489

The necessity of anatomical knowledge.

HOW IT IS NECESSARY TO A PAINTER THAT HE SHOULD KNOW THE INTRINSIC FORMS [STRUCTURE] OF MAN.

The painter who is familiar with the nature of the sinews, muscles, and tendons, will know very well, in giving movement to a limb, how many and which sinews cause it; and which muscle, by swelling, causes the contraction of that sinew; and which sinews, expanded into the thinnest cartilage, surround and support the said muscle. Thus he will variously and constantly demonstrate the different muscles by means of the various attitudes of his figures, and will not do, as many who, in a variety of movements, still display the very same things [modelling] in the arms, back, breast and legs. And these things are not to be regarded as minor faults.

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

VII * X
Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
VIII: Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting.
. . .
469
The effect of wind on trees.
470,
471,
472,
473
Light and shade on clouds.
474,
475,
476,
477
On images reflected in water.
478
Of rainbows and rain.
479,
480
Of flower seeds.
481
How to ascertain the dispositions for an artistic career.
482
The course of instruction for an artist.
483,
484,
485
The study of the antique.
486,
487
The necessity of anatomical knowledge.
488,
489
How to acquire practice.
490
Industry and thoroughness the first conditions.
491,
492
The artist’s private life and choice of company.
493,
494
The distribution of time for studying.
495,
496,
497
On the productive power of minor artists.
498,
499,
500,
501
A caution against one-sided study.
502
How to acquire universality.
503,
504,
505,
506
Useful games and exercises.
507,
508
On the size of the studio.
509
. . .