Perspective of colours; figures pushing and pulling
Aerial colour perspective and the mechanics and anatomy of hauling a load
Two painting notes share the verso. The upper one, 'Of painting and the perspective of colours', teaches that the first colours should be simple and that their diminution must keep step with distance, so that both size and colour take on more of the horizon's hue the nearer things lie to it. The lower note, 'Of the motion of figures in pushing or pulling', argues that pushing and pulling are one action, differing only in whether the load sits before the mover (a) or behind, and locates the centre of the arm's power where the shoulder, breast and shoulder-blade nerves meet the upper shoulder bone. Beneath the text a reddish drawing shows men straining to haul a load, with a figure marked b.
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Perspective of colours
The first colours must be simple, and the degrees of their diminution must correspond with the degrees of distance. The sizes of things partake more of the nature of the vanishing point the nearer they are to it, and their colours take on more of the colour of their horizon the closer they lie to it.
Pushing and pulling as one action
Pushing and pulling are of one same action: pushing is an extension of the limbs, pulling an attraction of them, and to each the weight of the mover is added against the load. The only difference is that the pusher has the load before him, as a, while the puller has it behind him.
Men straining to haul a load
Below the text a group of figures is drawn in reddish and brown ink, leaning low and bracing their bodies as they push and pull a heavy load along the ground. Their posture illustrates the extension and traction of the limbs described in the note.
Centre of the arm's power in the shoulder
The centre of the mover's power, as regards the arms, lies where the nerve of the humerus of the shoulder, that of the breast, and that of the shoulder-blade opposite the breast join with the upper bone of the shoulder. Pushing and pulling can be done along different lines about this centre.