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The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Complete

Leonardo Da Vinci

Section 12 of 32 - Table of Contents
602.

and with the opposite limbs thrust forward; that is where a man puts
forward the right foot the left arm must be advanced. And if you
make any one fallen, you must show the place where he has slipped
and been dragged along the dust into blood stained mire; and in the
half-liquid earth arround show the print of the tramping of men and
horses who have passed that way. Make also a horse dragging the dead
body of his master, and leaving behind him, in the dust and mud, the
track where the body was dragged along. You must make the conquered
and beaten pale, their brows raised and knit, and the skin above
their brows furrowed with pain, the sides of the nose with wrinkles
going in an arch from the nostrils to the eyes, and make the
nostrils drawn up--which is the cause of the lines of which I
speak--, and the lips arched upwards and discovering the upper
teeth; and the teeth apart as with crying out and lamentation. And
make some one shielding his terrified eyes with one hand, the palm
towards the enemy, while the other rests on the ground to support
his half raised body. Others represent shouting with their mouths
open, and running away. You must scatter arms of all sorts among the
feet of the combatants, as broken shields, lances, broken swords and
other such objects. And you must make the dead partly or entirely
covered with dust, which is changed into crimson mire where it has
mingled with the flowing blood whose colour shows it issuing in a
sinuous stream from the corpse. Others must be represented in the
agonies of death grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, with
their fists clenched against their bodies and their legs contorted.
Some might be shown disarmed and beaten down by the enemy, turning
upon the foe, with teeth and nails, to take an inhuman and bitter
revenge. You might see some riderless horse rushing among the enemy,
with his mane flying in the wind, and doing no little mischief with
his heels. Some maimed warrior may be seen fallen to the earth,
covering himself with his shield, while the enemy, bending over him,
tries to deal him a deathstroke. There again might be seen a number
of men fallen in a heap over a dead horse. You would see some of the
victors leaving the fight and issuing from the crowd, rubbing their
eyes and cheeks with both hands to clean them of the dirt made by
their watering eyes smarting from the dust and smoke. The reserves
may be seen standing, hopeful but cautious; with watchful eyes,
shading them with their hands and gazing through the dense and murky
confusion, attentive to the commands of their captain. The captain
himself, his staff raised, hurries towards these auxiliaries,
pointing to the spot where they are most needed. And there may be a
river into which horses are galloping, churning up the water all
round them into turbulent waves of foam and water, tossed into the
air and among the legs and bodies of the horses. And there must not
be a level spot that is not trampled with gore.

603.

OF LIGHTING THE LOWER PARTS OF BODIES CLOSE TOGETHER, AS OF MEN IN
BATTLE.

As to men and horses represented in battle, their different parts
will be dark in proportion as they are nearer to the ground on which
they stand. And this is proved by the sides of wells which grow
darker in proportion to their depth, the reason of which is that the
deepest part of the well sees and receives a smaller amount of the
luminous atmosphere than any other part.

And the pavement, if it be of the same colour as the legs of these
said men and horses, will always be more lighted and at a more
direct angle than the said legs &c.

604.

OF THE WAY TO REPRESENT A NIGHT [SCENE].

That which is entirely bereft of light is all darkness; given a
night under these conditions and that you want to represent a night
scene,--arrange that there shall be a great fire, then the objects
which are nearest to this fire will be most tinged with its colour;
for those objects which are nearest to a coloured light participate
most in its nature; as therefore you give the fire a red colour, you
must make all the objects illuminated by it ruddy; while those which
are farther from the fire are more tinted by the black hue of night.
The figures which are seen against the fire look dark in the glare
of the firelight because that side of the objects which you see is
tinged by the darkness of the night and not by the fire; and those
who stand at the side are half dark and half red; while those who
are visible beyond the edges of the flame will be fully lighted by
the ruddy glow against a black background. As to their gestures,
make those which are near it screen themselves with their hands and
cloaks as a defence against the intense heat, and with their faces
turned away as if about to retire. Of those farther off represent
several as raising their hands to screen their eyes, hurt by the
intolerable glare.

Of depicting a tempest (605. 606).

605.

Describe a wind on land and at sea. Describe a storm of rain.

606.

HOW TO REPRESENT A TEMPEST.

If you wish to represent a tempest consider and arrange well its
effects as seen, when the wind, blowing over the face of the sea and
earth, removes and carries with it such things as are not fixed to
the general mass. And to represent the storm accurately you must
first show the clouds scattered and torn, and flying with the wind,
accompanied by clouds of sand blown up from the sea shore, and
boughs and leaves swept along by the strength and fury of the blast
and scattered with other light objects through the air. Trees and
plants must be bent to the ground, almost as if they would follow
the course of the gale, with their branches twisted out of their
natural growth and their leaves tossed and turned about [Footnote
11: See Pl. XL, No. 2.]. Of the men who are there some must have
fallen to the ground and be entangled in their garments, and hardly
to be recognized for the dust, while those who remain standing may
be behind some tree, with their arms round it that the wind may not
tear them away; others with their hands over their eyes for the
dust, bending to the ground with their clothes and hair streaming in
the wind. [Footnote 15: See Pl. XXXIV, the right hand lower sketch.]
Let the sea be rough and tempestuous and full of foam whirled among
the lofty waves, while the wind flings the lighter spray through the
stormy air, till it resembles a dense and swathing mist. Of the
ships that are therein some should be shown with rent sails and the
tatters fluttering through the air, with ropes broken and masts
split and fallen. And the ship itself lying in the trough of the sea
and wrecked by the fury of the waves with the men shrieking and
clinging to the fragments of the vessel. Make the clouds driven by
the impetuosity of the wind and flung against the lofty mountain
tops, and wreathed and torn like waves beating upon rocks; the air
itself terrible from the deep darkness caused by the dust and fog
and heavy clouds.

