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A Treatise on Painting

by da Vinci Leonardo (1452–1519)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 35 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"A Treatise on Painting" by Leonardo da Vinci is a collection of writings begun in Milan between 1482 and 1499. Gathered from Leonardo's notebooks by his heir Francesco Melzi, this work argues that painting is a science. Through keen observations on expression, character, and natural phenomena, Leonardo examines the principles underlying artistic practice. First published in abridged form in 1651, the treatise was rediscovered and released in its complete modern form in 1817, preserving Leonardo's insights for future generations.

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  • Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519
  • Painting · Technique · Early works to 1800
  • Drawing · Technique · Early works to 1800

Read the opening

Anatomy

26. What is principally to be observed in Figures. 213.

27. Mode of Studying. 7.

28. Of being universal. 22.

29. A Precept for the Painter. 5.

30. Of the Measures of the human Body, and the bending of Members.
174.

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Contents

Show all 35 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Anatomy
  3. Motion and Equipoise of Figures
  4. Linear Perspective
  5. Reflexes
  6. Colours
  7. Colours in Regard to Light and Shadow
  8. Colours in Regard to Back-Grounds
  9. Contraste, Harmony, and Reflexes, in Regard to Colours
  10. Perspective of Colours
  11. Aerial Perspective
  12. Landscape
  13. Miscellaneous Observations
  14. Present Translation
  15. The Life
  16. Sonnetto Morale
  17. A Moral Sonnet
  18. Drawings
  19. Paintings
  20. Proportion
  21. Anatomy
  22. Motion and Equipoise of Figures
  23. Linear Perspective
  24. Contraste and Effect
  25. Reflexes
  26. Colours
  27. Colours in Regard to Light and Shadow
  28. Colours in Regard to Back-Grounds
  29. Contraste, Harmony, and Reflexes, in Regard to Colours
  30. Perspective of Colours
  31. Aerial Perspective
  32. Landscape
  33. Miscellaneous Observations
  34. Books
  35. Footnotes

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About this edition

This free edition of A Treatise on Painting by da Vinci Leonardo comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #46915, released 2014-09-20. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Art, How To ....

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