The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
Context: Shadow is not the absence of light, merely the obstruction of the luminous rays by an opaque body. Shadow is of the nature of darkness. Light is of the nature of a luminous body; one conceals and the other reveals. They are always associated and inseparable from all objects. But shadow is a more powerful agent than light, for it can impede and entirely deprive bodies of their light, while light can never entirely expel shadow from a body, that is from an opaque body.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
“Darkness is absence of light. Shadow is diminution of light.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
“A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), IV Perspective of Disappearance
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
Note the assumption that the heavenly sphere is concave with respect to the earth.
Perspectiva communis as quoted in J. D. North, Stars, Mind and Fate: Essays in Ancient and Mediaeval Cosmology (1989) citing D.C. Lindberg, John Pecham and the Science of Optics: Perspectiva communis (1970) p.99
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
From, On Loving of God, Paul Halsall trans., Ch. 11
“The body which is nearest to the light casts the largest shadow, and why?”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
Context: The body which is nearest to the light casts the largest shadow, and why? If an object placed in front of a single light is very close to it you will see that it casts a very large shadow on the opposite wall, and the farther you remove the object from the light the smaller will the image of the shadow become.
“Light is the chaser away of darkness. Shade is the obstruction of light.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), III Six books on Light and Shade
Context: Light is the chaser away of darkness. Shade is the obstruction of light. Primary light is that which falls on objects and causes light and shade. And derived lights are those portions of a body which are illuminated by the primary light. A primary shadow is that side of a body on which the light cannot fall.