Of representing the deluge (607-609).

607.

TO REPRESENT THE DELUGE.

The air was darkened by the heavy rain whose oblique descent driven
aslant by the rush of the winds, flew in drifts through the air not
otherwise than as we see dust, varied only by the straight lines of
the heavy drops of falling water. But it was tinged with the colour
of the fire kindled by the thunder-bolts by which the clouds were
rent and shattered; and whose flashes revealed the broad waters of
the inundated valleys, above which was seen the verdure of the
bending tree tops. Neptune will be seen in the midst of the water
with his trident, and [15] let AEolus with his winds be shown
entangling the trees floating uprooted, and whirling in the huge
waves. The horizon and the whole hemisphere were obscure, but lurid
from the flashes of the incessant lightning. Men and birds might be
seen crowded on the tall trees which remained uncovered by the
swelling waters, originators of the mountains which surround the
great abysses [Footnote 23: Compare Vol. II. No. 979.].

608.

OF THE DELUGE AND HOW TO REPRESENT IT IN A PICTURE.

Let the dark and gloomy air be seen buffeted by the rush of contrary
winds and dense from the continued rain mingled with hail and
bearing hither and thither an infinite number of branches torn from
the trees and mixed with numberless leaves. All round may be seen
venerable trees, uprooted and stripped by the fury of the winds; and
fragments of mountains, already scoured bare by the torrents,
falling into those torrents and choking their valleys till the
swollen rivers overflow and submerge the wide lowlands and their
inhabitants. Again, you might have seen on many of the hill-tops
terrified animals of different kinds, collected together and subdued
to tameness, in company with men and women who had fled there with
their children. The waters which covered the fields, with their
waves were in great part strewn with tables, bedsteads, boats and
various other contrivances made from necessity and the fear of
death, on which were men and women with their children amid sounds
of lamentation and weeping, terrified by the fury of the winds which
with their tempestuous violence rolled the waters under and over and
about the bodies of the drowned. Nor was there any object lighter
than the water which was not covered with a variety of animals
which, having come to a truce, stood together in a frightened
crowd--among them wolves, foxes, snakes and others--fleing from
death. And all the waters dashing on their shores seemed to be
battling them with the blows of drowned bodies, blows which killed
those in whom any life remained [19]. You might have seen
assemblages of men who, with weapons in their hands, defended the
small spots that remained to them against lions, wolves and beasts
of prey who sought safety there. Ah! what dreadful noises were heard
in the air rent by the fury of the thunder and the lightnings it
flashed forth, which darted from the clouds dealing ruin and
striking all that opposed its course. Ah! how many you might have
seen closing their ears with their hands to shut out the tremendous
sounds made in the darkened air by the raging of the winds mingling
with the rain, the thunders of heaven and the fury of the
thunder-bolts. Others were not content with shutting their eyes, but
laid their hands one over the other to cover them the closer that
they might not see the cruel slaughter of the human race by the
wrath of God. Ah! how many laments! and how many in their terror
flung themselves from the rocks! Huge branches of great oaks loaded
with men were seen borne through the air by the impetuous fury of
the winds. How many were the boats upset, some entire, and some
broken in pieces, on the top of people labouring to escape with
gestures and actions of grief foretelling a fearful death. Others,
with desperate act, took their own lives, hopeless of being able to
endure such suffering; and of these, some flung themselves from
lofty rocks, others strangled themselves with their own hands, other
seized their own children and violently slew them at a blow; some
wounded and killed themselves with their own weapons; others,
falling on their knees recommended themselves to God. Ah! how many
mothers wept over their drowned sons, holding them upon their knees,
with arms raised spread out towards heaven and with words and
various threatening gestures, upbraiding the wrath of the gods.
Others with clasped hands and fingers clenched gnawed them and
devoured them till they bled, crouching with their breast down on
their knees in their intense and unbearable anguish. Herds of
animals were to be seen, such as horses, oxen, goats and swine
already environed by the waters and left isolated on the high peaks
of the mountains, huddled together, those in the middle climbing to
the top and treading on the others, and fighting fiercely
themselves; and many would die for lack of food. Already had the
birds begun to settle on men and on other animals, finding no land
uncovered which was not occupied by living beings, and already had
famine, the minister of death, taken the lives of the greater number
of the animals, when the dead bodies, now fermented, where leaving
the depth of the waters and were rising to the top. Among the
buffeting waves, where they were beating one against the other, and,
like as balls full of air, rebounded from the point of concussion,
these found a resting place on the bodies of the dead. And above
these judgements, the air was seen covered with dark clouds, riven
by the forked flashes of the raging bolts of heaven, lighting up on
all sides the depth of the gloom.

