Reflected Images and the Relief of Submerged Bodies
Dark mirrored images deepen shadow and heighten relief; luminous ones flatten it
A leaf of the Trattato della pittura, header TERZA, folio numbered 159, continuing the analysis of bodies seen through clear water. It argues that a dark image mirrored on the water's skin adds its darkness to the shadows of a body on the bed and so gives it greater relief, whereas a luminous image brightens both light and shadow and flattens the relief. A pen diagram in the lower text shows a water-basin, lettered n m t u in the text, holding gravel on its floor lit by rays from the sun d. Text and one diagram, in a legible scribal hand.
On this page
Dark reflected images heighten the relief of submerged bodies
A dark image mirrored on the water's surface adds its darkness to the shadows of a body lying on the bed, deepening them so that the body gains relief. Sunlight still reaches its lit parts, so the added shadow does little harm; a luminous image instead brightens both light and shadow and leaves the body of little relief.
The water-basin n m t u with sunlit gravel
The demonstration supposes a pool, lettered n m t u, holding gravel, weeds, or other shadowed bodies on the clear bottom, which receives its light from the solar rays issuing from the sun d. The pen diagram in the lower text sets out this arrangement.