How leaf faces take the sky's colour and a yellow-green reverse
The leaf-face turned to the sky partakes of the air's colour; its reverse is a more beautiful yellow-green.
Continuing his discourse on foliage, Leonardo observes that although a smooth leaf is nearly the same colour front and back, the face turned toward the sky takes on the colour of the air, the more so the nearer and more foreshortened it is to the eye. Its shadows appear darker on the front than on the reverse, by contrast with the bordering highlights. The reverse, though the same colour in itself, shows a more beautiful green tending to yellow. The passage breaks off in mid-sentence.
On this page
The front of a leaf takes the sky's colour; its reverse is a yellow-green
Though a smooth leaf is nearly the same colour front and back, the face turned to the sky partakes of the air's colour, more so the nearer and more foreshortened it is to the eye. Its shadows read darker on the front than the reverse because of neighbouring highlights, while the reverse, though the same colour in itself, appears a more beautiful yellow-green.