Errors Unseen in Small Figures; Diminution with Distance
Why distant forms cannot be judged, and painting's want of true relief
The page continues the counsel against hard outlines, then opens two chapters on scale and vision. Chapter 117 argues that faults cannot be judged in very small figures, since immense diminution prevents the parts from being finished or read; Leonardo offers the proof of viewing a man three hundred braccia off, and a finger held a palm from the eye to gauge his shrinking. Chapter 118 begins the question of why painting can never look as detached and lifelike as natural things, noting painters' despair at their imitation of nature.
On this page
Do not outline a figure with a colour foreign to its ground
Continuing chapter 116, Leonardo tells the painter not to make the terminations of his figures of any colour other than that of the ground they meet. In particular he must not set dark profiles between the ground and the figure.
Chapter 117: errors invisible in small forms; the finger experiment
In minute forms the quality of an error cannot be grasped as in large ones, because immense diminution keeps the parts from being finished, and what is unfinished cannot reveal its faults. As proof, look at a man three hundred braccia off and try to judge whether he is beautiful or monstrous: you cannot. Hold a finger a palm from the eye, raise and lower it until its top ends below the figure's feet, and an incredible diminution appears, which is why one often doubts a friend's form from afar.
Chapter 118: why painting never seems as detached as nature
The page closes with the start of a chapter on why painting can never appear as detached, or in relief, as natural things. Painters often fall into despair over their imitation of nature, seeing that their pictures lack that quality.