“The knowledge of these should be acquired by observing the dumb, because their movements are more natural than those of any other class of persons.” I wonder why Leonardo insists this, or believes this. Does he think that dumb people move slower, so that one can study such movements with much more accuracy? Or is this just a rip on slower-minded folk. I think it displays however that societies have always created classes of people; human nature discriminates.

“The most important consideration in painting is that the movements of each figure expresses its mental state, such as desire, scorn, anger, pity, and the like.” I find this comment by Leonardo very intriguing. The painter must set a mood to the painting, and with that mood, reflect it by movement in the painting. Leonardo always painted (and drew) moving figures, whether it were trees in the background, or an arm on a person in the foreground. Leonardo insists that the painting must display a certain emotion, and corresponding motions to capsulate that emotion. “In painting the actions of the figures are in every case expressive of the purpose in their minds.”

“A picture or rather the figures therein should be represented in such a way that the spectator may easily recognize the purpose in their minds by their attitudes.” Leonardo continues by comparing painting and the message being delivered to the viewer in the painting by the painter with a “deaf and dumb” person, and his comprehension of a conversation he clearly can’t hear. I understand this completely. Leonardo believes that a painter must give the painting a “soul” (say-to-speak), and this feeling/emotion must be conveyed to the viewer of said painting. The spectator of a painting must understand the attitudes of the figures.

Leonardo states some obvious painting tips: limbs that carry weight and perform tasks must be made muscular, and limbs that do not do work, must be weak. “Old men ought to be represented with slow and heavy movements.”

Leonardo contends the movement of children must be true to children’s behavior. “…lively and contorted movements when sitting, and, when standing, in shy and timid attitudes.” Leonardo loves to reveal true human behavior in painting, and reflecting truth of human nature; painting the actions and attitudes of figures is quintessential in portraying true human nature.

“I say that first you ought to learn the limbs and their mechanism, and after having completed this study you should learn their actions according to the circumstances in which they occur in man.” This statement must derive from what Leonardo stated much earlier in his notebooks about studying nature and its figure. To study the object intensely, understanding the process and its components completely before progressing to another object/action. Here Leonardo too persists one must study the limb of a figure, how it works, how it moves, and its full range of motion, before moving on to its circumstantial movement by a figure in a painting. Leonardo understands and responds that in order to portray true human emotion and movement, the artist/painter must understand the nature of such movement. And to represent a movement accurately and precisely, the mechanics of the movement must be studied and understood completely. Brilliant.

“The painter strives and competes with nature.” I believe Leonardo is making the point that nature is always one step ahead in its beauty and wonder than that of a painter who is attempting to encapsulate that beauty. “The painter ought to be solitary.” Leonardo reveals here his belief that living and seeing in a solitary fashion yields greater works. “While you are alone you are entirely alone.”

“Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones distract it.” I believe here that Leonardo means that when a person, in this case an artist, more specifically a painter, finds greater insight into his surroundings when his/her surroundings are confining in nature. The smaller the room, the more detail a seer will intricately depict of her surroundings.

“…defining one case, a second should intervene, as happens when an object occupies the mind, then he must decide which of these cases in the more difficult to work out, and follow that until it becomes entirely clear, and then work out the explanation of the other…” I like what Leonardo states here. He claims that when examining one object with great detail, and if a second object or action comes into your mind, and intrigues you even more, go on and discover the workings of the second object/action, and continue to study until you completely understand this phenomenon, then continue with the former object that intrigues you. I like this comment because it insists the person, artist or craftsman, to be consistent and adamant to a thought, to stay focus on what is interesting the person now.

“…when you lie in bed in the dark to go over again in the imagination the outlines of the forms you have been studying…is certainly a praiseworthy exercise and useful in impressing things on the memory.” This is what makes Leonardo a crazy man. He not only insists on strict concentration during exhaustive studies but then to contemplate all of your studies again while one sleeps – to impress upon the brain. This man went to sleep every night dreaming and reviewing his thoughts on gears and nature.

“I say and assist that drawing in company is much better than alone.” I feel this is quite obviously a contradiction to what Leonardo states early about being confined and alone. Maybe, I am wrong. He says that working in front of persons will spur greatness from the natural competition between men, and the praise. I also agree with what Leonardo says, that the competition will do a young studier well.

“I say when you paint you should have a flat mirror and often look at your work as reflected in it, when you will see it reversed, and it will appear to you like some other painter’s work, so you will be better able to judge of its faults than in any other way.” I agree with Leonardo’s assertion that it is easier to find fault in another person’s work than in our own. When I look upon my own work, I usually skim it and often miss little mistakes or errors, but when reviewing another person’s work, I will be on the “look-out” for mistakes, or at least more apt to spot, and to discuss any found mistakes.

“If you wish to have knowledge of the forms of things, you will begin with their details, and not go on to the second until you have the first well fixed in memory and in practice.” Leonardo really wants to drive this message home – don’t continue until you completely understand the prior occurrence/happenstance. He pretty much reiterates his belief for the necessity and importance of patience in observation, thought, and study.