The motion of the air is seen by the motion of the dust thrown up by
the horse's running and this motion is as swift in again filling up
the vacuum left in the air which enclosed the horse, as he is rapid
in passing away from the air.

Perhaps it will seem to you that you may reproach me with having
represented the currents made through the air by the motion of the
wind notwithstanding that the wind itself is not visible in the air.
To this I must answer that it is not the motion of the wind but only
the motion of the things carried along by it which is seen in the
air.

THE DIVISIONS. [Footnote 76: These observations, added at the bottom
of the page containing the full description of the doluge seem to
indicate that it was Leonardo's intention to elaborate the subject
still farther in a separate treatise.]

Darkness, wind, tempest at sea, floods of water, forests on fire,
rain, bolts from heaven, earthquakes and ruins of mountains,
overthrow of cities [Footnote 81: _Spianamenti di citta_ (overthrow
of cities). A considerable number of drawings in black chalk, at
Windsor, illustrate this catastrophe. Most of them are much rubbed;
one of the least injured is reproduced at Pl. XXXIX. Compare also
the pen and ink sketch Pl. XXXVI.].

Whirlwinds which carry water [spouts] branches of trees, and men
through the air.

Boughs stripped off by the winds, mingling by the meeting of the
winds, with people upon them.

Broken trees loaded with people.

Ships broken to pieces, beaten on rocks.

Flocks of sheep. Hail stones, thunderbolts, whirlwinds.

People on trees which are unable to to support them; trees and
rocks, towers and hills covered with people, boats, tables, troughs,
and other means of floating. Hills covered with men, women and
animals; and lightning from the clouds illuminating every thing.

[Footnote: This chapter, which, with the next one, is written on a
loose sheet, seems to be the passage to which one of the compilers
of the Vatican copy alluded when he wrote on the margin of fol. 36:
"_Qua mi ricordo della mirabile discritione del Diluuio dello
autore._" It is scarcely necessary to point out that these chapters
are among those which have never before been published. The
description in No. 607 may be regarded as a preliminary sketch for
this one. As the MS. G. (in which it is to be found) must be
attributed to the period of about 1515 we may deduce from it the
approximate date of the drawings on Pl. XXXIV, XXXV, Nos. 2 and 3,
XXXVI and XXXVII, since they obviously belong to this text. The
drawings No. 2 on Pl. XXXV are, in the original, side by side with
the text of No. 608; lines 57 to 76 are shown in the facsimile. In
the drawing in Indian ink given on Pl. XXXIV we see Wind-gods in the
sky, corresponding to the allusion to Aeolus in No. 607 1.
15.-Plates XXXVI and XXXVII form one sheet in the original. The
texts reproduced on these Plates have however no connection with the
sketches, excepting the sketches of clouds on the right hand side.
These texts are given as No. 477. The group of small figures on Pl.
XXXVII, to the left, seems to be intended for a '_congregatione
d'uomini._' See No. 608, 1. 19.]

609.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DELUGE.

