The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Complete


google search for The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Complete

Return to Master Book Index.

Page
420 421 422 423 424

Quick Jump
1 306 613 919 1225

left knee bend inwards, and let his foot be slightly raised on the  
outside, and the left shoulder be somewhat lower than the right,  
while the nape of the neck is in a line directly over the outer  
ancle of the left foot. And the left shoulder will be in a  
perpendicular line above the toes of the right foot. And always set  
your figures so that the side to which the head turns is not the  
side to which the breast faces, since nature for our convenience has  
made us with a neck which bends with ease in many directions, the  
eye wishing to turn to various points, the different joints. And if  
at any time you make a man sitting with his arms at work on  
something which is sideways to him, make the upper part of his body  
turn upon the hips.  
[
Footnote: Compare Pl. VII, No. 5. The original drawing at Windsor  
Castle is numbered 104.]  
5
96.  
When you draw the nude always sketch the whole figure and then  
finish those limbs which seem to you the best, but make them act  
with the other limbs; otherwise you will get a habit of never  
putting the limbs well together on the body.  
Never make the head turn the same way as the torso, nor the arm and  
leg move together on the same side. And if the face is turned to the  
right shoulder, make all the parts lower on the left side than on  
422  


Page
420 421 422 423 424

Quick Jump
1 306 613 919 1225