The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (5 page)

37.

Experiment [showing] the dilatation and contraction of the pupil,
from the motion of the sun and other luminaries. In proportion as
the sky is darker the stars appear of larger size, and if you were
to light up the medium these stars would look smaller; and this
difference arises solely from the pupil which dilates and contracts
with the amount of light in the medium which is interposed between
the eye and the luminous body. Let the experiment be made, by
placing a candle above your head at the same time that you look at a
star; then gradually lower the candle till it is on a level with the
ray that comes from the star to the eye, and then you will see the
star diminish so much that you will almost lose sight of it.

[Footnote: No reference is made in the text to the letters on the
accompanying diagram.]

38.

The pupil of the eye, in the open air, changes in size with every
degree of motion from the sun; and at every degree of its changes
one and the same object seen by it will appear of a different size;
although most frequently the relative scale of surrounding objects
does not allow us to detect these variations in any single object we
may look at.

39.

The eye—which sees all objects reversed—retains the images for
some time. This conclusion is proved by the results; because, the
eye having gazed at light retains some impression of it. After
looking (at it) there remain in the eye images of intense
brightness, that make any less brilliant spot seem dark until the
eye has lost the last trace of the impression of the stronger light.

Linear Perspective.

We see clearly from the concluding sentence of section 49, where the
author directly addresses the painter, that he must certainly have
intended to include the elements of mathematics in his Book on the
art of Painting. They are therefore here placed at the beginning. In
section 50 the theory of the "Pyramid of Sight" is distinctly and
expressly put forward as the fundamental principle of linear
perspective, and sections 52 to 57 treat of it fully. This theory of
sight can scarcely be traced to any author of antiquity. Such
passages as occur in Euclid for instance, may, it is true, have
proved suggestive to the painters of the Renaissance, but it would
be rash to say any thing decisive on this point.

Leon Battista Alberti treats of the "Pyramid of Sight" at some
length in his first Book of Painting; but his explanation differs
widely from Leonardo's in the details. Leonardo, like Alberti, may
have borrowed the broad lines of his theory from some views commonly
accepted among painters at the time; but he certainly worked out its
application in a perfectly original manner.

The axioms as to the perception of the pyramid of rays are followed
by explanations of its origin, and proofs of its universal
application (58—69). The author recurs to the subject with endless
variations; it is evidently of fundamental importance in his
artistic theory and practice. It is unnecessary to discuss how far
this theory has any scientific value at the present day; so much as
this, at any rate, seems certain: that from the artist's point of
view it may still claim to be of immense practical utility.

According to Leonardo, on one hand, the laws of perspective are an
inalienable condition of the existence of objects in space; on the
other hand, by a natural law, the eye, whatever it sees and wherever
it turns, is subjected to the perception of the pyramid of rays in
the form of a minute target. Thus it sees objects in perspective
independently of the will of the spectator, since the eye receives
the images by means of the pyramid of rays "just as a magnet
attracts iron".

In connection with this we have the function of the eye explained by
the Camera obscura, and this is all the more interesting and
important because no writer previous to Leonardo had treated of this
subject_ (70—73).
Subsequent passages, of no less special interest,
betray his knowledge of refraction and of the inversion of the image
in the camera and in the eye
(74—82).

From the principle of the transmission of the image to the eye and
to the camera obscura he deduces the means of producing an
artificial construction of the pyramid of rays or—which is the same
thing—of the image. The fundamental axioms as to the angle of sight
and the vanishing point are thus presented in a manner which is as
complete as it is simple and intelligible
(86—89).

Leonardo distinguishes between simple and complex perspective
(90,
91).
The last sections treat of the apparent size of objects at
various distances and of the way to estimate it
(92—109).

General remarks on perspective (40-41).

40.

Perspective is the best guide to the art of Painting.

[Footnote: 40. Compare 53, 2.]

41.

The art of perspective is of such a nature as to make what is flat
appear in relief and what is in relief flat.

The elements of perspective—Of the Point (42-46).

42.

All the problems of perspective are made clear by the five terms of
mathematicians, which are:—the point, the line, the angle, the
superficies and the solid. The point is unique of its kind. And the
point has neither height, breadth, length, nor depth, whence it is
to be regarded as indivisible and as having no dimensions in space.
The line is of three kinds, straight, curved and sinuous and it has
neither breadth, height, nor depth. Hence it is indivisible,
excepting in its length, and its ends are two points. The angle is
the junction of two lines in a point.

43.

A point is not part of a line.

44.

The smallest natural point is larger than all mathematical points,
and this is proved because the natural point has continuity, and any
thing that is continuous is infinitely divisible; but the
mathematical point is indivisible because it has no size.

[Footnote: This definition was inserted by Leonardo on a MS. copy on
parchment of the well-known
"Trattato d'Architettura civile e
militare"
&c. by FRANCESCO DI GIORGIO; opposite a passage where the
author says: _'In prima he da sapere che punto � quella parie della
quale he nulla—Linia he luncheza senza �pieza; &c.]

45.

1, The superficies is a limitation of the body. 2, and the
limitation of a body is no part of that body. 4, and the limitation
of one body is that which begins another. 3, that which is not part
of any body is nothing. Nothing is that which fills no space.

