Games to Train the Draughtsman's Eye
The sea-storm description concludes; then contests to judge lengths and foreshortened distances by eye
The page opens by completing the great storm description begun on the previous folio, with water hurled over the mountain peaks, scattered into spray and rain, colliding with oncoming waves and breeding dark clouds that become the wind's prey. It then turns to a new chapter, 'Of the Games Draughtsmen Should Play,' recommending recreations that sharpen the eye. In one, players stand ten braccia from a line chalked on a wall and each cuts a straw to the length he judges it, the closest winning an agreed prize; another has them estimate foreshortened distances with a dart or cane. The folio is a plain text column with no drawings.
On this page
The storm at sea concludes
Water surmounting the mountain peaks descends into opposite valleys, part scattered into spray by the winds, part falling back as rain on the sea, part ruining down the high promontories. Colliding with the oncoming wave it rises to the sky in foamy mist that breeds dark clouds, prey of the conquering wind.
A contest of straws to judge length
Draughtsmen should play games suited to their craft, above all good judgment by eye of the widths and lengths of things. One draws a line at random on a wall; standing ten braccia off, each cuts a straw to the length he judges, and whoever comes nearest when measured wins the agreed prize.
Estimating foreshortened distances
A further game takes foreshortened measures: one takes a dart or cane and looks ahead at a certain distance, and each player estimates by judgment how many times that measure fits into the distance. The text breaks off as this game is being described.