Index to Part Five of the Treatise: On Shadow and Light
Table of contents for the fifth part of the Trattato, listing chapters 545–563 on shadow and light.
A calligraphic table of contents headed 'Tavola della quinta parte del libro: D'ombra e lume' — the index to the fifth part of the Treatise on Painting, on shadow and light. It lists nineteen chapter titles (545–563 begins) with folio references, opening with definitions of what shadow is, how it differs from darkness, and where it derives, then moving to the divisions of shadow and the distinction between simple and compound, primitive and derivative shadow. The final entry breaks off mid-title, continuing onto folio 317v.
On this page
Defining shadow and distinguishing it from darkness (chapters 545–553)
The section opens by asking what shadow is, what difference lies between shadow and darkness, from what shadow derives, and the being of shadow in itself. It then states that shadow divides into two parts and lists two kinds of shadow and how they subdivide.
Simple and compound, primitive and derivative shadow (chapters 554–563)
Further entries compare which is darker, the primitive or derivative shadow, and distinguish simple from compound shadow and compound light from compound shadow. They note how compound light and compound shadow always border one another, that the boundary of simple shadow is less discernible, and how primitive and derivative shadow are joined.