635

On varnishes [or powders].

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

Take cypress [oil] and distil it and have a large pitcher, and put in the extract with so much water as may make it appear like amber, and cover it tightly so that none may evaporate. And when it is dissolved you may add in your pitcher as much of the said solution, as shall make it liquid to your taste. And you must know that amber is the gum of the cypress-tree.

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

And since varnish [powder] is the resin of juniper, if you distil juniper you can dissolve the said varnish [powder] in the essence, as explained above.

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

VII * X
Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
VIII: Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting.
. . .
615,
616,
617
On the preparation and use of colours.
618,
619,
620,
621,
622,
623,
624,
625,
626,
627
Of preparing the panel.
628
The preparation of oils.
629,
630,
631,
632,
633,
634
On varnishes [or powders].
635,
636,
637
On chemical materials.
638,
639,
640,
641,
642,
643,
644,
645,
646,
647,
648,
649,
650
The relation of art and nature.
651,
652
Painting is superior to poetry.
653,
654
Painting is superior to sculpture.
655
. . .