A Treatise on Painting
by Leonardo da Vinci, translated by John Francis Rigaud
Of the Qualities in the Surface which first lose themselves by Distance
4015748A Treatise on Painting — Of the Qualities in the Surface which first lose themselves by DistanceJohn Francis RigaudLeonardo da Vinci

Chap. CCXCI.Of the Qualities in the Surface which first lose themselves by Distance.

The first part of any colour which is lost by the distance, is the gloss, being the smallest part of it, as a light within a light. The second that diminishes by being farther removed, is the light, because it is less in quantity than the shadow. The third is the principal shadows, nothing remaining at last but a kind of middling obscurity.