4013218A Treatise on Painting — Of the Shadows of WhiteJohn Francis RigaudLeonardo da Vinci

Chap. CCLII.Of the Shadows of White.

To any white body receiving the light from the sun, or the air, the shadows should be of a blueish cast; because white is no colour, but a receiver of all colours; and as by the fourth proposition[1] we learn, that the surface of any object participates of the colours of other objects near it, it is evident that a white surface will participate of the colour of the air by which it is surrounded.

  1. See chap. cclxxiv.