MANUSCRIPT

H

FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE INSTITUT

FOREWORD

...whether in company or solitary, of their despairs, of the games it is good for them to engage in, of time useful for study, of proprieties and harmonies, of forms, contours, contrasts; of backgrounds, draperies, sketches of histories In this context, "histories" refers to narrative scenes, such as those from the Bible or classical mythology, of the representation of the life of a saint, of angels, nymphs, of characters and attitudes, of the balancing and the serpenting Leonardo used the term "serpentinato" to describe figures that appear to twist or turn, giving them a lifelike energy of figures, of relief—"the importance and soul of painting"—of perspective, which is its "bridle and its rudder," of light and shadow—this last part to be compared with the texts of manuscript C (3rd volume)—of the use of the mirror, the "master of painters," of the rule for judging one's own work, of tracing and counter-tracing, of the manner of learning by heart and of inventing, of the stains on walls to be observed Leonardo famously suggested that looking at random stains on walls could help an artist visualize landscapes, battles, or faces, of the utility of carrying a sketchbook and notes, etc., etc.

Alongside the artist, we find in manuscript 2038, as everywhere else, the scientist, preoccupied with verifying through experience the phenomena that authors have described or cited, and with perfecting the instruments used until then; thus, there is mention of levers and what the physician Pelacane Biagio Pelacani of Parma (c. 1345–1416), a physicist and mathematician whose work influenced the development of perspective had written about them, and of an orichalcum a gold-colored alloy, similar to brass, used for the construction of scientific instruments used ...