If one single point placed in a circle may be the starting point of
an infinite number of lines, and the termination of an infinite
number of lines, there must be an infinite number of points
separable from this point, and these when reunited become one again;
whence it follows that the part may be equal to the whole.

46.

The point, being indivisible, occupies no space. That which occupies
no space is nothing. The limiting surface of one thing is the
beginning of another. 2. That which is no part of any body is called
nothing. 1. That which has no limitations, has no form. The
limitations of two conterminous bodies are interchangeably the
surface of each. All the surfaces of a body are not parts of that
body.

Of the line (47-48).

47.

The line has in itself neither matter nor substance and may rather
be called an imaginary idea than a real object; and this being its
nature it occupies no space. Therefore an infinite number of lines
may be conceived of as intersecting each other at a point, which has
no dimensions and is only of the thickness (if thickness it may be
called) of one single line.

An angular surface is reduced to a point where it terminates in an
angle. Or, if the sides of that angle are produced in a straight
line, then—beyond that angle—another surface is generated,
smaller, or equal to, or larger than the first.

48.

Consider with the greatest care the form of the outlines of every
object, and the character of their undulations. And these
undulations must be separately studied, as to whether the curves are
composed of arched convexities or angular concavities.

49.

The nature of the outline.

The boundaries of bodies are the least of all things. The
proposition is proved to be true, because the boundary of a thing is
a surface, which is not part of the body contained within that
surface; nor is it part of the air surrounding that body, but is the
medium interposted between the air and the body, as is proved in its
place. But the lateral boundaries of these bodies is the line
forming the boundary of the surface, which line is of invisible
thickness. Wherefore O painter! do not surround your bodies with
lines, and above all when representing objects smaller than nature;
for not only will their external outlines become indistinct, but
their parts will be invisible from distance.

50.

Definition of Perspective.

[Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a
thorough knowledge of the function of the eye. And this function
simply consists in receiving in a pyramid the forms and colours of
all the objects placed before it. I say in a pyramid, because there
is no object so small that it will not be larger than the spot where
these pyramids are received into the eye. Therefore, if you extend
the lines from the edges of each body as they converge you will
bring them to a single point, and necessarily the said lines must
form a pyramid.]

[Perspective is nothing more than a rational demonstration applied
to the consideration of how objects in front of the eye transmit
their image to it, by means of a pyramid of lines. The
Pyramid
is
the name I apply to the lines which, starting from the surface and
edges of each object, converge from a distance and meet in a single
point.]

[Perspective is a rational demonstration, by which we may
practically and clearly understand how objects transmit their own
image, by lines forming a Pyramid (centred) in the eye.]

Perspective is a rational demonstration by which experience confirms
that every object sends its image to the eye by a pyramid of lines;
and bodies of equal size will result in a pyramid of larger or
smaller size, according to the difference in their distance, one
from the other. By a pyramid of lines I mean those which start from
the surface and edges of bodies, and, converging from a distance
meet in a single point. A point is said to be that which [having no
dimensions] cannot be divided, and this point placed in the eye
receives all the points of the cone.

[Footnote: 50. 1-5. Compare with this the Proem. No. 21. The
paragraphs placed in brackets: lines 1-9, 10-14, and 17—20, are
evidently mere sketches and, as such, were cancelled by the writer;
but they serve as a commentary on the final paragraph, lines 22-29.]

51.

The perception of the object depends on the direction of the eye.

Supposing that the ball figured above is the ball of the eye and let
the small portion of the ball which is cut off by the line
s t
be
the pupil and all the objects mirrored on the centre of the face of
the eye, by means of the pupil, pass on at once and enter the pupil,
passing through the crystalline humour, which does not interfere in
the pupil with the things seen by means of the light. And the pupil
having received the objects, by means of the light, immediately
refers them and transmits them to the intellect by the line
a b
.
And you must know that the pupil transmits nothing perfectly to the
intellect or common sense excepting when the objects presented to it
by means of light, reach it by the line
a b;
as, for instance, by
the line
b c
. For although the lines
m n
and
f g
may be seen
by the pupil they are not perfectly taken in, because they do not
coincide with the line
a b
. And the proof is this: If the eye,
shown above, wants to count the letters placed in front, the eye
will be obliged to turn from letter to letter, because it cannot
discern them unless they lie in the line
a b;
as, for instance, in
the line
a c
. All visible objects reach the eye by the lines of a
pyramid, and the point of the pyramid is the apex and centre of it,
in the centre of the pupil, as figured above.

[Footnote: 51. In this problem the eye is conceived of as fixed and
immovable; this is plain from line 11.]

Experimental proof of the existence of the pyramid of sight (52-55).

52.

Perspective is a rational demonstration, confirmed by experience,
that all objects transmit their image to the eye by a pyramid of
lines.

By a pyramid of lines I understand those lines which start from the
edges of the surface of bodies, and converging from a distance, meet
in a single point; and this point, in the present instance, I will
show to be situated in the eye which is the universal judge of all
objects. By a point I mean that which cannot be divided into parts;
therefore this point, which is situated in the eye, being
indivisible, no body is seen by the eye, that is not larger than
this point. This being the case it is inevitable that the lines
which come from the object to the point must form a pyramid. And if
any man seeks to prove that the sense of sight does not reside in
this point, but rather in the black spot which is visible in the
middle of the pupil, I might reply to him that a small object could
never diminish at any distance, as it might be a grain of millet or
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.