Sacred Texts  Age of Reason  Index 
VIII. Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting Index
  Previous  Next 

The Da Vinci Notebooks at sacred-texts.com

449.

OBJECTS IN HIGH LIGHT SHOW BUT LITTLE, BUT BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW

THEY STAND OUT WELL.

The effects of midday light.To represent a landscape choose that the sun shall be at noon and look towards the West or East and then draw. And if you turn towards the North, every object placed on that side will have no shadow, particularly those which are nearest to the [direction of the] shadow of your head. And if you turn towards the South every object on that side will be wholly in shadow. All the trees which are towards the sun and have the atmosphere for their background are dark, and the other trees which lie against that darkness will be black [very dark] in the middle and lighter towards the edges.


Next: 450.