Leonardo Teacher of Painting in Milan

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"Appreciating Art through the Eyes of Leonardo"

Published by the Museo d'Arte e Scienza, Milan

An abridged and illustrated edition of Leonardo's “Treatise on Painting”

This 158-page book, with its 160 magnificent colour plates, was published by the Art and Science Museum also as a guidebook to its exhibition dedicated to the Treatise on Painting. The integral version of the Treatise, the importance of which should make it a bestseller, is little understood and consulted because of its scant readability and extremely repetitive nature.

This abridged edition presents a selection of the most significant articles and important concepts for the evaluation of works of art, set out in a few clear lines in the Master’s own words and illustrated with his drawings, his paintings and other suitable art objects serving to explain his precepts.

This book is on sale at the Museum at the price of € 20,00 and is available in English and Italian. The German and French editions are almost ready.

To purchase on-line click here

The Matthaes Foundation

The history of the Foundation begins in Dresden, a centre of modern European art at the beginning of the last century, where the Matthaes-Kurau family opened a school of painting in 1906.

The quest for new inspiration on the part of the artists of this period explains the volume and quality of a number of the collections of this school, such as the African art and the Asian art collections.

The shift of the hub of European artistic activity from Dresden to Berlin led the founders to transfer the school to Berlin in 1917, where its assignments, mainly in collaboration with public entities, are well documented (e.g. the decoration of the great walls of the famous "Pergamon" archaeological museum in 1931). After the death of the founders in the ‘thirties, the school was closed but the collection remained intact.

The Matthaes family resumed its activity in the ‘seventies publishing didactic material on part of the collections and opening the Art Collectors’ Museum in Milan in 1990. With the transfer of the remaining collections from Germany, temporary exhibitions followed and, since 2000, permanent exhibitions. The Museum's name has been changed into "Museo d’Arte e Scienza" .

My sincere thanks go to my children Patrizia and Peter and to Silvia Vaschetto,
without whose help this catalogue would never have seen the light of day.

ISBN 978-88-901181-0-4
Fondazione Gottfried Matthaes
Via Quintino Sella 4, 20121 Milano

"Perhaps in all the world there is no other instance of so great a creative genius, so unwilling to content himself, so bent on reaching the infinite, of so refined a nature and so far beyond his century and those to come."

(Hippolyte Taine)

The entrance to the rooms of the exhibition

Gottfried Matthaes

Appreciating Art
through the Eyes of Leonardo

A permanent exhibition on

"A Treatise on Painting"

by Leonardo da Vinci

Selected extracts

The Aim of the Exhibition and its Catalogue

"Painting cannot be taught to those whom nature grants it not": this thesis of Leonardo’s recalls the old saying: "You can teach painting but not art".
If art is really so difficult to teach, it must be just as difficult to understand and appreciate.
Only a genius, therefore, could undertake such an arduous task and no one more than Leonardo da Vinci possessed all the necessary qualities to do so. In addition to being a supreme painter – three of his works rank among the ten most famous paintings in the world: the Last Supper, the Virgin of the Rocks and the Mona Lisa – he considered himself first and foremost a scientist and spent most of his life not painting but observing, studying and projecting. In his thirties, whilst busying himself with a great variety of activities in Milan, he became convinced of the need to collect his notes together in a book.
Leonardo’s intention to write a treatise on painting was mentioned in many of his notes. This book never saw the light of day, however, also because of a fundamental trait of the artist thus described by Vasari:

"Leonardo began many things and never finished one of them".

His field of interests was too vast to allow him to concentrate on a single work.

Examples of this peculiarity of his are his only important sculpture – Duke Francesco Sforza’s equestrian statue – planned by Leonardo in a myriad of studies and sketches but never executed, and by a number of great paintings left unfinished or completed by others.
This same impatience also prevented Leonardo from gathering and ordering all his thoughts into a book. Unfortunately Leonardo jotted down all his thoughts on miscellaneous sheets, concentrating them in very few words written in his not always comprehensible code and in which each subject was developed or dealt with repeatedly.

4

Towards the end of his life, in Paris, Leonardo realized it was impossible for him to collect and order thousands of sheets full of notes and sketches into a book and he gave them all to his friend and pupil Melzi.
Since then many attempts have been made by scholars to select the single notes, number them and illustrate them, if possible, with drawings of the Master, piecing them together into a book, the "Treatise on Painting". This book, which should be a "best-seller", is, instead, little read and consulted because of its scant readability.
The aim of the Matthaes Foundation is to make the "Treatise" more accessible, committing itself to using only the words of the original texts, without comments or changes to the Master’s thoughts, limiting itself to rearranging the subjects, shortening overlong texts, avoiding the many repetitions and illustrating the salient concepts.

The book thus put together, which is also the catalogue of the exhibition, does not aim to be an extract of the "Treatise" but a selection of those thoughts of Leonardo’s which permit the beholder of a painting or a sculpture to observe the work with the insight that only a "true master" can give. This would already be a great and important step towards appreciating works of art.

But appreciating and understanding art as an intellectual and spiritual concept? Perhaps Leonardo was right.

The choice of objects exhibited

A great many drawings of Leonardo da Vinci are known to us and the exhibition makes extensive use of them. His production of paintings was limited however, numbering about 15 in all, and no important sculpture of his is known. It is thus impossible to have one of his works to put on exhibit here.
Leonardo formulated his thoughts in the Treatise without making direct references to styles, cultures or historical/artistic eras, thus permitting the choice of art objects as close as possible to the canons of classical art dominant at his time. The numbering of the subjects is based on that used in the Italian edition published by Neri Pozza.

