodies and their legs contorted.
Some might be shown disarmed and beaten down by the enemy, turning
upon the foe, with teeth and nails, to take an inhuman and bitter
revenge. You might see some riderless horse rushing among the enemy,
with his mane flying in the wind, and doing no little mischief with
his heels. Some maimed warrior may be seen fallen to the earth,
covering himself with his shield, while the enemy, bending over him,
tries to deal him a deathstroke. There again might be seen a number
of men fallen in a heap over a dead horse. You would see some of the
victors leaving the fight and issuing from the crowd, rubbing their
eyes and cheeks with both hands to clean them of the dirt made by
their watering eyes smarting from the dust and smoke. The reserves
may be seen standing, hopeful but cautious; with watchful eyes,
shading them with their hands and gazing through the dense and murky
confusion, attentive to the commands of their captain. The captain
himself, his staff raised, hurries towards these auxiliaries,
pointing to the spot where they are most needed. And there may be a
river into which horses are galloping, churning up the water all
round them into turbulent waves of foam and water, tossed into the
air and among the legs and bodies of the horses. And there must not
be a level spot that is not trampled with gore.

603.

As to men and horses represented in battle, their different parts
will be dark in proportion as they are nearer to the ground on which
they stand. And this is proved by the sides of wells which grow
darker in proportion to their depth, the reason of which is that the
deepest part of the well sees and receives a smaller amount of the
luminous atmosphere than any other part.

And the pavement, if it be of the same colour as the legs of these
said men and horses, will always be more lighted and at a more
direct angle than the said legs &c.

604.

That which is entirely bereft of light is all darkness; given a
night under these conditions and that you want to represent a night
scene,—arrange that there shall be a great fire, then the objects
which are nearest to this fire will be most tinged with its colour;
for those objects which are nearest to a coloured light participate
most in its nature; as therefore you give the fire a red colour, you
must make all the objects illuminated by it ruddy; while those which
are farther from the fire are more tinted by the black hue of night.
The figures which are seen against the fire look dark in the glare
of the firelight because that side of the objects which you see is
tinged by the darkness of the night and not by the fire; and those
who stand at the side are half dark and half red; while those who
are visible beyond the edges of the flame will be fully lighted by
the ruddy glow against a black background. As to their gestures,
make those which are near it screen themselves with their hands and
cloaks as a defence against the intense heat, and with their faces
turned away as if about to retire. Of those farther off represent
several as raising their hands to screen their eyes, hurt by the
intolerable glare.

Of depicting a tempest (605. 606).

605.

Describe a wind on land and at sea. Describe a storm of rain.

606.

If you wish to represent a tempest consider and arrange well its
effects as seen, when the wind, blowing over the face of the sea and
earth, removes and carries with it such things as are not fixed to
the general mass. And to represent the storm accurately you must
first show the clouds scattered and torn, and flying with the wind,
accompanied by clouds of sand blown up from the sea shore, and
boughs and leaves swept along by the strength and fury of the blast
and scattered with other light objects through the air. Trees and
plants must be bent to the ground, almost as if they would follow
the course of the gale, with their branches twisted out of their
natural growth and their leaves tossed and turned about [Footnote
11: See Pl. XL, No. 2.]. Of the men who are there some must have
fallen to the ground and be entangled in their garments, and hardly
to be recognized for the dust, while those who remain standing may
be behind some tree, with their arms round it that the wind may not
tear them away; others with their hands over their eyes for the
dust, bending to the ground with their clothes and hair streaming in
the wind. [Footnote 15: See Pl. XXXIV, the right hand lower sketch.]
Let the sea be rough and tempestuous and full of foam whirled among
the lofty waves, while the wind flings the lighter spray through the
stormy air, till it resembles a dense and swathing mist. Of the
ships that are therein some should be shown with rent sails and the
tatters fluttering through the air, with ropes broken and masts
split and fallen. And the ship itself lying in the trough of the sea
and wrecked by the fury of the waves with the men shrieking and
clinging to the fragments of the vessel. Make the clouds driven by
the impetuosity of the wind and flung against the lofty mountain
tops, and wreathed and torn like waves beating upon rocks; the air
itself terrible from the deep darkness caused by the dust and fog
and heavy clouds.

Of representing the deluge (607-609).

607.

The air was darkened by the heavy rain whose oblique descent driven
aslant by the rush of the winds, flew in drifts through the air not
otherwise than as we see dust, varied only by the straight lines of
the heavy drops of falling water. But it was tinged with the colour
of the fire kindled by the thunder-bolts by which the clouds were
rent and shattered; and whose flashes revealed the broad waters of
the inundated valleys, above which was seen the verdure of the
bending tree tops. Neptune will be seen in the midst of the water
with his trident, and [15] let AEolus with his winds be shown
entangling the trees floating uprooted, and whirling in the huge
waves. The horizon and the whole hemisphere were obscure, but lurid
from the flashes of the incessant lightning. Men and birds might be
seen crowded on the tall trees which remained uncovered by the
swelling waters, originators of the mountains which surround the
great abysses [Footnote 23: Compare Vol. II. No. 979.].