The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

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Page 449 of 1565.
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OBJECTS IN HIGH LIGHT SHOW BUT LITTLE, BUT BETWEEN LIGHT AND SHADOW
THEY STAND OUT WELL.

To represent a landscape choose that the sun shall be at noon and
look towards the West or East and then draw. And if you turn towards
the North, every object placed on that side will have no shadow,
particularly those which are nearest to the [direction of the]
shadow of your head. And if you turn towards the South every object
on that side will be wholly in shadow. All the trees which are
towards the sun and have the atmosphere for their background are
dark, and the other trees which lie against that darkness will be
black [very dark] in the middle and lighter towards the edges.

The appearance of trees in the distance (450. 451).

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