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The choice of site for the exhibition

The site of the exhibition is Palazzo Bonacossa, headquarters of the Matthaes Foundation and its "Museo d'Arte e Scienza", just across the road from the Sforzesco Castle, at whose court Leonardo da Vinci spent the most active and significant years of his life.

Palazzo Bonacossa in Via Quintino Sella 4, Milan
opposite the Sforzesco Castle

6

PREFACE

Note for the reader of the Treatise

The Treatise on Painting begins with the following significant chapter:

Art. 1 Whether painting is a science or not

highlighting the fact that Leonardo considered himself first and foremost a scientist (within the meaning of "science" as used in the Renaissance).

Significant, in this respect, are also articles 31 and 34:

Art. 34 Applying myself to sculpture no less than to painting and practised in both to the same degree, it seems to me that I am able to form a judgement about them with little prejudice, indicating which of these two is of greater insight, difficulty and perfection…

Art. 31 Sculpture is not a science but a very mechanical art because it causes its executant sweat and bodily fatigue, and a sculptor only need know the simple measurements of the limbs and the nature of movements and postures, and he can complete his works, demonstrating to the eye whatever it is …

Art. 34 ... But painting is of greater artifice and wonder, concerned with subtle speculations...

7

Art. 32
The difference between painting and sculpture

I find no other difference between painting and sculpture than that the sculptor undertakes his work with greater bodily exertion than the painter, and the painter undertakes his work with greater mental exertion...
The sculptor when making his work uses the strength of his arm in hammering to remove the superfluous marble or other stone which surrounds the figure embedded within the stone. This is an extremely mechanical operation, generally accompanied by great sweat which mingles with dust and becomes converted into mud. His face becomes plastered and powdered all over with marble dust; ... and his house is in a mess and covered in chips and dust from the stone ...

Art. 32

... The painter’s position is quite contrary to this, speaking of painters and sculptors of the highest ability, because the painter sits before his work at the greatest of ease, well dressed and applying delicate colours with his light brush, and he may dress himself in whatever clothes he pleases. His residence is clean and adorned with delightful pictures, and he often enjoys the accompaniment of music or the company of the authors of various fine works that can be heard with great pleasure without the crashing of hammers and other confused noises.

PAUL-PROSPER ALLAIS - Raphael in Leonardo's Studio
during the painting of the Portrait of Mona Lisa

GUILLAM VAN HAECHT - Apelle painting Campaspe

There are a number of reasons which can explain Leonardo’s preference for painting, proclaimed with a combative spirit throughout the Treatise. The most obvious is offered by Leonardo’s works: exquisitely beautiful paintings on the one hand, and on the other the long and frustrating efforts to create a sole statue – the equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza – which got no further than the completion of the clay model.

Another explanation can be found in his desire to defend the interests of painters who, in Florence in particular, were considered inferior to poets, philosophers, theologians, etc.

Leonardo wanted to demonstrate that a good painter needed to have a solid knowledge of mathematics, anatomy, geometry, optics and many other fields, basing his art on the direct observation of nature.

A deep analysis of his motives is offered, in the Italian language, in introductions to the treatise: the edition published by Giunti with an introduction by Carlo Pedretti and Carlo Vecce, and that published by Tea Arte and by Neri Pozza with an introduction by Ettore Camesasca.

Basing themselves on the most recent studies on the subject, these authors also analyse and describe the history of the treatise over four centuries, from the miscellaneous sheets and separate pages left by Leonardo to the book.

11

PAINTING

12

Two views of the "Painting" room

Painting - The Painter
The Great Art of Copying

Colour - Shade
Comparison between black-and-white and colour

13

Art. 406
What is the first intentional aim of the painter?

The first intention .. is to make a flat surface display a body as if modelled and separated from the plane, and he who most surpasses others in this skill deserves most praise. This accomplishment ... arises from light and shade, or we may say chiaroscuro ...

ANTONELLO DA MESSINA - St. Jerome in his Study

Art. 43
Of the second principle of the science of painting

The second principle of the science of painting is the shadow of bodies, by which they can be represented ..

LEONARDO DA VINCI - The Virgin and Child with
St. Anne and the Young St. John the Baptist

Art. 36
Painting and sculpture compared

Painting involves greater mental deliberation and is of greater artifice and wonder than sculpture, in that necessity requires the mind of the painter to transmute itself into nature's own mind and to become the interpreter between nature and art ..

... Painting embraces and contains within itself all visible things..

.. the painter shows to you different distances and the variations of colour arising from the air interposed between the objects and the eye ..

MASTER OF LA SEO DE URGEL - St. Jerome Penitent

Art. 36

Painting shows transparent objects ..

FRANCESCO MELZI (friend, pupil and heir of Leonardo) - Pomona and Vertumnus

Art. 36

.. also the mists .. also the rains, behind which can be discerned the cloudy mountains and valleys .. and also innumerable other effects ..

THEODORE ROUSSEAU- Effet d'orage. Vue de la plaine de Montmartre

Art. 322
Of the attitudes of men

The attitudes and all the limbs are to be disposed in such a manner that by them the intentions of the mind may be easily discovered.

SCHOOL OF LEONARDO - Leda and the Swan

Art. 6
How painting includes all the surfaces, shapes and colours of bodies ..

The science of painting includes all the colours of surfaces and the shapes of all enclosed bodies created by nature, and philosophy penetrates within these bodies, considering what comprises their distinctive essences ...

LEONARDO DA VINCI - detail of St. Jerome

Art. 3
Which science is most useful, and in what does its utility consist

That science is most useful whose fruits are most communicable ..
The end results of painting are communicable to all the generations in the universe, because its results are a matter for the visual faculty .. Painting represents the works of nature to the senses with greater truth and certitude than do words and letters ...
But we declare the science representing the works of nature to be more marvellous than that science which represents the works of the worker, that is to say the products of man ..

