Treatise index: aerial perspective and distant things
Chapter list — cities and buildings in thick air, the blue of distance, why remote forms fade
This index leaf of the Codex Urbinas, headed 'Parte', continues the chapter list with page cross-references ('a car.'); its first line completes a heading carried over from the preceding page. The entries concern aerial (atmospheric) perspective: cities, buildings, and other things seen in thick or dense air, the sun's rays penetrating gaps in the clouds, and the blue color with which distant landscapes appear. Others explain why the parts of bodies lose recognition with distance, why parallel towers seem narrower at the foot in mist, and why faces and men seen from afar appear dark or unrecognized. The leaf bears no drawing, only Melzi's scribal list of headings.
On this page
Things seen through thick air
A run of headings treats cities and other things seen in thick air, buildings seen in thick air, the view of a city in dense air, and the lower boundaries of remote things. Another asks why the same countryside can appear larger or smaller than it is.
Why distant forms fade and darken
Several headings ask why things farther from the eye are less known, which parts of bodies lose recognition through distance, why parallel towers appear narrower at the foot in mist, and why faces from afar appear dark. One entry treats the sun's rays penetrating the openings of the clouds.
The blue of distant countryside
One heading is devoted to the blue with which distant landscapes show themselves, complementing the entry on why a single countryside can appear larger or smaller than it truly is.