Let there be first represented the summit of a rugged mountain with
valleys surrounding its base, and on its sides let the surface of
the soil be seen to slide, together with the small roots of the
bushes, denuding great portions of the surrounding rocks. And
descending ruinous from these precipices in its boisterous course,
let it dash along and lay bare the twisted and gnarled roots of
large trees overthrowing their roots upwards; and let the mountains,
as they are scoured bare, discover the profound fissures made in
them by ancient earthquakes. The base of the mountains may be in
great part clothed and covered with ruins of shrubs, hurled down
from the sides of their lofty peaks, which will be mixed with mud,
roots, boughs of trees, with all sorts of leaves thrust in with the
mud and earth and stones. And into the depth of some valley may have
fallen the fragments of a mountain forming a shore to the swollen
waters of its river; which, having already burst its banks, will
rush on in monstrous waves; and the greatest will strike upon and
destroy the walls of the cities and farmhouses in the valley [14].
Then the ruins of the high buildings in these cities will throw up a
great dust, rising up in shape like smoke or wreathed clouds against
the falling rain; But the swollen waters will sweep round the pool
which contains them striking in eddying whirlpools against the
different obstacles, and leaping into the air in muddy foam; then,
falling back, the beaten water will again be dashed into the air.
And the whirling waves which fly from the place of concussion, and
whose impetus moves them across other eddies going in a contrary
direction, after their recoil will be tossed up into the air but
without dashing off from the surface. Where the water issues from
the pool the spent waves will be seen spreading out towards the
outlet; and there falling or pouring through the air and gaining
weight and impetus they will strike on the water below piercing it
and rushing furiously to reach its depth; from which being thrown
back it returns to the surface of the lake, carrying up the air that
was submerged with it; and this remains at the outlet in foam
mingled with logs of wood and other matters lighter than water.
Round these again are formed the beginnings of waves which increase
the more in circumference as they acquire more movement; and this
movement rises less high in proportion as they acquire a broader
base and thus they are less conspicuous as they die away. But if
these waves rebound from various objects they then return in direct
opposition to the others following them, observing the same law of
increase in their curve as they have already acquired in the
movement they started with. The rain, as it falls from the clouds is
of the same colour as those clouds, that is in its shaded side;
unless indeed the sun's rays should break through them; in that case
the rain will appear less dark than the clouds. And if the heavy
masses of ruin of large mountains or of other grand buildings fall
into the vast pools of water, a great quantity will be flung into
the air and its movement will be in a contrary direction to that of
the object which struck the water; that is to say: The angle of
reflection will be equal to the angle of incidence. Of the objects
carried down by the current, those which are heaviest or rather
largest in mass will keep farthest from the two opposite shores. The
water in the eddies revolves more swiftly in proportion as it is
nearer to their centre. The crests of the waves of the sea tumble to
their bases falling with friction on the bubbles of their sides; and
this friction grinds the falling water into minute particles and
this being converted into a dense mist, mingles with the gale in the
manner of curling smoke and wreathing clouds, and at last it, rises
into the air and is converted into clouds. But the rain which falls
through the atmosphere being driven and tossed by the winds becomes
rarer or denser according to the rarity or density of the winds that
buffet it, and thus there is generated in the atmosphere a moisture
formed of the transparent particles of the rain which is near to the
eye of the spectator. The waves of the sea which break on the slope
of the mountains which bound it, will foam from the velocity with
which they fall against these hills; in rushing back they will meet
the next wave as it comes and and after a loud noise return in a
great flood to the sea whence they came. Let great numbers of
inhabitants--men and animals of all kinds--be seen driven [54] by
the rising of the deluge to the peaks of the mountains in the midst
of the waters aforesaid.

The wave of the sea at Piombino is all foaming water. [Footnote 55.
56: These two lines are written below the bottom sketch on Pl. XXXV,
3. The MS. Leic. being written about the year 1510 or later, it does
not seem to me to follow that the sketches must have been made at
Piombino, where Leonardo was in the year 1502 and possibly returned
there subsequently (see Vol. II. Topographical notes).]

Of the water which leaps up from the spot where great masses fall on
its surface. Of the winds of Piombino at Piombino. Eddies of wind
and rain with boughs and shrubs mixed in the air. Emptying the boats
of the rain water.

[Footnote: The sketches on Pl. XXXV 3 stand by the side of lines 14
to 54.]

Of depicting natural phenomena (610. 611).

610.

The tremendous fury of the wind driven by the falling in of the
hills on the caves within--by the falling of the hills which served
as roofs to these caverns.

A stone flung through the air leaves on the eye which sees it the
impression of its motion, and the same effect is produced by the
drops of water which fall from the clouds when it [16] rains.

[17] A mountain falling on a town, will fling up dust in the form of
clouds; but the colour of this dust will differ from that of the
clouds. Where the rain is thickest let the colour of the dust be
less conspicuous and where the dust is thickest let the rain be less
conspicuous. And where the rain is mingled with the wind and with
the dust the clouds created by the rain must be more transparent
than those of dust [alone]. And when flames of fire are mingled with
clouds of smoke and water very opaque and dark clouds will be formed
[Footnote 26-28: Compare Pl. XL, 1--the drawing in Indian ink on the
left hand side, which seems to be a reminiscence of his observations
of an eruption (see his remarks on Mount Etna in Vol II).]. And the
rest of this subject will be treated in detail in the book on
painting.

[Footnote: See the sketches and text on Pl. XXXVIII, No. 1. Lines
1-16 are there given on the left hand side, 17-30 on the right. The
four lines at the bottom on the right are given as No. 472. Above
these texts, which are written backwards, there are in the original
sixteen lines in a larger writing from left to right, but only half
of this is here visible. They treat of the physical laws of motion
of air and water. It does not seem to me that there is any reason
for concluding that this writing from left to right is spurious.
Compare with it the facsimile of the rough copy of Leonardo's letter
to Ludovico il Moro in Vol. II.]

611.

People were to be seen eagerly embarking victuals on various kinds
of hastily made barks. But little of the waves were visible in those
places where the dark clouds and rain were reflected.

But where the flashes caused by the bolts of heaven were reflected,
there were seen as many bright spots, caused by the image of the
flashes, as there were waves to reflect them to the eye of the
spectator.

The number of the images produced by the flash of lightning on the
waves of the water were multiplied in proportion to the distance of
the spectator's eye.

So also the number of the images was diminished in proportion as
they were nearer the eye which saw them [Footnote 22. 23: _Com'e
provato_. See Vol. II, Nos. 874-878 and 892-901], as it has been
proved in the definition of the luminosity of the moon, and of our
marine horizon when the sun's rays are reflected in it and the eye
which receives the reflection is remote from the sea.

VI.

THE ARTIST'S MATERIALS.

Of chalk and paper (612--617).

612.

