35

The comparative size of the image depends on the amount of light.

ON PAINTING.

If the eye, when [out of doors] in the luminous atmosphere, sees a place in shadow, this will look very much darker than it really is. This happens only because the eye when out in the air contracts the pupil in proportion as the atmosphere reflected in it is more luminous. And the more the pupil contracts, the less luminous do the objects appear that it sees. But as soon as the eye enters into a shady place the darkness of the shadow suddenly seems to diminish. This occurs because the greater the darkness into which the pupil goes the more its size increases, and this increase makes the darkness seem less.

[Footnote 14: La luce entrerà. Luce occurs here in the sense of pupil of the eye as in no 51: C. A. 84b; 245a; I—5; and in many other places.]

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

34 * 36
Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
I: Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting.
. . .
15,
16,
17
The use of the book on Painting.
18
Necessity of theoretical knowledge.
19,
20
The function of the eye.
21,
22,
23,
24
Variability of the eye.
25
Differences of perception by one eye and by both eyes.
26,
27,
28,
29
The comparative size of the image depends on the amount of light.
30,
31,
32,
33,
34,
35,
36,
37,
38,
39