Notebooks

by Leonardo da Vinci

A point is that which has no centre. It has neither breadth, length, nor depth.

A line is a length produced by the movement of a point, and its extremities are points. It has neither breadth nor depth.

A surface is an extension made by the transversal movement of a line, and its...

A body is a quantity formed by the lateral movement of a surface and its boundaries are surfaces. A body is a length, and it has breadth with depth form...

A thing of naught is that which fills no space. The limitation of one body is that which begins another.

Empty space begins where the object ends. Where empty space ends the object begins and where the object ends emptiness begins.

Among the various studies of natural processes that of light gives most pleasure to those who contemplate it. And among the chief features of mathematics that of the certainty of its demonstrations elevates the minds of the investigators most powerfully.

In its province the beam of light is explained by methods of demonstration, wherein is found the glory not only of mathematical but also of physical science, adorned as it is with the flowers of both. And, whereas its propositions have been laid down at great length, I shall abridge them with conclusive brevity, with demonstrations drawn either from nature or from mathematics according to the nature of the subject; sometimes deducing the effects from the causes, and at other times the causes from the effects: adding also to my own conclusions some which are not contained in these but which nevertheless may be inferred from them. Even as the Lord who is the Light of all things shall vouchsafe to enlighten me I will treat of light.

Look at the light and consider its beauty. Blink your eye and look at it again: what you see was not there at first, and what was there is no more. Who is it who...

Light is the chaser away of darkness. Shade is the obs...

Shadow is the obstruction of light. Shadows appear to me to be of supreme importance in perspective, because without them opaque and solid bodies will be ill defined; that which is contained within its outlines and the outlines themselves will be ill understood unless it is shown against a background of a different tone.

As regards all visible objects, three things must be considered. These are the position of the eye which sees, that of the object seen, and the position of the light which illuminates the object.

Shadow partakes of the nature of universal matter. All such matter is more powerful in its beginning and grows weaker towards the end; I say at the beginning, whatever their form or condition, whether visible or invisible.

It is not from small beginnings that it grows to a great size in time, as a great oak from the small acorn. But on the contrary like the oak which is most powerful at its beginning at its stem where it springs from the earth and is largest. Darkness, then, is the strongest degree of shadow and light is its least. Therefore, O Painter, make your shadows darker close to the object that casts it, and make the end of it fading into light, seeming to have no end.

Shadow is the diminution alike of light and of darkness, and stands betwe...

The beginnings and ends of shadow lie between the light and the darkness and may be infinitely diminished and infinitely increased.

The highlight or lustre on an object is not necessarily situated in the middle of the illuminated part, but moves as the eye moves in looking at it.

In an object in light and shade, the side which faces the light transmits the images of its details more distinctly and immediately to the eye than the side which is in shadow.

The more brilliant the light of a luminous body, the deeper the shadows cast by the illuminated object.

Very great charm of shadow and light is to be found in the faces of those who sit in the doors of dark houses. The eye of the spectator sees that part of the face which is in shadow lost in the darkness of the house, and that part of the face which is lit draws its brilliancy from the splendour of the sky. From this intensification of light and shade the face gains greatly in relief and beauty by showing the subtlest shadows in the light part and the subtlest lights in the dark part.

The first of the lights with which opaque bodies are illumined is called particular, and it is the sun or the light from a window or a flame. The second is called universal and is seen in cloudy weather or in mist or the like. The third is the subdued light when the sun in the evening or the morning is entirely below the horizon.

All the surfaces of solid bodies turned towards the sun or towards the atmosphere illumined by the sun, become clothed and dyed by the light of the sun or of the atmosphere.

The surface of an object partakes of the colour of the light which illuminates it, and of the colour of the air that is interposed between the eye and this object, that is to say of the colour of the transparent medium interposed between the object and the eye.

Black garments make the flesh tints of the representations of human beings whiter than they are, and white garments make the flesh tints dark, and yellow garments make them seem coloured, while red garments show them pale.

The art of painting shows by means of its science, wide landscapes with distant horizons on a flat surface.

Landscapes are of a more beautiful azure when in fine weather the sun is at noon, than at any other time of the day, because the air is free from moisture; and viewing them under such conditions you see the trees of a beautiful green towards their extremities and the shadows dark towards the centre; and in the farther distance the atmosphere which is interposed between you and them looks more beautiful when there is something dark beyond, and so the azure is most beautiful.

Geometry is infinite because every continuous quantity is divisible to infinity in one direction or the other. But the discontinuous quantity commences in unity and increases to infinity, and as it has been said the continuous quantity increases to infinity and decreases to infinity. And if you give me a line of twenty braccia I will tell you how to make one of twenty-one.

Vitruvius, the architect, says in his work on architecture* that the measurements of the human body are distributed by nature as follows: 4fingers make 1 palm; 4 palms make 1 foot; 6 palms make 1 cubit; 4 cubits make a man’s height; and 4 cubits make one pace; and 24 palms make a man; and these measures he used in buildings.

The human body is a complex unity within the larger field of nature, a microcosm wherein the elements and powers of the universe were incorporated.

In fifteen entire figures there shall be revealed to you the microcosm on the same plan as before me was adopted by Ptolemy in his cosmography; and I shall divide them into limbs as he divided the macrocosm into provinces; and I shall then define the functions of the parts in every direction, placing before your eyes the representation of the whole figure of man and his capacity of movements by means of his parts. And would that it might please our Creator that I were able to reveal the nature of man and his customs even as I describe his figure.

Man and every animal undergoes more fatigue in going upwards than downwards, for as he ascends he bears his weight with him and as he descends he simply lets it go.

