Chap. CXVII.—Of remote Objects.
The outlines of objects will be less seen, in proportion as they are more distant from the eye.
Chap. CXVIII.—Of the Point of Sight.
The point of sight must be on a level with the eyes of a common-sized man, and placed upon the horizon, which is the line formed by a flat country terminating with the sky. An exception must be made as to mountains, which are above that line.
Chap. CXIX.—A Picture is to be viewed from one Point only.
This will be proved by one single example. If you mean to represent a round ball very high up, on a flat and perpendicular wall, it will be necessary to make it oblong, like the shape of an egg, and to place yourself (that is, the eye, or point of view) so far back, as that its outline or circumference may appear round.
Chap. CXX.—Of the Dimensions of the first Figure in an historical Painting.
The first figure in your picture will be less than Nature, in proportion as it recedes from the front of the picture, or the bottom line; and by the same rule the others behind it will go on lessening in an equal degree[1].
- ↑ It is supposed that the figures are to appear of the natural size, and not bigger. In that case, the measure of the first, to be of the exact dimension, should have its feet resting upon the bottom line; but as you remove it from that, it should diminish.
No allusion is here intended to the distance at which a picture is to be placed from the eye.
