A Treatise on Painting/Chapter 314
Chap. CCCXIV.—Which Parts of Objects disappear first by being removed farther from the Eye, and which preserve their Appearance.
The smallest parts are those which, by being removed, lose their appearance first; this may be observed in the gloss upon spherical bodies, or columns, and the slender parts of animals; as in a stag, the first sight of which does not discover its legs and horns so soon as its body, which, being broader, will be perceived from a greater distance. But the parts which disappear the very first, are the lines which describe the members, and terminate the surface and shape of bodies.