39

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

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.

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

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
I: Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting.
. . .
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