“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.”

—  Leonardo Da Vinci

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by…" by Leonardo Da Vinci?
Leonardo Da Vinci photo
Leonardo Da Vinci 363
Italian Renaissance polymath 1452–1519

Related quotes

Bhagawan Nityananda photo

“If you keep a light before a thousand people, it reaches all without making any distinction. Anyone may take it. Where there is light, there is no darkness. In the darkness there is no light. There can only be one thing (either light or darkness), not two at the same time. One's nature should be like the sun; one's Chitta must be cool like the moon.”

Bhagawan Nityananda (1897–1961) Hindu guru and saint

271
The Chidakasha Gita (1927)

John Steinbeck photo

“An artist should be open on all sides to every kind of light and darkness.”

John Steinbeck book The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights

Appendix, letter to Elizabeth Otis and Chase Horton (20 April 1959)
The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (1976)

Phil Ochs photo

“The painter paints his brushes black
Through the canvas runs a crack
Portrait of the pain never answers back.”

Phil Ochs (1940–1976) American protest singer and songwriter

"The Flower Lady" http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/flower-lady.html
Pleasures of the Harbor (1967)

Ernest Hemingway photo

“There is no reason why because it is dark you should look at things differently from when it is light.”

Ernest Hemingway book The Sun Also Rises

Source: The Sun Also Rises

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek photo

“Fortunately however, is that [painting] school where Mother Nature is placed in the foreground, and where only she is consulted to representate 'truth' on the canvas or panel. Only he knows the secrets of the manifold diversity of nature. His painting is a faithful copy of nature - which is the highest praise for a painter..”

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803–1862) painter from the Northern Netherlands

(original Dutch, citaat van B.C. Koekkoek:) Gelukkig echter de [schilder]school, waar moeder Natuur op den voorgrond staat, en zij alleen geraadpleegd wordt om 'waarheid' op het doek of paneel voor te stellen. – Hij kent de geheimen van de veelvuldige schakeringen der natuur, zijne schilderij is ene getrouwe kopij der natuur, ziedaar den hoogsten lof, die een schilder kan toegezwaaid worden..
Source: Herinneringen aan en Mededeelingen van…' (1841), p. 27-28

John the Evangelist photo

“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God;
all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John the Evangelist (10–98) author of the Gospel of John; traditionally identified with John the Apostle of Jesus, John of Patmos (author o…

in John 1:1-5 as quoted in www.ewtn.com http://www.ewtn.com/ewtn/bible/search_bible.asp#ixzz2yvG7XIED
Gospel of John

John the Evangelist photo

“Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

John the Evangelist (10–98) author of the Gospel of John; traditionally identified with John the Apostle of Jesus, John of Patmos (author o…

Jesus in John 3:19-20 KJV
Gospel of John

“To make great art, you had to expose your soul, and some things should be left safely in the dark.”

Patricia Briggs book Hunting Ground

Source: Hunting Ground

Susan Cooper photo

“Will saw the cruelty now as the fierce inevitability of nature. It was not from malice that the Light and the servants of the Light would ever hound the Dark, but from the nature of things.”

Susan Cooper (1935) English fantasy writer

Source: The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977), The Dark Is Rising (1973), Chapter 12 “The Hunt Rides” (pp. 224-225)

Jodi Picoult photo

“There's always going to be bad stuff out there. But here's the amazing thing -- light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can't stick the dark into the light.”

Jodi Picoult Change of Heart

Source: Change of Heart

Related topics