Description of the Elm; Varying the Greens of Foliage
The branching and leaf-spacing of the elm, with a pen sketch of an elm sprig
This page of the sixth part of the Treatise on Painting closes the demonstration of backlit trees, then gives a detailed 'Description of the elm': its greatest branch stands at the front, the leaves are spaced about half a leaf-length apart with a gap near a third of the leaf's width, and they gather more toward the tip of the branch. Leonardo advises painters not to repeat one plant's color against the same color of a neighboring plant but to vary the verdure lighter, darker or greener. A pen drawing of an elm sprig, labelled 'olmo,' is set in the middle of the page between two columns of text, and a note marked 'b' observes that a leaf always turns its face toward the sky.
On this page
Description of the elm's branching and leaves
The elm's branching carries its greatest branch at the front, the smallest first and next-to-last when the main stem is straight. Leaf spacing runs about half the leaf's greatest length, a little less, leaving a gap near a third of the leaf's width; the leaves cluster nearer the branch tip than at their origin, and their widths vary little seen from one aspect.
Vary the greens in compositions of leafy trees
In composing leafy trees the painter should not repeat one plant's single color too often against the same color of the plant beyond it, but should vary it with lighter, darker or greener foliage. The counsel keeps masses of trees from reading as flat, undifferentiated color.
Transparent shadowy parts of trees: the nearest is darkest
Closing the previous demonstration, Leonardo notes that of the transparent, shadowed parts of trees the part nearest to the viewer is the darkest, since it stands against the dark ground b c formed by the shadow of the tree a b c, while from the point f the eye instead sees o p dark against the bright ground n g.
Pen drawing of an elm sprig
Between the two columns of text a slender pen sketch shows an elm branch bearing rows of small serrated leaves, headed with the word 'olmo' (elm). The drawing illustrates the leaf spacing and branching described in the surrounding chapter.