Landscapes Toward the Sun and Backlit Trees
The eastern sky near the sun, and trees seen from below against the light
This page of the sixth part of the Treatise on Painting completes the account of eastern landscapes: bright toward the sun and dimmer opposite in misty weather, but in clear air the part interposed between sun and eye grows darker the nearer it is to the eye and to the point directly beneath the sun. A new chapter treats trees seen from below and against the light, whose foremost edge stays transparent and bright and stands out against the dark of the tree behind. The sheet carries two pen diagrams: a radiant sun casting rays over a hilly landscape to an observer, and, below, a demonstration of two backlit trees with a light 's' and eye 'r' and the tree labels c, d, n and a, b, c.
On this page
Eastern landscapes grow darker toward the sun in clear air
In clear weather, without fog or vapor, the eastern part of a landscape interposed between sun and eye becomes the darker the nearer it lies to the eye, the effect being strongest in the part appearing most directly beneath the sun; in the opposite parts the reverse holds, and misty weather inverts what fair weather does.
Trees seen from below against the light
Trees viewed from below and against the light, one closely behind another, show their foremost edge largely transparent and bright, and this edge stands out against the dark body of the tree behind; every tree so placed repeats the effect in succession down the row.
Diagram of the sun, hills, and the observing eye
In the upper half of the page a pen sketch shows a radiant sun at the upper left casting rays across a low, hilly landscape profile to a small observer at the right. The figure illustrates how the brightness of the ground varies with its position relative to sun and eye.
Diagram of light s, eye r, and two backlit trees
At the foot of the page a diagram shows two rounded trees on a ground line beneath a light source. As the text names them, s is the light, r the eye, c d n the first tree and a b c the second; the eye r sees the part c f largely transparent and bright by the light s. The labels a, b, c, d, n, o, p also appear in the accompanying chapters.