The Painter Must Depict Man and the Mind's Concept
Composing narrative scenes by sketching the limbs, and not burying figures under ornament
A text leaf of the Treatise on Painting closing a note on manner of composition and opening three linked precepts. Leonardo argues that the good painter must render two things, the man and the concept of his mind, the second shown only through gestures and movements of the limbs, best learned from the mute. Further sections urge the painter to lay figures in roughly and study bold combat and the passions of the soul, and warn against loading figures with so much ornament that their form and attitude are obscured.
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Depicting the man and the concept of his mind
The good painter must render two principal things: the man himself, and the concept of his mind. The first is easy; the second difficult, since it must be figured through gestures and movements of the limbs. This expressive art, Leonardo adds, is best learned from the mute, who convey it better than any other kind of men.
Sketch the figures roughly, then study combat and the passions
The composer of narrative scenes should first set his figures down roughly, sketched in, once he knows how to make them well in every turn, bending and stretching of the limbs. Then he should take the description of two who boldly fight together and examine that invention in various acts and aspects, followed by the fight of the bold man against the base and fearful. Such actions and the many other accidents of the soul are to be studied with great care.
Ornament must not impede the form of the figure
Never place so many ornaments on your figures and other bodies in a narrative scene that they impede the form and attitude of the figures and the essence of those other bodies.