To make points [crayons] for colouring dry. Temper with a little wax
and do not dry it; which wax you must dissolve with water: so that
when the white lead is thus tempered, the water being distilled, may
go off in vapour and the wax may remain; you will thus make good
crayons; but you must know that the colours must be ground with a
hot stone.

613.

Chalk dissolves in wine and in vinegar or in aqua fortis and can be
recombined with gum.

614.

PAPER FOR DRAWING UPON IN BLACK BY THE AID OF YOUR SPITTLE.

Take powdered gall nuts and vitriol, powder them and spread them on
paper like a varnish, then write on it with a pen wetted with
spittle and it will turn as black as ink.

615.

If you want to make foreshortened letters stretch the paper in a
drawing frame and then draw your letters and cut them out, and make
the sunbeams pass through the holes on to another stretched paper,
and then fill up the angles that are wanting.

616.

This paper should be painted over with candle soot tempered with
thin glue, then smear the leaf thinly with white lead in oil as is
done to the letters in printing, and then print in the ordinary way.
Thus the leaf will appear shaded in the hollows and lighted on the
parts in relief; which however comes out here just the contrary.

[Footnote: This text, which accompanies a facsimile impression of a
leaf of sage, has already been published in the _Saggio delle Opere
di L. da Vinci_, Milano 1872, p. 11. G. GOVI observes on this
passage: "_Forse aveva egli pensato ancora a farsi un erbario, od
almeno a riprodurre facilmente su carta le forme e i particolari
delle foglie di diverse piante; poiche (modificando un metodo che
probabilmente gli eia stato insegnato da altri, e che piu tardi si
legge ripetuto in molti ricettarii e libri di segreti), accanto a
una foglia di Salvia impressa in nero su carta bianca, lascio
scritto: Questa carta ...

Erano i primi tentativi di quella riproduzione immediata delle parti
vegetali, che poi sotto il nome d'Impressione Naturale, fu condotta
a tanta perfezione in questi ultimi tempi dal signor de Hauer e da
altri_."]

617.

Very excellent will be a stiff white paper, made of the usual
mixture and filtered milk of an herb called calves foot; and when
this paper is prepared and damped and folded and wrapped up it may
be mixed with the mixture and thus left to dry; but if you break it
before it is moistened it becomes somewhat like the thin paste
called _lasagne_ and you may then damp it and wrap it up and put it
in the mixture and leave it to dry; or again this paper may be
covered with stiff transparent white and _sardonio_ and then damped
so that it may not form angles and then covered up with strong
transparent size and as soon as it is firm cut it two fingers, and
leave it to dry; again you may make stiff cardboard of _sardonio_
and dry it and then place it between two sheets of papyrus and break
it inside with a wooden mallet with a handle and then open it with
care holding the lower sheet of paper flat and firm so that the
broken pieces be not separated; then have a sheet of paper covered
with hot glue and apply it on the top of all these pieces and let
them stick fast; then turn it upside down and apply transparent size
several times in the spaces between the pieces, each time pouring in
first some black and then some stiff white and each time leaving it
to dry; then smooth it and polish it.

On the preparation and use of colours (618-627).

618.

To make a fine green take green and mix it with bitumen and you will
make the shadows darker. Then, for lighter [shades] green with
yellow ochre, and for still lighter green with yellow, and for the
high lights pure yellow; then mix green and turmeric together and
glaze every thing with it. To make a fine red take cinnabar or red
chalk or burnt ochre for the dark shadows and for the lighter ones
red chalk and vermilion and for the lights pure vermilion and then
glaze with fine lake. To make good oil for painting. One part of
oil, one of the first refining and one of the second.

619.

Use black in the shadow, and in the lights white, yellow, green,
vermilion and lake. Medium shadows; take the shadow as above and mix
it with the flesh tints just alluded to, adding to it a little
yellow and a little green and occasionally some lake; for the
shadows take green and lake for the middle shades.

[Footnote 618 and 619: If we may judge from the flourishes with
which the writing is ornamented these passages must have been
written in Leonardo's youth.]

620.

You can make a fine ochre by the same method as you use to make
white.

621.

A FINE YELLOW.

Dissolve realgar with one part of orpiment, with aqua fortis.

WHITE.

Put the white into an earthen pot, and lay it no thicker than a
string, and let it stand in the sun undisturbed for 2 days; and in
the morning when the sun has dried off the night dews.

622.

To make reddish black for flesh tints take red rock crystals from
Rocca Nova or garnets and mix them a little; again armenian bole is
good in part.

623.

The shadow will be burnt ,terra-verte'.

624.

THE PROPORTIONS OF COLOURS.

If one ounce of black mixed with one ounce of white gives a certain
shade of darkness, what shade of darkness will be produced by 2
ounces of black to 1 ounce of white?

625.

Remix black, greenish yellow and at the end blue.

626.

Verdigris with aloes, or gall or turmeric makes a fine green and so
it does with saffron or burnt orpiment; but I doubt whether in a
short time they will not turn black. Ultramarine blue and glass
yellow mixed together make a beautiful green for fresco, that is
wall-painting. Lac and verdigris make a good shadow for blue in oil
painting.

