Authors:

It seems to me very important to begin by an indication of the darkest values (assuming that the canvas is white), and to continue in order to the lightest value. From the darkest to the lightest I would establish twenty shades...

"Artists on Art - from the 14th - 20th centuries" edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves; Pantheon Books, London, (p. 240), 1972.
It seems to me very important to begin by an indication of the darkest values (assuming that the canvas is white), and to continue in order to the lightest value. From the darkest to the lightest I would establish