Manuscript B - Paris, Institute of France

Art. 7
How the eye is less easily deluded in its workings than any other sense ..

The eye deludes itself less than any of the other senses, because it sees .. by straight lines .. which conduct the object to the eye, as I intend to show. But the ear is strongly subject to delusions about the location and distance of its objects because the images (of sound) do not reach it in straight lines, like those of the eye, but by tortuous and reflexive lines .. The sense of smell is less able to locate the source of an odour. Taste and touch, which come into contact with their objects, can only gain knowledge from this direct contact.

The Painter

Art. 45
Advice for the young painter

A youth should first learn perspective, then the proportions of all things. Next he should learn from the hand of a good master, to gain familiarity with fine limbs. Next he must study nature, in order to confirm and fix in his mind the reason of those precepts which he has learnt. He must also once give time to viewing the works of different masters, then put into practice all that he has been taught.

LEONARDO DA VINCI - Perspective study for the Adoration of the Magi

Art. 9
How the painter is lord of every kind of person and of all things

If the painter wishes to see beauties that would enrapture him, he is master of their production ..

LEONARDO DA VINCI - Madonna of the Carnation

Art. 9

.. and if he wishes to see monstrous things which might terrify or which would be buffoonish and laughable or truly pitiable, he is their lord and god.

		PIETER BRUEGEL Peasant Dance

HIERONYMUS BOSCH
Garden of Earthly Delights, tryptich

Art. 9
How the painter is lord of every kind of person and of all things

.. In fact, therefore, whatever there is in the universe through essence, presence or imagination, he has it first in his mind and then in his hands, and these are of such excellence that they can generate a proportional harmony in the time equivalent to a single glance, just as real things do.

VINCENT VAN GOGH - Yellow Cornfield

Art. 70
How a painter is not worthy of praise unless he is universal

Of some it may plainly be said that they deceive themselves when they call that painter a good master who can do only a head or a figure well. Certainly it is no great accomplishment if, having studied one sole thing for the whole of your life, you bring it to a degree of perfection. But since we know that painting embraces and contains within itself all things ...
... Do you not see how many different animals and trees, too … and flowers there are, the diversity of mountainous regions and plains … rivers, cities, buildings ... various costumes, decorations and arts? All these things have a claim to be of equal use and value to him whom you would call a good painter.

Art. 57
The precepts of the painter

He is not universal who does not love equally all the elements in painting, as when one who does not like landscapes holds them to be a subject for cursory and straightforward investigation.
Just as our Botticelli said such study was of no use because by merely throwing a sponge soaked in a variety of colours at a wall there would be left on the wall a stain in which could be seen a beautiful landscape [see section on modern art].
... And the painter in question makes very sorry landscapes.

		JACOPO TINTORETTO Head of a Man

SANDRO BOTTICELLI
Birth of Venus

Art. 97
To draw a nude or other object from nature

Accustom yourself to hold a plummet in your hand, that you may judge the bearing of the parts.

Art. 85
On drawing academy figures

When you draw from a naked model, always sketch in the whole of the figure, suiting all the limbs well to each other; and though you finish only that part which appears the best, have a regard to the rest, so that whenever you make use of such studies, all the parts may hang together.

Art. 75
On variety in figures

The painter ought to strive to be universal because there is a great lack of worthiness in doing one thing well and another badly, as do many who study from the nude of canonical proportions and do not seek after its variety, because a man [or animal] can still be in proportion and be short and fat or tall and thin or medium, and whoever does not take account of such variety will cast his figures in one mould ...

		(*) See footnote

Anatomy
Notebook V

(*) Copy based on engravings contained in the Codex Urbinate, copied, in turn, from Leonardo's original drawings

The Great Art of Copying

Art. 4
Of the imitable sciences, and how painting is inimitable, but is a science

Those sciences that are imitable are of such a kind, that through them the disciple can equal the master .. These sciences are useful for the imitator, but they are not of such excellence ..
Painting .. cannot be taught to someone not endowed with it by nature..

The section dedicated to copies

		Leonardo's "Lady with an Ermine" (A recent copy by F. Pari)

Enlargement of the head in the original painting. The signs left by time contribute to the picture's fascination.

Art. 4

.. It (painting) cannot be reproduced as can sculpture, in which the cast shares with the original..
.. It [painting] cannot be copied as can writing, in which the copy has as much worth as the original..
..It cannot produce infinite offspring, like printed books;

.. Painting alone retains its nobility, bringing honours singularly to its author and remaining precious and unique, and it never gives rise to offspring equal to itself. And such singularity gives it greater excellence than those things that are spread abroad ..

Terracotta Maenads (Greece, II c. BC.)

COPIES AND COPYISTS

(remarks on the following pages)

The most skilled copyists were the great painters themselves and Leonardo is an example. Their works were almost always commissioned and if a painting met with favour other customers ordered a copy of it.

There is a first version of the famous painting "Virgin of the Rocks" commissioned by the Brethren of the Immaculate Conception for the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan, and a second version (with the addition of the haloes and of the staff, the attribute of John).

With the third version Leonardo was helped more than usual by his pupils.

Fra’ Pietro da Novellara gives us an account of Leonardo’s school when, on visiting Milan, he saw "pictures painted by two pupils, to which the master added a touch now and again".

The last painting, also of extremely high quality, is the work of an anonymous painter.

