Sunset reddening the land; edges of white bodies
Blue distances turned lily-red at sunset, and how to render the edges of white against white
The page opens with a warm effect of atmosphere: when the sun reddens the horizon clouds, things that distance had clothed in blue partake of that red, so a mixture of blue and red makes the countryside merry, and the transparent air, infused throughout, takes the color of lily flowers. It adds that the air between sun and earth at rising or setting obscures things behind it most, being the whitest. A chapter [475] on the edges of white things advises making no outline where one body stands against another; a curved white edge meeting white reads dark, while against a dark ground the same edge reads as the lightest part. A further note [475a] observes that at distance the edges of similarly colored bodies are lost first, as the edge of one oak upon another oak.
On this page
Sunset red makes the countryside lily-colored
When the sun reddens the clouds of the horizon, things that distance had clothed in blue partake of that redness, and the mixture of blue and red renders the countryside very merry and joyful. The transparent air, infused throughout with this reddening, shows itself of the color of the flowers of lilies.
Rising or setting air most obscures what is behind it
The air that stands between the sun and the earth, when the sun rises or sets, is a greater obscurer of the things behind it than any other part of air. This arises from its being the more whitening.
Edges of a white thing against white and against dark
Make no profiles at the edge of a body that stands out against another; let the body detach of itself. If a curved white edge meets another white thing it creates an edge dark by nature, yet not the darkest part of the lit side; against a dark place that same edge appears the brightest part of the lit side.
Similar-colored edges vanish first at distance
That thing appears more remote and detached which stands out against a field most varied from itself. At distances the edges of bodies of similar color are lost first, where the edge of one lies upon the other, as the edge of one oak upon another oak.