The reason the mirror shows the fault of a work to which the eye has become accustomed is that it doubles it. Thus if a line that should be vertical is leaning to one side, in the mirror it will lean to the other; so that if it is out of the perpendicular to the left, its reflection will be out of the perpendicular to the right, making a double divergence from one to the other.
[ CLXX]
Mental Perspective
Before we part, I should like to say a word about mental perspective, for we must remember that some see farther than others, and some will endeavour to see even into the infinite. To see Nature in all her vastness and magnificence, the thought must supplement and must surpass the eye. It is this far-seeing that makes the great poet, the great philosopher, and the great artist. Let the student bear this in mind, for if he possesses this quality or even a share of it, it will give immortality to his work.
To explain in detail the full meaning of this suggestion is beyond the province of this book, but it may lead the student to think this question out for himself in his solitary and imaginative moments, and should, I think, give a charm and virtue to his work which he should endeavour to make of value, not only to his own time but to the generations that are to follow. Cultivate, therefore, this mental perspective, without forgetting the solid foundation of the science I have endeavoured to impart to you.
Footnotes
[1.] Leonardo da Vinci's Treatise on Painting.
[2.] There is another book called The Jesuit's Perspective which I have not yet seen, but which I hear is a fine work.