LEONARDO DA VINCI - The Virgin of the Rocks (1st version)

LEONARDO DA VINCI - The Virgin of the Rocks (2nd version)

SCHOOL OF LEONARDO - The Virgin of the Rocks

ANONYMOUS NORTHERN EUROPEAN - The Virgin of the Rocks

These two enlarged details of the preceding paintings show the great skill, dedication and patience of the painters and copyists of past centuries.

LEONARDO DA VINCI
detail of The Virgin of the Rocks (1st version)

ANONYMOUS NORTHERN EUROPEAN
detail of The Virgin of the Rocks

Colour

41

Art. 186
Of combining colours with each other in such a way that one gives grace to the other

If you wish to ensure that the proximity of one colour should give grace to another colour which ends beside it, apply that rule which can be seen in the rays of the sun in the composition of the celestial rainbow, otherwise called the iris ...

Art. 186

There is another rule, by observing which, though you do not increase the natural beauty of the colours, yet by bringing them together they may give additional grace to each other, as green placed near red, while the effect would be quite the reverse if placed near blue. And there is another rule defining which colours lend little grace to each other when brought together, like pale blue with yellow, which becomes whitish, and with white and similar colours, as will be specified at the proper time.

Art. 255
On true colour

The true colour of any object whatever will be seen in those parts which are not occupied by any kind of shade, and have not any lustre, if it is a polished surface. (Red and yellow mantles, shadowless zones)

ALBRECHT DÜRER - Lamentation of Christ

Art. 254
On colours

Of different colours equally perfect, that will appear most excellent which is seen near its direct contrary.
Each colour is more distinctly seen when opposed to its contrary than to any other similar to it, like white upon black and black upon white ..

AMBROGIO DE PREDIS -Portrait of a Youth

Art. 186

Remember painter, if you want your black to display itself at its darkest, set it against a background of greatest whiteness ..

Art. 254

White terminating abruptly upon a dark ground will cause that part where it terminates to appear darker, and the white whiter ..

CARAVAGGIO - Madonna dei palafrenieri

Art. 254
On colours

The air between the eye and the object seen will change the colour of that object into its own; so will the azure of the air change the distant mountains into blue masses ..

Art. 449
Of the bluish appearance of remote objects in a landscape

Whatever the colour of distant objects, the darkest will appear most tinged with azure .. (Less reflective air between the object and the eye)

LEONARDO DA VINCI
detail of The Virgin of the Rocks (2nd version)

Art. 251
On colours

Blue and green are not simple colours in their nature, for blue is composed of light and darkness, like that of the air, that is to say perfect black and perfect white ..

Art. 445
Of things seen at a distance

Dark objects will show themselves less dark, the more distant they are from the eye. (More air between the eye and the object) Conversely, it follows that dark objects will show themselves more dark the closer they are to the eye ..

LEONARDO DA VINCI - detail of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne

Two paintings without the representation
of the blue of the air

ALBRECHT ALTDORFER
St. George in the Forest


BARTOLOMEO AND POMPEO MORGANTI St. Michael slaying Lucifer and Christ raising Lazarus from the Death

Shade in Painting

49

Art. 434
Painting is composition of light and shade ..

Black-and-white drawings of Raphael’s "School of Athens" and Leonardo’s "Last Supper".

Art. 434
.. mixed together with the different varieties of all the simple and compound colours.

The two finished paintings (Milan, Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie and Ambrosiana Library).

51

Art. 407
Which is the more important, the shadows or outlines in painting?

It requires much more observation and study to arrive at perfection in the shadowing of a picture, than in merely drawing the lines of it. The proof of this is that the lines may be traced on a veil .. But this cannot be of any use in shadowing, on account of the infinite gradation of shades, and the blending of them, which does not allow of any precise termination; and most frequently they are confused, as will be demonstrated in my book on shadows and light.

SANDRO BOTTICELLI - Spring

Art. 537
What are shadow and light, and which is of the greater power?

Shadow is the absence of light .. shadow is of the nature of darkness and illumination is of the nature of light. The one conceals and the other reveals. They are always joined together in company on bodies, and shadow is of greater power than light .. and light can never wholly chase away the shadows of bodies, that is to say of dense bodies.

FRANCISCO GOYA - El hechizado por fuerza

53

Art. 91
How to portray figures in simple and compound shade

Do not portray your figures .. in the universal light of the countryside in overcast weather, because the light of the air in a landscape casts simple shadows, whilst the specific light of a window or the sun casts compound shadows, that is to say mixed with reflections.
	(Fig.) Bayonne, Bonnat Collection

LEONARDO DA VINCI - Ginevra de' Benci

Art. 90
In what circumstances one should portray a face in order to give it grace through shadow and light

The utmost grace in the shadows and the lights is added to the faces of those who sit in the darkened doorways of their dwellings. Then the eye of the beholder observes the shaded part of the face thrown into deeper shade by the shadows from the aforesaid dwellings, and sees brightness added to the illuminated part of the face by the radiance of the atmosphere. Because of such increases in the shadows and lights the face acquires great relief, and in the illuminated part the shadows are almost indistinguishable and in the shaded part the lights are almost indistinguishable. The face depicted in this way acquires much beauty with the increase in shadows and lights.

FRANCESCO MELZI - Flora

55

Art. 232
Gradation in painting

What is beautiful is not always good. I say this to those painters who are so attached to the beauty of colours that they regret being obliged to give them almost imperceptible shadows, not considering the beautiful relief which figures acquire by a proper gradation and strength of shadows. Such persons may be compared to those speakers who in conversation make use of many fine words without meaning, which all together scarcely form one good sentence.

BEHZAD - The Caliph and the Barber

Art. 461
Of those parts in shadows which appear the darkest at a distance

The throat or any other part which is raised straight upwards, and has a projection over it, will be darker than the perpendicular front of that projection; and this projecting part will be lighter, the larger the surface it presents to the light ..



