Painting water's colour and why the horizon air turns red
Reflection of the horizon in waves; atmospheric red and the rainbow
Leonardo tells the painter of a flood that the colour of water is seen only as bright or dark as the place where the painter stands, mixed with the colour of things behind him, and that the horizon f is mirrored in the side of the wave b c that faces both horizon and eye. A following note explains why the thick air near the horizon turns red at both the eastern and western horizon, the redness forming between eye and sun. He contrasts this with the redness of the rainbow, which arises when the eye lies between rain and sun, its colours richer when the raindrops are larger and washing out to a white bow when the rain is as fine as fog.
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How to paint the colour of flood water
The painter depicting an inundation is reminded that the colour of the water will appear only as bright or dark as the place where he stands, mixed with the colour of the things behind him. The horizon f is mirrored in the side of the wave b c, which faces both the horizon and the eye.
Red air at the horizon versus the rainbow
The thick air turns red at both the eastern and western horizon, the redness generated between the eye and the sun. The rainbow's red instead forms with the eye between rain and sun; its colours grow more excellent as the raindrops are larger and fade to a colourless white bow when the rain is as fine as fog.