. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. ^)^ 7^. 79)> ^^^ have every right to be-lieve that the teach-ing he gave was ency-clopaedic. No artists eye hasseen more profoundlythan his into the mys-teries of light; no artistsbrain has more clearlyformulated its rules. Inhim painter and op-tician were combined,as the result of innu-merable escaped him—sunlight effects, raineffects, effects of mistand dust, variations ofthe atmosphere (bookiii). He investigatedthe changes undergoneby the tones of nature, by watching them through coloured glasses(cap. 254). The
. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science. ^)^ 7^. 79)> ^^^ have every right to be-lieve that the teach-ing he gave was ency-clopaedic. No artists eye hasseen more profoundlythan his into the mys-teries of light; no artistsbrain has more clearlyformulated its rules. Inhim painter and op-tician were combined,as the result of innu-merable escaped him—sunlight effects, raineffects, effects of mistand dust, variations ofthe atmosphere (bookiii). He investigatedthe changes undergoneby the tones of nature, by watching them through coloured glasses(cap. 254). The book devoted to light and shadow is of peculiar the eye of Leonardo could distinguish so many shades of differ-ence. This we may see from the following paragraph. There arethree kinds of shadows. One kind is produced b) a single point oflight, such as the sun, the moon, or a flame. The st ond is producedby a door, a window, or other opening through which a large part ofthe sky can be seen. The third is produced by such a universal light. A SHEET OF SKETCHES. (Bonnat Collection, Paris.) THE TREATISE ON PAINTING 245 as the illumination of our hemisphere when the sun Is not shining (cap. 569).! The teaching of perspective occupies a large section of theTrattato. Leonardodivides it into threekinds : linear perspec-tive (prospettiva liniale),the perspective of colours,and aerial perspective;otherwise called thediminution in the dis-tinctness of bodies, thediminution of their size,and the diminution oftheir colour. The firsthas its origin in the eye,the two others in the veilof air interposed betweenthe eye and the object. ^Long before AlbertDiirer, to whom the in-vention of the cameralucida is usually ascribed,the Florentine mastercontrived an easy wayof drawing figures inperspective with the helpof a sheet of glass. Hedescribes the process inthe Codex Atlanticus,and in the Trattato.^
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