476

Light and shade on clouds.

When clouds come between the sun and the eye all the upper edges of their round forms are light, and towards the middle they are dark, and this happens because towards the top these edges have the sun above them while you are below them; and the same thing happens with the position of the branches of trees; and again the clouds, like the trees, being somewhat transparent, are lighted up in part, and at the edges they show thinner.

But, when the eye is between the cloud and the sun, the cloud has the contrary effect to the former, for the edges of its mass are dark and it is light towards the middle; and this happens because you see the same side as faces the sun, and because the edges have some transparency and reveal to the eye that portion which is hidden beyond them, and which, as it does not catch the sunlight like that portion turned towards it, is necessarily somewhat darker. Again, it may be that you see the details of these rounded masses from the lower side, while the sun shines on the upper side and as they are not so situated as to reflect the light of the sun, as in the first instance they remain dark.

The black clouds which are often seen higher up than those which are illuminated by the sun are shaded by other clouds, lying between them and the sun.

Again, the rounded forms of the clouds that face the sun, show their edges dark because they lie against the light background; and to see that this is true, you may look at the top of any cloud that is wholly light because it lies against the blue of the atmosphere, which is darker than the cloud.

[Footnote: A drawing in red chalk from the Windsor collection (see Pl. XXIX), representing a landscape with storm-clouds, may serve to illustrate this section as well as the following one.]

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.
. . .
456,
457
On the treatment of light for landscapes.
458,
459,
460,
461,
462,
463,
464
On the treatment of light for views of towns.
465,
466,
467,
468,
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
. . .