Light and the Diminution of Objects with Distance
The nearer to its source, the brighter a body; equal things shrink in proportion to distance
The verso carries two short notes with an illustrative perspective scheme. A red-chalk note at the upper left states that the part of a lit object nearest its light source is the most luminous, while a lettered geometric diagram (c, b, a) and its caption establish that equal objects diminish in apparent size in proportion to their distance from the eye. A shaded drawing at the upper right shows a curved trough- or spout-like object. The sheet bears additional untranscribed matter beyond the two notes given here.
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The brightest part faces the light
A short rule of illumination stated in red chalk: the part of an illuminated object that lies nearest to the cause of its light will be the most luminous.
Diminution proportional to distance (c, b, a)
The apparent shrinking of equal objects placed at different distances from the eye follows the same proportions as the intervening spaces between the eye and the objects. Leonardo proposes a general rule: measure how much a man diminishes at a distance equal to his height, then at two heights, then at three, and build the rule from that.