627.

Grind verdigris many times coloured with lemon juice and keep it
away from yellow (?).

Of preparing the panel.

628.

TO PREPARE A PANEL FOR PAINTING ON.

The panel should be cypress or pear or service-tree or walnut. You
must coat it over with mastic and turpentine twice distilled and
white or, if you like, lime, and put it in a frame so that it may
expand and shrink according to its moisture and dryness. Then give
it [a coat] of aqua vitae in which you have dissolved arsenic or
[corrosive] sublimate, 2 or 3 times. Then apply boiled linseed oil
in such a way as that it may penetrate every part, and before it is
cold rub it well with a cloth to dry it. Over this apply liquid
varnish and white with a stick, then wash it with urine when it is
dry, and dry it again. Then pounce and outline your drawing finely
and over it lay a priming of 30 parts of verdigris with one of
verdigris with two of yellow.

[Footnote: M. RAVAISSON'S reading varies from mine in the following
passages:

1._opero allor [?] bo [alloro?]_ = "_ou bien de [laurier]_."

6. _fregalo bene con un panno_. He reads _pane_ for _panno_ and
renders it. "_Frotte le bien avec un pain de facon [jusqu'a ce]
qu'il_" etc.

7. _colla stecca po laua_. He reads "_polacca_" = "_avec le couteau
de bois [?] polonais [?]_."]

The preparation of oils (629--634).

629.

OIL.

Make some oil of mustard seed; and if you wish to make it with
greater ease mix the ground seeds with linseed oil and put it all
under the press.

630.

TO REMOVE THE SMELL OF OIL.

Take the rank oil and put ten pints into a jar and make a mark on
the jar at the height of the oil; then add to it a pint of vinegar
and make it boil till the oil has sunk to the level of the mark and
thus you will be certain that the oil is returned to its original
quantity and the vinegar will have gone off in vapour, carrying with
it the evil smell; and I believe you may do the same with nut oil or
any other oil that smells badly.

631.

Since walnuts are enveloped in a thin rind, which partakes of the
nature of ..., if you do not remove it when you make the oil from
them, this skin tinges the oil, and when you work with it this skin
separates from the oil and rises to the surface of the painting, and
this is what makes it change.

632.

TO RESTORE OIL COLOURS THAT HAVE BECOME DRY.

If you want to restore oil colours that have become dry keep them
soaking in soft soap for a night and, with your finger, mix them up
with the soft soap; then pour them into a cup and wash them with
water, and in this way you can restore colours that have got dry.
But take care that each colour has its own vessel to itself adding
the colour by degrees as you restore it and mind that they are
thoroughly softened, and when you wish to use them for tempera wash
them five and six times with spring water, and leave them to settle;
if the soft soap should be thick with any of the colours pass it
through a filter. [Footnote: The same remark applies to these
sections as to No. 618 and 619.]

633.

OIL.

Mustard seed pounded with linseed oil.

634.

... outside the bowl 2 fingers lower than the level of the oil, and
pass it into the neck of a bottle and let it stand and thus all the
oil will separate from this milky liquid; it will enter the bottle
and be as clear as crystal; and grind your colours with this, and
every coarse or viscid part will remain in the liquid. You must know
that all the oils that have been created in seads or fruits are
quite clear by nature, and the yellow colour you see in them only
comes of your not knowing how to draw it out. Fire or heat by its
nature has the power to make them acquire colour. See for example
the exudation or gums of trees which partake of the nature of rosin;
in a short time they harden because there is more heat in them than
in oil; and after some time they acquire a certain yellow hue
tending to black. But oil, not having so much heat does not do so;
although it hardens to some extent into sediment it becomes finer.
The change in oil which occurs in painting proceeds from a certain
fungus of the nature of a husk which exists in the skin which covers
the nut, and this being crushed along with the nuts and being of a
nature much resembling oil mixes with it; it is of so subtle a
nature that it combines with all colours and then comes to the
surface, and this it is which makes them change. And if you want the
oil to be good and not to thicken, put into it a little camphor
melted over a slow fire and mix it well with the oil and it will
never harden.

[Footnote: The same remark applies to these sections as to No. 618
and 619.]

On varnishes [or powders] (635-637).

635.

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

Take cypress [oil] and distil it and have a large pitcher, and put
in the extract with so much water as may make it appear like amber,
and cover it tightly so that none may evaporate. And when it is
dissolved you may add in your pitcher as much of the said solution,
as shall make it liquid to your taste. And you must know that amber
is the gum of the cypress-tree.

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

And since varnish [powder] is the resin of juniper, if you distil
juniper you can dissolve the said varnish [powder] in the essence,
as explained above.

636.

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

Notch a juniper tree and give it water at the roots, mix the liquor
which exudes with nut-oil and you will have a perfect varnish
[powder], made like amber varnish [powder], fine and of the best
quality make it in May or April.

637.

VARNISH [OR POWDER].

