THAT PORTION OF A BODY IN LIGHT AND SHADE WILL BE LEAST LUMINOUS WHICH IS SEEN UNDER THE LEAST AMOUNT OF LIGHT.
That part of the object which is marked m is in the highest light because it faces the window a d by the line a f; n is in the second grade because the light b d strikes it by the line b e; o is in the third grade, as the light falls on it from c d by the line c h; p is the lowest light but one as c d falls on it by the line d v; q is the deepest shadow for no light falls on it from any part of the window.
In proportion as c d goes into a d so will n r s be darker than m, and all the rest is space without shadow.
[Footnote: The diagram belonging to this chapter is No. 1 on Plate III. The letters a b e d and r are not reproduced in facsimile of the original, but have been replaced by ordinary type in the margin. 5-12. The original text of these lines is reproduced within the diagram.—Compare No 275.]
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.