The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete by Leonardo da Vinci
page 49 of 1059 (04%)
page 49 of 1059 (04%)
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of oats or of some similar thing, and that object, if it were larger
than the said [black] spot would never be seen as a whole; as may be seen in the diagram below. Let _a_. be the seat of sight, _b e_ the lines which reach the eye. Let _e d_ be the grains of millet within these lines. You plainly see that these will never diminish by distance, and that the body _m n_ could not be entirely covered by it. Therefore you must confess that the eye contains within itself one single indivisible point _a_, to which all the points converge of the pyramid of lines starting from an object, as is shown below. Let _a_. _b_. be the eye; in the centre of it is the point above mentioned. If the line _e f_ is to enter as an image into so small an opening in the eye, you must confess that the smaller object cannot enter into what is smaller than itself unless it is diminished, and by diminishing it must take the form of a pyramid. 53. PERSPECTIVE. Perspective comes in where judgment fails [as to the distance] in objects which diminish. The eye can never be a true judge for determining with exactitude how near one object is to another which is equal to it [in size], if the top of that other is on the level of the eye which sees them on that side, excepting by means of the vertical plane which is the standard and guide of perspective. Let _n_ be the eye, _e f_ the vertical plane above mentioned. Let _a b c d_ be the three divisions, one below the other; if the lines _a n_ and _c n_ are of a given length and the eye _n_ is in the centre, then _a b_ will look as large as _b c. c d_ is lower and farther off from _n_, therefore it will look smaller. And the same effect will |
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