No organ needs so great a number of muscles as the tongue,—of these twenty-four were already known apart from the others that I have discovered; and of all the members moved by voluntary action this exceeds all the rest in the number of its movements. … The present task is to discover in what way these twenty-four muscles are divided or apportioned in the service of the tongue in its necessary movements which are many and varied; and in addition it has to be seen in what manner the nerves descend to it from the base of the brain, and how they pass into this tongue distributing themselves and breaking into ramifications.

He is not universal who does not love equally well all that is comprised in Painting. Someone for instance who does not care for landscapes and esteems them a matter involving merely cursory and simple investigations. So does our Botticelli, who said that such studies are vain since by merely throwing a sponge soaked with different colour at a wall a stain is formed wherein a lovely landscape might be discerned.

Nature is so delightful and abundant in its variations that among trees of the same kind there would not be found one which nearly resembles another, and not only the plants as a whole, but among their branches, leaves, and fruit, will not be found one which is precisely like another.

All the flowers which see the sun mature their seeds and not the others, that is those which see only the reflection of the sun.

All the branches of trees at every stage of their height, united together, are equal to the thickness of their trunk. All the ramifications of the waters at every stage of their length being of equal movement are equal to the size of their parent stream.

The cherry tree is of the character of the fir-tree as regards its ramification which is placed in stages round its stem; and its branches spring in fours, fives, or sixes opposite one another; and the tips of the topmost shoots form a pyramid from the centre upwards; and the walnut and the oak from the centre upwards form a half-sphere.

The knowledge of anatomy is not enough and so the artist must penetrate deeper. Actions must be suggestive of the motives which led to them; faces and gestures must reveal frames of mind. The human body was an outward and visible expression of the soul. It was shaped by its spirit.

Good orators, when they wish to persuade their hearers of something, always accompany their words with movements of their hands and arms, although some fools do not take care of such ornaments, and on the tribune seem statues of wood, through whose mouths the voice of some man concealed in the tribune, is conducted by a speaking tube.

Every action must necessarily be expressed in movement. To know and to will are two operations of the human mind. To discern, to judge, to reflect are actions of the human mind.

The lover is moved by the thing loved, as the sense is by that which it perceives, and it unites with it and they become one and the same thing.

The work is the first thing born of the union; if the thing that is loved be base, the lover becomes base. When the thing taken into union is in harmony with that which receives it, there follow delight, pleasure, and satisfaction. When the lover is united to the beloved it finds rest there; when the burden is laid down there it finds rest….

Do not despise my opinion, when I remind you that it should not be hard for you to stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud or like places, in which, if you consider them well, you may find really marvellous ideas. The mind of the painter is stimulated to new discoveries, the composition of battles of animals and men, various compositions of landscapes and monstrous things, such as devils and similar things, which may bring you honour, because by indistinct things the mind is stimulated to new inventions.

Leonardo’s ability to practise several arts led him to compare what they had in common and how they differed, and this deepened his understanding of the distinctive qualities in the realm of painting. He challenged the prevailing scholastic classification of human knowledge according to which the seven Liberal Arts represented the highest form of human effort. Poetry and Music were included among these; but Painting was relegated to the ‘Mechanical Arts’ or crafts which included manual work of various kinds and was considered inferior.

The poet’s art resembles the musician’s in that the syllables of his words are the equivalent of the musician’s notes. Both verse and voice proceed through time in rhythmical formation. The painter, on the other hand, does not express himself in rhythmical divisions of time but he may infuse rhythm into the contours of his figures.

The painter is lord of all types of people and of all things. If the painter wishes to see beauties that charm him it lies in his power to create them, and if he wishes to see monstrosities that are frightful, buffoonish or ridiculous, or pitiable he can be lord and god thereof; if he wants to produce inhabited regions or deserts or dark and shady retreats from the heat, or warm places in cold weather, he can do so. If he wants valleys, if he wants from high mountain tops to unfold a great plain extending down to the sea’s horizon, he is lord to do so; and likewise if from low plains he wishes to see high mountains. … In fact whatever exists in the universe, in essence, in appearance, in the imagination, the painter has first in his mind and then in his hand; and these are of such excellence that they can present a proportioned and harmonious view of the whole, that can be seen simultaneously, at one glance, just as things in nature.

Do we not see great kings of the East go about veiled and covered because they think they might diminish in fame by showing themselves in public and divulging their presence. Do we not see that pictures representing Deity are kept constantly concealed under costly draperies and that before they are uncovered great ecclesiastical rites are performed with singing to the strains of instruments; and at the moment of the unveiling the great multitudes of peoples who have flocked there throw themselves to the ground worshipping and praying to Him whose image is represented for the recovery of their health and for their eternal salvation, as if the Deity were present in person. The like does not happen with any other work of man; and if you assert that it is not due to the merit of the painter but to the subject represented we answer that, if that were so, men might remain peacefully in their beds provided their imagination were satisfied, instead of going to wearisome and perilous places as we see them doing constantly on pilgrimages.

And what necessity impels these men to go on pilgrimages? You surely will agree that the image of the Deity is the cause and that no amount of writing could produce the equal of such an image either in form or in power. It would seem, therefore, that the Deity loves such a painting and loves those who adore and revere it and prefers to be worshipped in this rather than in another form of imitation; and bestows grace and deliverance through it according to the belief of those who assemble in such a place.

Music may be called the sister of painting, for she is dependent upon hearing, the sense which comes second,* and her harmony is composed of the union of its proportional parts sounded simultaneousl...

But painting excels and ranks higher than music, because it does not fade away as soon as it is born, as is the fate of unhappy music. On the contrary, it endures and has all the appearance of being alive, though in fact it is confined to one surface.