This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/what-the-young-student-in-painting-ought-in-the-first-place-to-learn.
Accustom yourself to hold a plummet in your hand, that you may judge of the bearing of the parts.
Check more stories related to tech-stories at: https://hackernoon.com/c/tech-stories.
You can also check exclusive content about #treatise, #biography, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #da-vinci-leonardo, #ebooks, #a-treatise-on-painting, and more.
This story was written by: @leonardodavinci. Learn more about this writer by checking @leonardodavinci's about page,
and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com.
Chap. I.—What the young Student in Painting ought in the first Place to learn.
The young student should, in the first place, acquire a knowledge of perspective, to enable him to give to every object its proper dimensions: after which, it is requisite that he be under the care of an able master, to accustom him, by degrees, to a good style of drawing the parts. Next, he must study Nature, in order to confirm and fix in his mind the reason of those precepts which he has learnt. He must also bestow some time in viewing the works of various old masters, to form his eye[Pg 2] and judgment, in order that he may be able to put in practice all that he has been taught [1].
Chap. II.—Rule for a young Student in Painting.
The organ of sight is one of the quickest, and takes in at a single glance an infinite variety of forms; notwithstanding which, it cannot perfectly comprehend more than one object at a time. For example, the reader, at one look over this page, immediately perceives it full of different characters; but he cannot at the same moment distinguish each letter, much less can he comprehend their meaning. He must consider it word by word, and line by line, if he be desirous of forming a just notion of these characters. In like manner, if we wish to ascend to the top of an edifice, we must be content to advance step by step, otherwise we shall never be able to attain it.
A young man, who has a natural inclination to the study of this art, I would advise to act thus: In order to acquire a true notion of the form of things, he must begin by studying the parts which compose them, and not pass to a second till he has[Pg 3] well stored his memory, and sufficiently practised the first; otherwise he loses his time, and will most certainly protract his studies. And let him remember to acquire accuracy before he attempts quickness.
Chap. III.—How to discover a young Man’s Disposition for Painting.
Many are very desirous of learning to draw, and are very fond of it, who are, notwithstanding, void of a proper disposition for it. This may be known by their want of perseverance; like boys, who draw every thing in a hurry, never finishing, or shadowing.