Mercury with Jupiter and Venus,--a paste made of these must be
corrected by the mould (?) continuously, until Mercury separates
itself entirely from Jupiter and Venus. [Footnote: Here, and in No.
641 _Mercurio_ seems to mean quicksilver, _Giove_ stands for iron,
_Venere_ for copper and _Saturno_ for lead.]

On chemical materials (638-650).

638.

Note how aqua vitae absorbs into itself all the colours and smells
of flowers. If you want to make blue put iris flowers into it and
for red solanum berries (?)

639.

Salt may be made from human excrement burnt and calcined and made
into lees, and dried by a slow fire, and all dung in like manner
yields salt, and these salts when distilled are very pungent.

640.

Sea water filtered through mud or clay, leaves all its saltness in
it. Woollen stuffs placed on board ship absorb fresh water. If sea
water is distilled under a retort it becomes of the first excellence
and any one who has a little stove in his kitchen can, with the same
wood as he cooks with, distil a great quantity of water if the
retort is a large one.

641.

MOULD(?).

The mould (?) may be of Venus, or of Jupiter and Saturn and placed
frequently in the fire. And it should be worked with fine emery and
the mould (?) should be of Venus and Jupiter impasted over (?)
Venus. But first you will test Venus and Mercury mixed with Jove,
and take means to cause Mercury to disperse; and then fold them well
together so that Venus or Jupiter be connected as thinly as
possible.

[Footnote: See the note to 637.]

642.

Nitre, vitriol, cinnabar, alum, salt ammoniac, sublimated mercury,
rock salt, alcali salt, common salt, rock alum, alum schist (?),
arsenic, sublimate, realgar, tartar, orpiment, verdegris.

643.

Pitch four ounces virgin wax, four ounces incense, two ounces oil of
roses one ounce.

644.

Four ounces virgin wax, four ounces Greek pitch, two ounces incense,
one ounce oil of roses, first melt the wax and oil then the Greek
pitch then the other things in powder.

645.

Very thin glass may be cut with scissors and when placed over inlaid
work of bone, gilt, or stained of other colours you can saw it
through together with the bone and then put it together and it will
retain a lustre that will not be scratched nor worn away by rubbing
with the hand.

646.

TO DILUTE WHITE WINE AND MAKE IT PURPLE.

Powder gall nuts and let this stand 8 days in the white wine; and in
the same way dissolve vitriol in water, and let the water stand and
settle very clear, and the wine likewise, each by itself, and strain
them well; and when you dilute the white wine with the water the
wine will become red.

647.

Put marcasite into aqua fortis and if it turns green, know that it
has copper in it. Take it out with saltpetre and soft soap.

648.

A white horse may have the spots removed with the Spanish haematite
or with aqua fortis or with ... Removes the black hair on a white
horse with the singeing iron. Force him to the ground.

649.

FIRE.

If you want to make a fire which will set a hall in a blaze without
injury do this: first perfume the hall with a dense smoke of incense
or some other odoriferous substance: It is a good trick to play. Or
boil ten pounds of brandy to evaporate, but see that the hall is
completely closed and throw up some powdered varnish among the fumes
and this powder will be supported by the smoke; then go into the
room suddenly with a lighted torch and at once it will be in a
blaze.

650.

FIRE.

Take away that yellow surface which covers oranges and distill them
in an alembic, until the distillation may be said to be perfect.

FIRE.

Close a room tightly and have a brasier of brass or iron with fire
in it and sprinkle on it two pints of aqua vitae, a little at a
time, so that it may be converted into smoke. Then make some one
come in with a light and suddenly you will see the room in a blaze
like a flash of lightning, and it will do no harm to any one.

VII.

PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY OF THE ART OF PAINTING.

The relation of art and nature (651. 652).

651.

What is fair in men, passes away, but not so in art.

652.

HE WHO DESPISES PAINTING LOVES NEITHER PHILOSOPHY NOR NATURE.

If you condemn painting, which is the only imitator of all visible
works of nature, you will certainly despise a subtle invention which
brings philosophy and subtle speculation to the consideration of the
nature of all forms--seas and plains, trees, animals, plants and
flowers--which are surrounded by shade and light. And this is true
knowledge and the legitimate issue of nature; for painting is born
of nature--or, to speak more correctly, we will say it is the
grandchild of nature; for all visible things are produced by nature,
and these her children have given birth to painting. Hence we may
justly call it the grandchild of nature and related to God.

Painting is superior to poetry (653. 654).

653.

THAT PAINTING SURPASSES ALL HUMAN WORKS BY THE SUBTLE CONSIDERATIONS
BELONGING TO IT.

The eye, which is called the window of the soul, is the principal
means by which the central sense can most completely and abundantly
appreciate the infinite works of nature; and the ear is the second,
which acquires dignity by hearing of the things the eye has seen. If
you, historians, or poets, or mathematicians had not seen things
with your eyes you could not report of them in writing. And if you,
0 poet, tell a story with your pen, the painter with his brush can
tell it more easily, with simpler completeness and less tedious to
be understood. And if you call painting dumb poetry, the painter may
call poetry blind painting. Now which is the worse defect? to be
blind or dumb? Though the poet is as free as the painter in the
invention of his fictions they are not so satisfactory to men as
paintings; for, though poetry is able to describe forms, actions and
places in words, the painter deals with the actual similitude of the
forms, in order to represent them. Now tell me which is the nearer
to the actual man: the name of man or the image of the man. The name
of man differs in different countries, but his form is never changed
but by death.

