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Library/Paris Manuscript F/133

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Paris Manuscript F — 133

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Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France, Paris

Se terrai l'occhio vicino alla superfizie del mare quanto puoi, tu vedrai il simulacro del sole 'n una onda dell'acqua, il quale potrai misurare e troverai essere molto piccolo1.

Se terrai l'occhio vicino alla superfizie dell'acqua di quel mare o stagno che s'interpone in fra l'occhio tuo e 'l sole, tu troverai il simulacro del sole in tal superfizie dimostrarsi piccolissimo. Ma se ti rimoverai da esso mare per ispazio di più miglia, tu vedrai il simulacro del sole farsi parecchi[e] miglia di grandezza; e se 'l primo simulacro ritenea la vera figura e luce del sole, come fan li specchi, questo secondo non riserverà né figura né luce d'esso sole, ma una figura con termine interrotto e con luce diminuita dalla prima.

La figura del simulacro di termini interrotti e confusi si genera da una composizion di molti simulacri del sole refressi all'occhio tuo da molte onde del mare; e lo sprendore2 diminuito nasce, perché all'occhio vien le similitudine ombrose e luminose dell'onde insieme miste, onde la lor luce è alterata dalle loro ombre; il [ch]e non po accadere 'n una superfizie d'una sola onda, la qual ti proposi vicina all'occhio.

If you hold your eye as near to the surface of the sea as you can, you will see the image of the sun in a wave of the water, which you can measure and will find to be very small.

If you hold your eye near the surface of the water of that sea or pond that lies between your eye and the sun, you will find the image of the sun in that surface show itself to be very small. But if you move away from that sea by the space of several miles, you will see the image of the sun become several miles in size; and whereas the first image kept the true figure and light of the sun, as mirrors do, this second one will keep neither the figure nor the light of the sun, but a figure with an interrupted edge and with light diminished from the first.

The figure of the image, with interrupted and confused edges, is generated by a composition of many images of the sun reflected to your eye by many waves of the sea; and the diminished splendour arises because to the eye come the shadowy and luminous likenesses of the waves mixed together, so that their light is altered by their shadows. This cannot happen on the surface of a single wave, which I put before you near the eye.

The reflected image of the sun on the sea's waves

Why the sun's reflection seems tiny up close yet miles wide and broken from afar

Optics & Light Hydraulics

Leonardo argues that the sun's reflected image on water depends on the observer's distance from the surface. Held as close to the sea as possible, the image seen within a single wave is very small and, like a mirror, keeps the sun's true shape and light. Seen from several miles away it appears to swell to miles across, but its edge is broken and its light dimmed. That distant image, he explains, is a composite of many solar reflections from many waves, whose mingled shadows and highlights alter the light.

On this page

The sun's small, mirror-like image in a single nearby wave

Holding the eye as close as possible to the surface of the sea, one sees the image of the sun within a single wave; it can be measured and proves very small. Like a mirror, this near image preserves the true figure and light of the sun.

The broken, dimmed image built from many waves at a distance

Moving miles away, the reflected image appears to grow several miles in size, yet keeps neither the sun's true figure nor its full light. Its edge is interrupted and its brightness diminished, because it is composed of many reflections of the sun cast to the eye by many waves, whose shadowy and luminous likenesses mix and alter the light.

Reader's Edition — described with AI from the e-Leo transcription.