Distant Objects and the Error of Darkening Them
Air tints far things with its own color; why rows of trees near rivers look darker at a distance.
This leaf of the Treatise on Painting, headed at the top by a small pen drawing of a framed opening set into the margin, corrects painters who make distant figures darker, whereas the air in fact tints far objects with its own paler color the greater its thickness. Answering an objection, Leonardo explains that trees of one species can indeed look darker at a distance, but only where near trees are sparse and reveal bright meadows between them while far trees crowd together, as along riverbanks, casting shadow one upon another. He adds that the shadowed part of foliage exceeds the lit part, so the images they send mingle at long range and the darker color prevails.
On this page
The error of making distant things darker
Many painters in open country make figures darker the more remote they are; this is contrary to truth, Leonardo insists, unless the imitated thing were white, in which case the exception set out below applies. A marginal figure illustrates lit parts against dark grounds and dark against light.
Air tints distant objects with its own color
The air tints the objects it separates from the eye the more with its own color the greater its thickness; a dark object seen through two miles of air is tinted more than one seen through a single mile.
Why riverside trees look darker with distance
The adversary's claim that trees of one species look darker far off holds only when the nearer trees are sparse and the bright meadows between them show, while the farthest crowd densely, as on riverbanks, where no bright pasture shows between them and they cast shadow one upon another.
Marginal figure of a lit and shadowed opening
A small drawing of a box-like framed opening (a door or window) is set at the head of the page. As the text says is 'shown in the margin,' it demonstrates opaque bodies clothed in shadow and light, their lit parts against dark grounds and dark parts against light.