The Painter's Lights; Straight Growth and Fine Branching
A note on principal lights and schematic tree trunks showing straighter growth with finer branching
A short note repeats that painters are often deceived in depicting the principal lights of shadowed bodies. Below it, schematic tree trunks accompany the observation that a plant growing along a straighter line produces finer branching. Further indeterminate sketches, including circular forms and a spiral-like scribble, are drawn across the lower part of the sheet. The page is written in mirror script and bears an Institut de France stamp.
On this page
The painter's error in the principal lights
A brief note on the lights of shadowed bodies observes that the painter is many times deceived when depicting the principal lights.
Straighter growth yields finer branching
A plant keeps to its growth along a straighter line when it produces finer branching. Several schematic tree trunks and branch patterns are sketched below to illustrate the point.