553

On the choice of light for a picture.

OF SITUATION.

Remember [to note] the situation of your figures; for the light and shade will be one thing if the object is in a dark place with a particular light, and another thing if it is in a light place with direct sunlight; one thing in a dark place with a diffused evening light or a cloudy sky, and another in the diffused light of the atmosphere lighted by the sun.

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci

VIII: Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting.

. . .

On the limitations of painting.

533,

534,

On the choice of a position.

536,

The apparent size of figures in a picture.

538,

spectator.

540,

541,

542,

543,

544,

545,

546,

Gradations of light and shade.

On the choice of light for a picture.

549,

550,

551,

552,

553,

554,

The distribution of light and shade.

556,

557,

558,

The juxtaposition of light and shade.

560,

On the lighting of the background.

562,

563,

564,

On the lighting of white objects.

The methods of aerial.

567,

568,

569,

Of sketching figures and portraits.

571,

The position of the head.

. . .