The text discusses the technique of foreshortening in drawing the human body, specifically viewing from the top of the head. It explains how lines are used to convert a standard figure into a foreshortened one, focusing on the intersections and perspectives involved. Instructions are repeated in multiple languages on how to achieve this visual effect in art.
THE SECOND PART
PROBLEM X
Complete figure of the human body shortened slightly in view from the top of the head, the back seen from above.
The previous demonstration will show us in this shortened figure, seen from the top of the head, without altering it because the lines ascending perpendicularly from the shadow figure proceed to the lines at the level of the first figure marked A. The intersections of these give us our shortened figure, seen from the top of the head.
An entirely outstretched man's figure shortened, to be seen from the top of the head with the back lifted up.
The previous instruction (will serve us only in the mentioned shortened figure) which is seen from the top of the head, without changing anything, because the lines ascend directly/developing from the image of the shadow to the level line of the first image A, which give us the image in the shortening, which is seen from the top of the head.
Complete figure of the human body shortened slightly to the side, seen from the top of the head, the back above.
The previous demonstration will provide us in this shortened figure, seen from the top of the head, without changing anything because the lines rising perpendicularly from the figure of the shadow proceed to the lines at the level of the first figure marked A; the intersections of these give us our shortened figure, seen from the top of the head.
An outstretched male figure seen in a foreshortening, slightly from the side, as seen from the top of the head, and with the back raised up.
The previously noted instructions serve to set this picture into foreshortening, to be viewed from the top of the head without altering anything, as the ascending lines spring from the shadow picture to the standard plane line marked with A, which by intersection, must lend the image into the foreshortening, which is seen from the top of the head.