XI. En fonction de l’éloignement des figures dans le fond, il faut les peindre plus ou moins fort, c’est-à-dire plus ces figures s’éloignent et diminuent, plus elles palissent en couleurs ou en force.

[suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] When one is Painting Illumination, that one Invents and Draws oneself, Copies or that one wants to colour some Art of Printing in a natural way, one should always pay attention to the evenness and flatness and also especially to the harmony, or moving back and forth, which should be caused by the difference between strong and weak Colours, by adding them flatly and proportionally diminishing, without them causing any hardness or stiffness.

In the English translation, this section is part of the Introduction to the second part of the book. The structure of this introduction is therefore different from the Dutch chapter (in the second edition of 1670, which we are treating here). Many of the terms are described in the English introduction, but no specific terms are used (for eenparigheid, vlakheid, houding). [MO]

[suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] Leonardo da Vinci, wanting to teach his Disciples how they could make themselves accepted by everyone because of their Painting, notwithstanding they might be of a specific taste, gave them this Lesson: Namely that in one single Composition they would place things that are heavily shadowed, and others as well that were touched upon much softer, yet in such a way that one could clearly recognize the reason and origin from where the strong and weak shadows came from.

DA VINCI, Leonardo

[suggested translation, Marije Osnabrugge:] Therefore one should accustom oneself to Draw very soft, weak and even, and introduce the diminution or Perspective of dark and light in that weakness as good as possible;

[translation: BEURS, en préparation, transl. Myra Scholz:] {Proper application of everything is necessary} If a painter does not know these things, he will lose control of his work, which will be chaotic and deviate from nature, having no balance of intense and subdued, nearness and distance. {Different subjects require different orders} As one can imagine, not all subjects should be treated in the same way. For some, with little difference in distances, one can simply rely on imagination as established by habit—but not when one is beginning to practice art. Some pieces have many gradations of distance and grounds, such as landscapes, where sky must also be applied in shades from the lower part (adjacent to the landscape) upward. There are also floral pieces with many amazing combinations of blossoms and leaves. There are interior scenes with human figures, also needed for historical paintings. All these can easily confuse a pupil who is not well versed in the order of application.

[D'après DE LAIRESSE 1787, p.67-68:] Il y a encore à cet égard une observation à faire, qui contribue beaucoup à la perfection de cette partie ; savoir, qu’il ne faut pas rendre cette teinte trop sombre sur le relief ; car le jour ouvert répand de la beauté & une certaine grandiosité sur les ouvrages de l’art, lorsqu’il n’y a une foible différence entre le clair & la première ombre, qui doit être légère. […] Il y a même des peintres qui se laissent persuader que la seconde teinte du relief doit être totalement sombre, en disant que le grand Mignard a suivi cette méthode ; ce que je nie cependant, quoique le célèbre Bossé prétende prouver, dans son Peintre converti, que Mignard a fait les secondes teintes sur les bords trop sombres.

BOSSE, Abraham
MIGNARD, les