A treatise on painting . ground. on a dark ground; if it be both bright and ob- fcure, let the bright p-irr be found on a darkground, and the part that is obfcure, on a groundthat is different A iittlc light illuinining 3 body, occafionslfthcy°are dii- ^^^ fliadows On the uniliumined fide to be large,ferentiy large, and Very bold in their extremes ; as, on the con-trary, a large light makes the fliadows on thelame llde of the body, fmaller and lefs diftinclin their bounds. When a little, but ftronglight is inclofed in another more large, butmore feeble withal, as the fun in the air,
A treatise on painting . ground. on a dark ground; if it be both bright and ob- fcure, let the bright p-irr be found on a darkground, and the part that is obfcure, on a groundthat is different A iittlc light illuinining 3 body, occafionslfthcy°are dii- ^^^ fliadows On the uniliumined fide to be large,ferentiy large, and Very bold in their extremes ; as, on the con-trary, a large light makes the fliadows on thelame llde of the body, fmaller and lefs diftinclin their bounds. When a little, but ftronglight is inclofed in another more large, butmore feeble withal, as the fun in the air, theweakeft will in that cafe have the effecl of afhadovv on the bodies illumined by It is Very ridiculous, but at the fame timein the circum- common, for painters, to be overfeen in ftances, and Icls ? * i .. , proportioning the circumflanccs of their work :fCtobVa- thus, for inltance, we frequently fee houfes fovoided. exceedingly fcanty, and their doors fo mifera- bly />/./<;. Mj. BV LEONARDO DA VINCI. 1^~ bly low, that they fcarce reach to the knees oftheir inhabitants, though they be even fuppofednearer the eye cf the Tpcdator than the perfonswho are to enter within them ; thus cities andtowns are fomctimes fo pitifully little, that oneof the figures behind might ftride over themwith cafe. And we have fein porticos morethan once crowded with people, and yet fup-ported by fuch (lender pillars, that one of theligures has appeared with fome of the pillars inhis fpan, railing himfelf up as with an ordi-nary flick. But thefe, and feveral other faultsof this kind, are to be very (ludioufly avoided. The outlines or contours of bodies are fo of the extreme*faint and indifcernable to the eye, that they °^^^^^f°^y^<*lofe themfelves at the fmalleft diftance, between eye and the object: thus a man cannot dif-tinguifli the face of his nearefl: friend by thecontour; nor has he any other way to knowhim but by his drefs, air, and other
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