Edges against backgrounds; distant shadows in one light
Simultaneous contrast at a body's edges, and why distant shadows must be mixed in the same light as their lit colours.
This leaf continues an argument that a room whose walls and window-light are coloured like the body within will cast shadows and lights proportionate to that body, then gives a chapter on the edges of bodies against their backgrounds. Leonardo describes what is now called simultaneous contrast: the edges of white things look brighter against darker grounds and dark things darker against whiter ones, as seen on sunlit walls. A concluding precept insists that the shadows of distant bodies be mixed in the same light as their lit colours, or no true likeness will result. Clean scribal text without diagrams.
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A room coloured like the body it encloses
If the walls of the room and the light of its oiled-cloth window are of the colour of the body enclosed, the room's shadowed parts will cast shadows on that body proportionate to its own colour, and the parts lit by the window's colour will suit the lit body and the colour of its shadows.
Edges of bodies against their backgrounds
The edges of a body always seem altered, into more darkness or lightness, where they meet their background. White edges look the brighter the darker the ground they border, and dark edges look the darker against a whiter ground, as is well seen in the sunlit and shadowed parts of walls and other flat bodies.
Mix distant shadows in the same light
The precept insists that the shadows of distant bodies be made in the same light as their lit colours. If you mix lit colours in the sun to imitate sunlit things but mix the shadow-colours in the shade, the true likeness will not succeed.