Depicting Old Women and a Night Scene Lit by Fire
Old women like infernal furies; how firelight reddens and shadows a night istoria
A brief chapter directs that old women be depicted bold and quick, with furious movements like infernal furies, more agitated in the arms and head than the legs. The long chapter [146] instructs how to paint a night scene lit by a great fire: things nearest the fire take its reddish colour most strongly, those farther off sink into the black of night, and figures between viewer and flame read dark against the blaze. Leonardo also prescribes the figures' attitudes, shielding themselves from the heat or covering their eyes against the glare. The sheet is entirely text.
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Old women depicted like infernal furies (chapter 145)
Old women should be shown bold and quick, with furious movements after the manner of infernal furies, the movements appearing more agitated in the arms and head than in the legs.
Painting a night scene lit by a great fire (chapter 146)
To paint a night, treat everything as darkness except where a great fire lights it. Things nearest the fire take its reddish colour most strongly and grow redder, while things far from it sink into the black of night.
Firelight reddens the near and blackens the far
Figures between the viewer and the fire appear dark against its brightness; those at the sides are half dark and half reddened; those seen beyond the flames are wholly lit with reddish light against a black ground.
Attitudes of figures around the fire
Figures near the fire shield themselves with hands and cloaks against the heat and turn away as if fleeing; those farther off raise their hands to protect eyes hurt by the excessive glare.