VENI VIDI DA VINCI

Collections Newsletter Guild About Developers Patron Sign In

Library/Paris Manuscript L/89

Prev89 / 196Next

Paris Manuscript L — 89

100%

Reset zoom

Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Capovolto.

De pittura1.

L'occhio che sta all'aria luminosa e vede il loco ombroso: esso sito si dimosterrà di molta maggiore oscurità che non è.

Questo accade sol perché l'occhio che sta all'aria, diminuisce tanto più la sua pupilla, quanto l'aria che vi si specchia, è più luminosa. E quanto essa popilla più diminuisce, manco la cosa da lei veduta si dimostra luminosa. Ma qu[a]ndo l'occhio enterrà in alcuno loco ombroso, subito la oscurità di tale ombroso parrà diminuire. Questo accade perché quanto la luce enterrà in aria più tenebrosa, più cresce sua figura, il quale accrescimento fa che la grande oscurità pare diminuirsi.

Upside-down.

On painting.

The eye that is in luminous air and sees a shadowy place: that place will show itself of much greater darkness than it really is.

This happens only because the eye that is in the air contracts its pupil the more, the more the air mirrored in it is luminous. And the more the pupil contracts, the less luminous does the thing seen by it appear. But when the eye enters into some shadowy place, at once the darkness of such a shadowy place will seem to diminish. This happens because the more the light enters into more shadowy air, the more its figure grows, and this growth makes the great darkness seem to lessen.

On Painting: the Pupil and the Look of Shadow

The pupil contracts in bright air, making shaded places seem darker than they are

Optics & Light Painting & Perspective

This text page, headed 'On painting,' analyzes how the eye judges shadow. When the eye is in bright, luminous air its pupil contracts, so a shadowy place appears far darker than it truly is; on entering the shade the pupil widens and the darkness seems to diminish. Leonardo links the apparent depth of shadow to the changing size of the pupil relative to the brightness of the surrounding air. Further lines of writing appear on the sheet below the transcribed passage that are not included in the bundle.

On this page

The pupil's size governs how dark a shadow looks

An eye in luminous air contracts its pupil the more, the brighter the air mirrored in it; the smaller the pupil, the less luminous whatever it sees, so a shadowy place looks much darker than it is. On entering the shade the light within the eye grows and the darkness seems to diminish.

A painter's rule for judging darkness

Set under the heading 'On painting,' the passage warns that the eye's own adjustment, not the true tone of a place, makes shaded areas read as much darker when seen from bright surroundings.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.