Page 433 - Libro di Pittura (ed. Giunti)

Florence, Uffizi Gallery

.. What I should remind you about faces is that .. at different distances different degrees of shadow are lost, only leaving those primary patches ..



    Detail of Russian icon of the XIX c.
     (patches of white paint on faces)

57

Light in Painting

Art. 221
Of the lightness of landscapes

The colour, brilliance and lightness of painted landscapes will be the same as those of natural landscapes illuminated by the light of the sun, if the painted landscapes are themselves illuminated by the light of the sun.

Painting by Walter Kurau,
director of the "Walter Kurau - Matthaes School of Painting"
of Dresden 1914 (Illuminated)

(Not illuminated)

59

Art. 241
Of colours

Colours placed in shadow will preserve more or less of their original beauty, to the extent to which the shadow in which they are situated is more or less dark ..

Three studies by W.Kurau 1906, the Baltic coast painted in different hours of the day

Art. 244
Of colours

The light of the fire tinges everything with a reddish yellow; but this will hardly appear evident, if we do not make a comparison with things illuminated by the daylight.

Art. 556
How many kinds of lights are there?

Lights are of three kinds .. one arises from a specific light source, like the sun, the moon or a flame; the second is that which derives from a door, a window or other opening through which a great part of the sky can be seen; the third is that which arises from the universal light, which is the light of our sunless sky. (Page 54, Ginevra de’ Benci)

PISANELLO - Vision of St. Eustace

Art. 244

.. and the difference will be clearly distinguished in a dark room, when a ray of daylight strikes upon an object, and there still remains a candle burning ..

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN - Christ and the Adulteress

63

THOUGHTS OF LEONARDO APPLICABLE
(with reserve) TO MODERN ART

Art. 63
A way of enhancing and arousing the mind to various inventions

.. Do not disparage this conviction of mine, when I tell you that it is worth the effort to pause sometimes to look into these stains on walls, or in the ashes of a fire, or in clouds or mud pools, or in other similar places where .. you will find extraordinary inventions that inspire the painter to new inventions .. these will do you well because in the jumble of things the mind is aroused to new inventions. But first you must gain a knowledge of how to make well all the parts of those things you wish to represent .. (See page 65)

Art. 35
On the sculptor and the painter

.. such invention should be censured in those who do not know how to portray, or to think with their own mind, because such laziness will destroy their talent, nor will they ever be able to make any good thing without such help. And such persons will always be inadequate and mediocre in every invention of theirs or composition of narrative, which is the aim of such science ..

A masterly drawing by
PABLO PICASSO done in 1895

PABLO PICASSO
Old Man Seated (1970)

65

FEATURES IN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

Faces

Votive head - Southern Italy, III - II c. BC

Art. 287
Of the beauty of faces

You must not mark any muscles with hardness of line, but let the soft light glide upon them, and terminate imperceptibly in delightful shadows; from this will arise grace and beauty to the face.

Parma, National Gallery

67

Art. 281
Of the motions of the parts of the face

The motions of the different parts of the face are numerous. The principal of these are laughter, weeping..
.. laughter and weeping, which are very similar in the mouth and cheeks .. differing only in the ruffling of the brows ..

Windsor, Royal Collection

Art. 288
On physiognomy and chiromancy

.. The signs of faces display in part the nature of men, their vices and their temperaments .. If in the face the signs which separate the cheeks from the lips of the mouth and the nostrils of the nose and sockets of the eyes are pronounced, the men are cheerful and often laughing ..

Budapest, Szépmüvészeti Muzeum

69

Art. 288

.. and those with slight signs are men who engage in thought ..

Windsor, Royal Collection

Art. 288

.. And those who have facial features of great relief and depth are bestial and wrathful men of little reason, and those who have strongly pronounced lines between their brows are evidently wrathful ..

Windsor, Royal Collection

71

Art. 288

.. and those who have strongly delineated lines crossing their forehead are men who are full of hidden or overt regrets. And it is possible to discuss many features in this way ..

Anatomy Notebook V

Art. 282
Of the motions of the human face

Accidental emotions move the human face in different ways, making some laugh, some cry, others joyful, others sad; some will exhibit anger, others compassion, some will be astonished, others fearful, others will seem dull-witted, others again pensive and meditative. And in addition the limbs of the person together with his whole posture should correspond to the altered features.

Venice, Accademy Gallery

73

Art. 285
How to make a portrait in profile ..

In this event, you must commit to memory the variations of the four different features in profile, which would be the nose, the mouth, the chin and the forehead. Let us speak first of noses, of which there are three kinds, that is straight, concave and convex.
Of the straight kind there are only four varieties, that is long, short, high at the tip, and low at the tip. Concave noses are of three kinds, of which some have the concavity on the upper portion, some in the middle, and others on the lower part. Convex noses again vary in three ways, that is some have the projection on the upper portion, some in the middle and others in the lower part. The contours on either side of the projecting part of the nose vary in three ways, that is they are either straight, concave or really convex.

Page 155 - Trattato della Pittura (publ. Neri Pozza)

Draperies

75

Art. 517
Of draperies which clothe figures

The draperies that clothe figures must show that they are inhabited by these figures, enveloping them neatly to show the posture and motion of such figures, and avoiding the confusion of many folds, especially over the prominent parts, so that these may be evident.

Wooden Figure
England, mid- XIX c.

Art. 519
On clothing figures with grace

Ensure in your draperies that the part which surrounds the figure reveals the way in which it is posed, and that part which remains behind it should be ornamented in a fluttering and outspread manner..

