Where to Stand to the Light; Judging Limbs and Anatomy
A window-light diagram, the quality of light, self-portrayal errors, and the need to know the body
The page opens with a pen diagram of light spreading from a window and completes the rule that the painter should stand between the light-point m and the line dividing shadow from light on the body. Following chapters state that a large, high, gentle light renders detail most pleasingly, and warn that a painter unconsciously reproduces his own defects (clumsy hands make clumsy hands), so he should study hardest at his own worst part. A final chapter begins arguing that the painter must know the intrinsic form of man, his nerves, muscles and sinews.
On this page
Diagram: standing between light-point m and the shadow-line
A fan of straight rays radiates from a point beside the window, labelled o, m, a, down to a horizontal ground-line marked at points o and n. The accompanying rule states the painter stands well provided his eye is between the shadowed and luminous parts of the body, found by placing himself between the point m and the division shadow makes from light.
Quality of the light (chap. a, 104)
A light that is large and high and not too powerful is the one that renders the small particulars of bodies most pleasing. Such light softens transitions rather than forcing harsh contrasts.
The painter reproduces his own defects (chap. b, 105)
A painter with clumsy hands will make clumsy hands in his works, and the same in any limb, unless long study prevents it. Therefore he should look hard at the ugliest part of his own person and remedy it by study, for whatever good or bad is in him shows itself in his figures.
The painter must know the intrinsic form of man (chap. 106)
The painter who knows the nature of the nerves, muscles and sinews will understand, in moving a limb, how the parts respond. The chapter begins here and continues onto the next folio.