Painting mountain summits and the trees down to their roots
Bare crags and stunted plants above; vigorous cypress, oak, chestnut, juniper and plane below
A text-only leaf of the Treatise on Painting directing the painter how to render a mountain from summit to root. On the summits he is to show rock largely bare of soil, small pale dried herbs, sandy earth showing through, and stunted aged plants with short dense branches and rusty roots gripping the fractured crags, some of which show their true colour where lightning has struck. Descending toward the roots the vegetation becomes vigorous and dense, its greens varied by species, and the branching habits of cypress, oak, chestnut, juniper and plane are distinguished. No diagram appears on the page.
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How to paint the bare, stunted summits of mountains
On the summits the painter shows the rocks largely bare of soil, with small lean herbs paled and dried for want of moisture, sandy earth showing through, and little plants stunted and aged to the least size with short dense branches, few leaves, and rusty arid roots woven into the fractured crags.
Trees grow more vigorous toward the roots of the mountains
The lower one descends toward the mountains' roots, the more vigorous and dense with branches and leaves the plants become, their greens as varied as the kinds of tree. Some branch tightly, like the cypress; others spread and dilate, like the oak and chestnut; some bear tiny leaves, others sparse ones, like the juniper and the plane.
Crags surpass the hills and show true colour where lightning strikes
In many parts the crags are seen surpassing the hills of the high mountains, clad in thin pale rust; and in some parts they show their true colours where uncovered by the striking of the lightning of the sky, whose course is often impeded, not without revenge from such crags.