Painting technique of Leonardo Da Vinic

Linear perspective

Linear perspective is a mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface. The system originated in Florence, Italy in the early 1400s. The artist and architect Brunelleschi demonstrated its principles, but another architect and writer, Leon Battista Alberti was first to write down rules of linear perspective for artists to follow. Leonardo da Vinci probably learned Alberti's system while serving as an apprentice to the artist Verrocchio in Florence.

To use linear perspective an artist must first imagine the picture surface as an "open window" through which to see the painted world. Straight lines are then drawn on the canvas to represent the horizon and "visual rays" connecting the viewer's eye to a point in the distance.

The horizon line runs across the canvas at the eye level of the viewer. The horizon line is where the sky appears to meet the ground.

The vanishing point should be located near the center of the horizon line. The vanishing point is where all parallel lines (orthogonals) that run towards the horizon line appear to come together like train tracks in the distance.

Orthogonal lines are "visual rays" helping the viewer's eye to connect points around the edges of the canvas to the vanishing point. An artist uses them to align the edges of walls and paving stones.

Aerial perspective

Leonardo was fascinated by the atmosphere and by its effects on the colors and distinctness of distant objects. Though other artists had already begun to create some of these effects in their work, Leonardo was the first to make careful measurements and suggest rules for applying them realistically in painting. He called the subject aerial perspective.

In morning light Leonardo observed that distant objects such as mountains look bluer and less distinct than nearby mountains. He also noted that the more distant the mountain, the more its color approached that of the surrounding atmosphere.

His experiments suggested that to correctly color objects at different distances, artists should do as follows: Paint the nearest one its true color. Paint the one behind proportionately bluer, and the one behind that bluer still.

This firgue shows that how the technique are used in the paintings:

The firgue shows that the picture in Leonardo Da Vinci eyes:

Real photo                                                              Leonardo's drawing