London, British Museum

77

Art. 522
Of draperies

Draperies should be given a variety of folds according to the quality of their cloth. That is to say, if the cloth is coarse it will have few and large folds...

and if it is fine cloth it will have soft folds with curved sides. And above all remember with every quality of cloth to make the folds between one break and another thick in the middle and thin on the edges, and that the point where the fold is least thick is the midpoint of its circular contour.

Art. 521
On ways of dressing your figures

The clothing of figures should be accommodated to their age and to decorum. Above all the contours of these folds should occur in the part which surrounds the limbs, but not in such a way that the contours cut across the limbs, nor should the shadows sink further in than the surface of the clothed body. And as much as you can, imitate the Greeks and Latins in the way in which the limbs are revealed when the wind presses the draperies over them, and make few folds. Only make extra folds for old men of authority who are dressed in robes. (See page 92)

Paris
Louvre Museum

Paris
Louvre
Museum

79

Art. 525
On the nature of folds in draperies

.. For example, let a b c be the fold of the drapery mentioned above. Let a c be the place where this folded drapery is gathered. I put it to you that the part of the drapery that is farthest away from the gathered edge reverts most to its natural state. Therefore c, being furthest away from a b, is where the fold b will be wider than at any other point.

Pag. 357 - Libro di Pittura (publ. Giunti)

Chapter 525 was chosen among many others to demonstrate the rigorous application of Leonardo's philosophy even in the smallest details.

MOTIONS

IN PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

81

Aphrodite adjusting her sandal.
Greece II c. BC
55 cm.

Art. 109
Division of the figure

The configuration of bodies is also divided into two parts, that is to say, the proportionality of the parts amongst themselves, which will correspond to the whole, and the movement appropriate to the occurrences in the mind of the living being that moves the body.

Art. 266
On the universal measurements of the human body

I say that the universal measurements of the human body are to be observed in the lengths and not in the breadths of figures ..
.. And if you should wish to make your figures according to a single measure (equal lengths), you must know that one cannot be distinguished from another – something which is never observed in nature.

Anatomy Notebook VI

83

Art. 259
On the changes in the measurements of man with the bending of limbs seen from different viewpoints

The measurements of each limb of the human body vary according to whether they are more or less bent and the point from which they are viewed, increasing on one side to the extent that they diminish on the other.

Windsor, Royal Collection

Art. 260
On the changes in the measurements of man from his birth to the culmination of his growth

Man in his earliest infancy has the width of his shoulders equal to the length of his face and to the space along the arm to the elbow when the arm is bent ..
.. But when the man has attained his final height, all the aforesaid spaces are doubled in length, except the length of his face, which, in keeping with the size of the whole head, shows little difference. By this means, the man who has attained full size will be well proportioned if he is ten faces high, and when the width of his shoulders is two of these faces, and similarly all the other lengths given above are of two faces ..

VERROCCHIO - Virgin and Child

85

Art. 261
The difference between the joints of babies and grown men

Little babies are thin in all their joints and the spaces located between the joints are plump, and this is because the skin over the joints is without any flesh .. the parts above the joints, because there is nothing other than cartilaginous and sinewy skin, cannot lose fluid, and, since they do not dry out, do not become smaller. For this reason small babies are slim at their joints and fat between their joints, as is seen in the joints of fingers, arms and shoulders, which are thin .. (See wooden putti at the entrance)

London, British Museum

Art. 430
On bodies which move with greater or lesser swiftness

Motion of place made by man or other animal will be of so much greater or lesser swiftness to the extent that the centre of its gravity is more remote from or closer to the centre of the foot over which it is supported.

Florence, Uffizi Gallery

87

Art. 393
Of quadrupeds and their motions

The highest part of quadrupeds is subject to greater variation when they walk than when they are standing still, and to a greater or lesser degree in proportion to their size. This is due to the oblique position of their legs when they touch the ground, which raise the animal when they become straight and perpendicular to the ground.

Windsor, Royal Collection

Art. 290
On the actions of figures

That figure is most praiseworthy which best expresses through its actions the passion of its mind.

Windsor, Royal Collection - Paris, Bonnard Collection

89

Art. 315
On the balance of figures

If the figure balances above one of its feet, the shoulder on the side on which it rests will always be lower than the other, and the pit of the throat will be above the middle of the leg on which it rests .. (See big wooden figure)

See note on page 31

Art. 295
The movements of men of different ages

The movements of men should be of greater or lesser quickness and dignity according to the age, prosperity or station of the same; that is to say the movements of an aged man or a child will not be as quick as those of a youth, and again the demeanour of a king or other dignitary must be of greater solemnity and reverence than those of a labourer or other base man. (See group of ceramic figures on page 91)

London, British Museum

Art. 274
On forcible motions

Of the two arms, that will be most powerful in its effort, which, having been farthest removed from its natural position, is more greatly assisted by the other limbs to bring it to the place where it means to go.
As the man a, who moves the arm with club c, and brings it to the opposite side b, assisted by the motion of the whole body. (See figure of warrior)

See note on page 31

93

Art. 498
A precept

The navel always lies on the central line of the weight which is located above it .. This is shown when an arm is extended ..
.. Hence as much weight as the accidental weight of the fist is necessarily thrust out to the other side of the navel; and it is appropriate that the heel should be raised on the same side as the fist.

See note on page 31

Art. 425
Of a figure moving against the wind

A man moving against the wind in any direction, does not keep his centre of gravity duly disposed above his centre of support.

See note on page 31

95

Art. 291
On posture

The pit of the throat lies above the foot, and if an arm is thrust forward, the pit of the throat falls out of line with the foot; and if the leg is thrust backward, the pit of the throat goes forwards, and it alters correspondingly for every action.

