Bridge Shadows and Images in Clear Water
Still water mirrors a bridge; only turbid water receives its shadow
A leaf of the Trattato della pittura, header PARTE, closing the storm passage and turning to reflections in water. After thunderclouds hurl lightning that lights the shadowed countryside, a chapter explains that a bridge casts no visible shadow on clear, mirror-like water, since the polished surface returns the bridge and the air beneath it; only turbulent, non-mirroring water receives the shadow, as a dusty road would. A small pen diagram of a bridge and its reflection sits within the text. A further chapter begins on how light and dark images imprint on bodies lying between a clear water's surface and its bed.
On this page
Shadows of bridges on their water (De l'ombre fatte da' ponti)
A bridge's shadow is never seen on clear water, because the lustrous, polished surface mirrors the bridge and the air beneath it at equal angles between the eye and the bridge, exactly where the shadow would fall. Only turbid, non-mirroring water receives the shadow, as a dusty road would.
Diagram of a bridge and its reflection
A small pen sketch set into the text shows a bridge in profile above a waterline together with its mirrored image, illustrating why a mirroring surface returns the bridge rather than casting its shadow.
Light and dark images imprinted in clear water
When dark or luminous images fall on bodies set between a clear water's surface and bottom, the shadowed parts covered by the shadowy images grow darker, and so do the lit parts; but where luminous images fall, the illuminated parts of those bodies become brighter.