654.

And if the poet gratifies the sense by means of the ear, the painter
does so by the eye--the worthier sense; but I will say no more of
this but that, if a good painter represents the fury of a battle,
and if a poet describes one, and they are both together put before
the public, you will see where most of the spectators will stop, to
which they will pay most attention, on which they will bestow most
praise, and which will satisfy them best. Undoubtedly painting being
by a long way the more intelligible and beautiful, will please most.
Write up the name of God [Christ] in some spot and setup His image
opposite and you will see which will be most reverenced. Painting
comprehends in itself all the forms of nature, while you have
nothing but words, which are not universal as form is, and if you
have the effects of the representation, we have the representation
of the effects. Take a poet who describes the beauty of a lady to
her lover and a painter who represents her and you will see to which
nature guides the enamoured critic. Certainly the proof should be
allowed to rest on the verdict of experience. You have ranked
painting among the mechanical arts but, in truth, if painters were
as apt at praising their own works in writing as you are, it would
not lie under the stigma of so base a name. If you call it
mechanical because it is, in the first place, manual, and that it is
the hand which produces what is to be found in the imagination, you
too writers, who set down manually with the pen what is devised in
your mind. And if you say it is mechanical because it is done for
money, who falls into this error--if error it can be called--more
than you? If you lecture in the schools do you not go to whoever
pays you most? Do you do any work without pay? Still, I do not say
this as blaming such views, for every form of labour looks for its
reward. And if a poet should say: "I will invent a fiction with a
great purpose," the painter can do the same, as Apelles painted
Calumny. If you were to say that poetry is more eternal, I say the
works of a coppersmith are more eternal still, for time preserves
them longer than your works or ours; nevertheless they have not much
imagination [29]. And a picture, if painted on copper with enamel
colours may be yet more permanent. We, by our arts may be called the
grandsons of God. If poetry deals with moral philosophy, painting
deals with natural philosophy. Poetry describes the action of the
mind, painting considers what the mind may effect by the motions [of
the body]. If poetry can terrify people by hideous fictions,
painting can do as much by depicting the same things in action.
Supposing that a poet applies himself to represent beauty, ferocity,
or a base, a foul or a monstrous thing, as against a painter, he may
in his ways bring forth a variety of forms; but will the painter not
satisfy more? are there not pictures to be seen, so like the actual
things, that they deceive men and animals?

Painting is superior to sculpture (655. 656).

655.

THAT SCULPTURE IS LESS INTELLECTUAL THAN PAINTING, AND LACKS MANY
CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURE.

I myself, having exercised myself no less in sculpture than in
painting and doing both one and the other in the same degree, it
seems to me that I can, without invidiousness, pronounce an opinion
as to which of the two is of the greatest merit and difficulty and
perfection. In the first place sculpture requires a certain light,
that is from above, a picture carries everywhere with it its own
light and shade. Thus sculpture owes its importance to light and
shade, and the sculptor is aided in this by the nature, of the
relief which is inherent in it, while the painter whose art
expresses the accidental aspects of nature, places his effects in
the spots where nature must necessarily produce them. The sculptor
cannot diversify his work by the various natural colours of objects;
painting is not defective in any particular. The sculptor when he
uses perspective cannot make it in any way appear true; that of the
painter can appear like a hundred miles beyond the picture itself.
Their works have no aerial perspective whatever, they cannot
represent transparent bodies, they cannot represent luminous bodies,
nor reflected lights, nor lustrous bodies--as mirrors and the like
polished surfaces, nor mists, nor dark skies, nor an infinite number
of things which need not be told for fear of tedium. As regards the
power of resisting time, though they have this resistance [Footnote
19: From what is here said as to painting on copper it is very
evident that Leonardo was not acquainted with the method of painting
in oil on thin copper plates, introduced by the Flemish painters of
the XVIIth century. J. LERMOLIEFF has already pointed out that in
the various collections containing pictures by the great masters of
the Italian Renaissance, those painted on copper (for instance the
famous reading Magdalen in the Dresden Gallery) are the works of a
much later date (see _Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst_. Vol. X pg.
333, and: _Werke italienischer Master in den Galerien von Munchen,
Dresden und Berlin_. Leipzig 1880, pg. 158 and 159.)--Compare No.
654, 29.], a picture painted on thick copper covered with white
enamel on which it is painted with enamel colours and then put into
the fire again and baked, far exceeds sculpture in permanence. It
may be said that if a mistake is made it is not easy to remedy it;
it is but a poor argument to try to prove that a work be the nobler
because oversights are irremediable; I should rather say that it
will be more difficult to improve the mind of the master who makes
such mistakes than to repair the work he has spoilt.
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A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett Category: Fiction Sections: 24 What's this? Table of Contents		Fiction Short Stories Poetry Plays Sci Fi Philosophy Religion Biography