Dresden, C R

Art. 303
Objection to the above answered

.. it does not follow that a man standing still..has his members always in perfect balance upon the centre of gravity ..
.. the figure will sometimes bend sideways, standing upon one foot; sometimes it will rest part of its weight upon that leg which is bent at the knee, as is seen in the figures b and c.
.. But I shall reply thus, that which is not performed by the shoulders in figure c is done by the hip ..

See note on page 31

97

Art. 306
On the man bearing a weight on his shoulders

The shoulder of a man which supports a weight is always higher than the shoulder without weight .. as much of the natural weight of the man is thrust towards one side as the quantity of accidental weight is added on the other side; and this could not be accomplished if the man did not bend ..

See note on page 31

Art. 310
Of the bending and twisting of man

A man in bending diminishes on one side to the extent that he increases on the opposite side ...

See note on page 31

99

LOW RELIEF

Art. 36
Painting and sculpture compared

.. The sculptor says that low relief is a form of painting. This may be in part conceded as far as drawing is concerned, because it participates in perspective. As far as light and shade are concerned, low relief fails both as sculpture and as painting, because the shadows correspond to the low nature of the relief, as for example in the nature of foreshortened objects, which will not exhibit the depth of those in painting or in sculpture in the round. Rather, the art of low relief is a mixture of painting and sculpture.

VERROCCHIO - An Angel

100

Art. 33
The painter and the sculptor

Low relief entails incomparably more intellectual considerations than sculpture in the round, and it approaches painting with respect to its intellectual considerations, because it is indebted to perspective. And sculpture in the round incorporates nothing of such knowledge, because it simply adopts those measurements that are found in the live model, and, on this account, the painter learns sculpture more rapidly than the sculptor learns painting.

VERROCCHIO - Virgin and Child

101

The light creates false shadows on the compact surface of the white stone

102

Art. 33

.. But to return to the subject of low relief, I say that it involves less physical exertion than sculpture in the round but much more research, in that you must consider the proportional distances between the parts of objects that come first in sequence and those that come second, and between the second and third, and so on. And given this, you will as a perspectivist not find a single work in low relief that is not full of errors with respect to the lower and higher relief through which the parts of objects recede, according to whether they are more or less close to the eye. This is never the case with sculpture in the round, because the sculptor is helped by nature; and for this reason sculpture lacks such difficulties ..

a) right position
b) wrong position

Low relief in terracotta and stucco

103

SCULPTURE
The Sculptor

Art. 35
On the sculptor and the painter

The sculptor’s art involves greater bodily fatigue than the painter’s: it is more mechanical and requires less mental exertion, that is to say it requires less judgement than painting, because the sculptor only takes away from one kind of material, whilst the painter always adds on diverse materials..

104

Art. 36
Painting and sculpture compared

... The sculptor responds that "it is I who give rise to the light and the shade when I remove material in sculpting". It is answered that it not he but nature who makes shadow ...

.. Therefore sculptor do not glorify yourself through the labours of someone else. You need only know the lengths and breadths of the limbs of any body and their proportions, and this is your art; the rest, which is everything, is done by nature, a greater master than you ..

Venice, Academy Gallery

105


Turin, Royal Collection	Manuscript H Paris, Institute of France

Art. 32
The difference between painting and sculpture

The sculptor says that if he removes more marble than he should, he cannot rectify his error as can the painter ..

But I will not speak of this, because these are not masters but wreckers of marble; masters do not trust the judgement of their eye, because the eye always deceives ..

.. and for this reason sculptors always let themselves be guided by their knowledge of the measure of each length, width and breadth of the limbs, and in so doing do not remove more than they should ..

106

Art. 500
Of statuary (Leonardo’s advice on how to carve marble without errors)

To execute a figure in marble, you must first make a model of it in clay, or plaster, and when it is finished, place it in a square case, equally capable of receiving the block of marble intended to be shaped like it. Have some peg-like sticks pass through holes made in the sides and all around the case; push them in till every white stick touches different parts of the model, marking what remains of the sticks outwards with black ink, and making a countermark on every stick and its hole, so that you may replace them again whenever you wish. Then having taken out the model, and placed the block of marble in its stead, take so much out of it, till all the pegs go in at the same holes to the marks you had made. To facilitate the work, contrive your frame in such a way that every part of it, separately, or all together, may be lifted up, except the bottom, which must remain under the marble. By this method you may chop it off with great ease.

107

Art. 32
The difference between painting and sculpture

.. Moreover, the sculptor, in bringing his work to completion, has to make each figure in the round with many contours ..

Art. 37
The excuse of the sculptor

.. The sculptor says that he cannot make one figure without making an infinite number, on account of the infinite number of contours (viewpoints) .. It may be replied that the infinite contours of such a figure can be reduced to two half figures, that is one half from the middle backwards and one half from the middle forwards, which, if correctly proportioned, will combine to make a figure in the round ..

Art. 33
The painter and the sculptor

In making a figure in the round the sculptor makes only two figures, and not an infinite number for the infinite number of aspects from which it may be viewed, and of these two figures one is seen from the front and the other from the back. And this is demonstrated if you make a figure in half relief to be seen from the front .. and the same applies to a back view of the figure ..

108

Griffin in terracotta composed of two figures in half-relief

Print published by E. Cooper
from the Codex Huygens - London, 1721

109

Light and Shade in Sculpture

The magic lantern designed by Leonardo fol. 10 recto-A of the Atlantic Codex

Art. 535
What is shadow?

