My chest like any harpy’s, and my face
Patched like a carpet by my dripping brush.
Nor can I see, nor can I budge a step;
My skin though loose in front is tight behind,
And I am even as a Syrian bow.
Alas! methinks a bent tube shoots not well;
So give me now thine aid, my Giovanni.
| Fig. 67. |
| ‘Draw upon part of wall MN half the figure you mean to represent, and the other half upon the cove above (MR).’ Leonardo da Vinci’s Treatise on Painting. |
At present that difficulty is got over by using large strong canvas, on which the picture can be painted in the studio and afterwards placed on the wall.