Besides the Plan of the Theater, the Section of the Scenes is also to be delineated, for finding the Point of the Theater in the Elevation. Wherefore, setting the Measures of the Heights which the Point A, where the Floor of the Stage begins, and the Point D of the Poscene, have above the Level of the Horizontal FV; from the Perpendicular NV draw the right Line ADO, which gives the Declivity of the Stage; then make NO parallel to FV, and equal to AO of the Seventy-third Figure: The Point of the Theater in Elevation is O; the Point of the same on the Poscene is Q. If EB be the greatest Height of the first Scene, the Line OE determines the Height of all the others. The longest of the two Lines gives the true Height of each Scene; and the shorter discovers how much of that Height the Sight loses on the Out-line, by the oblique Position of the Scenes. Moreover, the Excess of the longer Line above the shorter, as well at top as at bottom, is to be well observ’d; for on this depends the right Understanding of the Seventy-fifth Figure. The Point M, which is as far distant from N, as that of F is from A in the Seventy-third Figure, denotes the Place from whence the Stage ought to be view’d; as is there mention’d.
In laying the Floor of the Stage, this Rule is commonly observ’d, That the Height of the Point O be made equal to the Height of the Eye, and that the Rise of the Floor from A to D, be about a Ninth or Tenth Part of the Length AD. ’Tis also requisite, for the better shifting the Scenes, that the Pavement F be sunk lower than that of G, that a Man may walk upright under the Floor thereof.
Fig. lxxv.
FIGURA Septuagesimaquinta.
Elevatio scenarum coram inspectarum: ubi docetur artificium ut scenæ obliquæ appareant rectæ.
Scenæ quas vides in S, habent suam latitudinem à vestigio figuræ septuagesimætertiæ, altitudinem ab elevatione figuræ septuagesimæquartæ, ac censentur erectæ & canalibus insertæ, quæ omnia repræsentantur etiam figurâ septuagesimasecunda in P & Q. Velim observes quantum elevetur tabulatum in principio A, in poscenio D, & in puncto theatri O. Similiter notare oportet elevationem singularum scenarum, quæ propter obliquitatem canalium flectuntur introrsum: iccirco lineæ BL, KI, partis C, non videntur parallelæ ad lineam plani, ut reipsa sunt; ac visualis LF non tendit ad punctum oculi O, sed ad punctum F. Si autem excessus apparens, quem recta BK habet in summo & imo supra rectam LI transferatur in partem E scenarum, (iidem excessus desumi etiam possunt ex figura septuagesimaquarta) ac ducantur rectæ LG, IH, habebuntur lineæ apparenter parallelæ ad lineam plani. Si fiat recta LO, quæ cum LG faciat angulum GLO æqualem angulo BLF, eadem LO tendet exactissimè ad punctum O oculi, eâque utendum erit ut visuali.
In P supponimus scenas M & N jacere super pavimento unas super aliis, ac duas lineas RT habere distantiam eandem cum duabus LI, & ita in reliquis scenis. Ubi notandum est, lineas RS, TV, easdem esse cum lineis LG, IH, scenarum E: nihilominus lineas RS, TV, non esse parallelas, quum tamen LG, IH, videantur parallelæ. Proinde, si fiat recta RL, & anguli SRL, GLO, sint æquales, rectâ RL utendum erit tanquam visuali, in L erit punctum accidentale oculi pro pingendis scenis N, ac lineæ RS, TV, habebuntur ut parallelæ: id autem quod superest in telario ultra tales lineas, pro nihilo computabitur, ibique pingetur aer aut aliquid aliud. Punctum accidentale oculi pro pingendis scenis M erit in I.