OF THE PAINTER'S WINDOW AND ITS ADVANTAGE.

The painter who works from nature should have a window, which he can

raise and lower. The reason is that sometimes you will want to

finish a thing you are drawing, close to the light.

Let _a b c d_ be the chest on which the work may be raised or

lowered, so that the work moves up and down and not the painter. And

every evening you can let down the work and shut it up above so that

in the evening it may be in the fashion of a chest which, when shut

up, may serve the purpose of a bench.

[Footnote: See Pl. XXXI, No. 2. In this plate the lines have

unfortunately lost their sharpness, for the accidental loss of the

negative has necessitated a reproduction from a positive. But having

formerly published this sketch by another process, in VON LUTZOW'S

_Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst_ (Vol. XVII, pg. 13) I have

reproduced it here in the text. The sharpness of the outline in the

original sketch is here preserved but it gives it from the reversed

side.]

On the best light for painting (513-520).

513.

Which light is best for drawing from nature; whether high or low, or

large or small, or strong and broad, or strong and small, or broad

and weak or small and weak?

[Footnote: The question here put is unanswered in the original MS.]

514.

The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Volume 1 · 第 262 / 366 题