Shadow derives from two things that are dissimilar to each other, because one is corporeal and the other immaterial. The corporeal one is the opaque body and the immaterial is the light ..

Art. 407
Which is more important, shadows or their boundaries

Shadows require more extensive study and thought .. than their boundaries ..

110

Interactive station for experimenting the light and shade effect in sculpture as described in the Treatise

The figures on display are copies of Thorwaldsen’s famous HEBE. The original terracotta statue - which served as a model for the artist during his study sojourn in Rome (1747-1810) - is, like all the other objects in the exhibition, the property of the Foundation.

111

Art. 541
On two types of shadow and the number of parts into which they are divided

The types of shadow are divided into two parts, one of which is called simple and the other compound. The simple is that which is caused by a single light and a single body.

Simple shadow

112

Art. 541

.. compound is that which is generated by more then one light on the same body ..

Compound shadow

113

Art. 541

The simple shadow is divided into two parts, that is primitive and derivative: primitive shadow is that which is attached to shaded bodies: derivative shadow is that which is dispatched from shaded bodies and flows through the air, and stops where it encounters resistance to its course ..

The derived (reflected) light from the golden figure
can be seen on the left side of the marble figure.

114

Art. 38
On the effects of illumination on sculpture, and not on painting

If they are illuminated from below, the sculptor’s works will look notably monstrous or strange; this does not happen to paintings, which look the same if illuminated from any side.

115

Art. 760
The lustre of opaque bodies

Among lustres on bodies of equal smoothness, that will appear to have greatest contrast with its background that is generated on the blackest surface, and this arises because the lustres which are generated by polished surfaces are virtually of the nature of mirrors, passing on to the eye that which they received from their source..

Art. 766
Which bodies when illuminated have no lustre

Opaque bodies which have dense and rough surfaces will never generate lustre in any part of their illuminated portions.


Gilded statue	Cement statue

116

Art. 418
On the difference between figures in shadows and lights, according to the situation (interactive station)

Large light sources (universal light) .. as the sun in the air .. on opaque bodies will cast small shadows with less discernible boundaries ..

117

Art. 418

.. Small light sources will cast large shadows with discernible boundaries on opaque bodies ..

118

THE ETERNITY
OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

119

Art. 33
The painter and the sculptor

The sculptor says his art is worthier than painting because it is more eternal, fearing less than painting humidity, fire, heat and cold ..

Details of the "Last Supper" (fresco by Leonardo).
The sand and other minerals in the wall disintegrate with the varying of temperature and humidity.

120

Leonardo’s "Mona Lisa", painted on canvas.
The loss of elasticity of the painted layer and movements
of the canvas create deep cracks (craquelure).

121

Art. 33
The painter and the sculptor

It may be answered that this does not give greater dignity to the sculptor, inasmuch as its permanence arises from the nature of the medium and not from the artifice of the maker, who can find the same dignity in painting by using enamels on metals, or terracotta ..
.. It is true that this is susceptible to knocks and breaks ..

Deep plate with glossy finish, restored with iron staples, about 600 years old

Excavated Cretan terracotta black-figure plate, about 4000 years old. Recomposed

Excavated Cretan volute krater with overpainted figures,
about 2300 years old.
Restored

122

Art. 34
How sculpture requires less talent than painting …

.. The sculptor working in clay or wax can take away and add on, and when the work is finished it can be readily cast in bronze. This is the final process and results in the most permanent sculpture, since that which is only in marble is susceptible to damage, which is not the case with bronze ..

Bust of Roman emperor in marble and bronze,
where the marble has been visibly restored. Old copy

123

Art. 34
How sculpture requires less talent than painting …

.. Whilst bronze remains black and brown (or green), a painting is full of an infinite variety of beautiful colours .. If we were speaking only of painting on panels, I would agree with the sculptor in saying that as painting is more beautiful, and of greater fantasy and variety, sculpture is more enduring .. .. It is replied to the sculptor who says that his science is more permanent than painting, that such permanence is the virtue of the sculpted material and not of the sculptor ..

Excavated bronze bust of the Buddha - Thailand, about 900 years old

124

Art. 10
Of the poet and the painter

But painting remains the worthier inasmuch as it serves the nobler sense and remakes the forms and figures of nature with greater truth than the poet. And the works of nature are far more worthy than words, which are the products of man ..
And if, poet, you wish to describe the works of nature with your simple profession, depicting different places and the forms of various things, you are infinitely surpassed by the painter..

Art. 17
The difference between painting and poetry

Painting is dumb poetry, and poetry is blind painting, and both imitate nature to the extent of their powers ..

reproduction of a number of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts in front of a map of the city of Milan, where Leonardo spent the twenty most active years of his life.

125

Other Publications of the Museo d'Arte e Scienza:
	With this guide to detecting fakes, you will always have a trusted expert by your side, ready to provide you with clear and straightforward answers as to the authenticity and originality of the items that arouse your interest. (Three volumes, over 2,000 detailed colour photos, concise explanatory texts) Get detailed information from our website: www.ArtandScienceHandbook.com

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VOLUME 2:	Paper, Books, Prints, Metals, Clocks, Walking Sticks, Pipes, Musical Instruments, Precious Stones, Amber, Pearls, Enamel Paint, Dolls, Toys, Fans
VOLUME 3:	Minor Asian Arts, Excavated objects, Buddhist Art, African Art, Indonesian Art

Price:

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International Code:

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www.SpectroscopyforArt.com - A scientific method for the dating of wood and identification of the wood type used for art objects. Determination of their authenticity through analysis of colours, binders, pigments and other organic substances.

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www.IvoryAuthenticityAndAge.com - Ivory, bone and horn can now be spectroscopically dated and recognized with precision.

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