Leonardo da Vinci: l'orizzonte, la natura, la pittura

Drawing on the texts collected in the eighth part of the Book of Painting, the concept of the horizon is examined in Leonardo’s thought, emphasizing both its internal differentiation and its organicity. The horizon plays a role in Leonardo’s worldview that is both strictly scientific-astronomical, related to optics, and aesthetic-representational, related to the “science of painting”. In relation to colours, outlines, and generally the visibility of objects in illuminated air, the horizon is a term from which all kinds of visual experience become possible. Finally, it is shown how Leonardo, by reflecting on this concept, intends to carry out an important reform of artificial perspective, rendering it capable of capturing phenomena in their real mode of appearance.